"This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But, it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."
---Winston Churchill
For the Rovians who are pushing the Iraqis to solidify their constitution in a matter of weeks, I offer this reminder of another country's constitutional journey:
Sept. 1774: First continental congress convened
Sept 1774-April 1775: A bunch of other stuff happened, for instance, the American Revolution began
May 1775: Second continental congress convened
July 4, 1776: Declaration of Independence adopted
December 1776: Third Continental Congress convened
November 1777: Articles of Confederation proposed
March 1781: Articles of Confederation ratified
Feb. 1783: British declared end to hostilities
April 1783: America declared end to hostilities
January 1784: Treaty of Paris officially ended Revolutionary War
May 1787: Constitutional Convention opened
Sept. 1787: Final draft of the constitution sent to Congress
...Two years of a bunch of stuff that you should read about in Jeff Shaara's book The Glorious Cause...
March 1789: The Constitution is finally ratified by all 13 original colonies and becomes the written manifestation of the letter and spirit of the United States of America.
And we want the Iraqis to get it done in a couple of months?
There is a word for people who don't even know their own history before inserting themselves into the history of others, but I'll avoid the FCC investigation and just say, "jerk" instead...
2 comments:
E, you are my goddess. How do you know all of this stuff? You always just bring the info and smack it down on us. I think smart, cute women (like you) are the the Creator's greatest gift to the men of this planet. Tell me that you are taken or else I will despair for MANkind.
I think that many in the Bush administration have forgotten how long it took them to make the constitution, and instead use the Bible's 7 days as a guidelines for the new Iraqi constitution.
I wouldn't put it past them. Many thought that the founders of America were creating the constitution in God's name. In my opinion, the Founding Fathers were probably at best casual Christians. Not the bible-thumping devout we have today.
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