Get Your Own Damn Constitution

Thoughts on why we shouldn’t care what other countries think about our Constitution:

The other main criticism seems to be that the Rest of The World Doesn’t Like It Anymore. Again, so what? America is an outlier on many issues. That’s why people move here. Instead of taking shots, the New York Times should be proud of this. America is the only nation in the world, for example, in which one can more or less say whatever one likes, and in which the individual’s right to free expression trumps all other concerns. Here we are not subject to arbitrary government balancing acts, at least when it comes to speech. NR’s own Mark Steyn knows as well as I do what happens when otherwise democratic countries incorporate more “modern” attitudes into their charters. If America is different from the rest of the world, then we should say Good. We do not need the approval of Saudi Arabia.

Coming from abroad, I react with a particular horror to the casual way in which many dismiss America’s backbone. If this country should fall, those of us who believe in American values simply have nowhere else in the world to go. It is highly unlikely that a constitution like America’s will surface again. By virtue of Providence or a quirk of history or whatever you will, the United States has been afforded a uniquely brilliant document. The Philadelphia Convention of 1787 provided history with perhaps its only instance of Platonic philosopher kings doing what Plato suggested they might. That the revolution — more of a restoration, really — was hijacked by a small, salutary clique of brilliant men who did not have to refer too closely to public sentiment (publics are not very good at drawing up constitutions) and had an extremely solid understanding of history and political philosophy should be celebrated. It gave America a work of art, and we would do well not to presume that we have such painters among us today, or that, even if we do, they would be given access to the canvas.

We built America because we didn’t want to be them. Those living here who do (like editorial writers and so-called journalists at the New York Times), should go live there instead of screwing up this country.

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