Chapter One of The Road to Failure tells us of the difficulties the colonist had in earning an honest living in pre-revolutionary America. For the “high-rollers,” decisions had to be made in London. For the average person, the colonial colonial governor or assembly, perhaps even the sheriff would suffice. Click on A Scandalous Revolution—Part 2 to see how the dots are connected.
Poor King George III. He could not win for loosing! The second item listed in May’s Top Ten is the Royal Proclamation giving thousands of acres to the colonial officers and enlisted men who fought in the French and Indian War. King George’s Proclamation stated that, “… the several Nations or Tribes of Indians, with whom We are connected, and live under Our Protection, should not be molested or disturbed….” The Colonist made several request, and London gave several refusals to set up governments in the Indian Territories. The poor Colonist had no option but to declare independence. The poor Indians had no option but to be subjugated.
Click on the May’s Top Ten 100+ Year Old Books link above to see the runner-ups.
April was a good month for those countries seeking a new constitution. Let’s look at these developments,
- Scotland announced that they will hold their vote for independence on September 18, 2014. If the people vote for the new constitution they will have to work out the details with Great Britain.
- The Icelandic Parliament (Althing) has voted twice on their proposed new constitution. After their elections in late April, they will take the third and final vote on the constitution.
- On April 15, 2013, the United States joined the Venice Commission. The United States, and its political subunits, will be able to ask the Commission’s on writing a new constitution. The contact person for the US is Columbia Law School Professor Sarah H. Cleveland.
Why does the US need a new constitution? The United States ranks dead last in providing societal success for our citizens. The late political philosopher Ernest Gellner postulated that are small democracies. This raises the question of the benefit splitting the US into more coherent political units. (Campbell, John L. and Hall, John A. “Defending the Gellnerian Premise: Denmark in historical and comparative context,” http://www.dartmouth.edu/~socy/pdfs/DefGelnerianPremise.pdf provides excellent insight into this question.) Perhaps Thomas Jefferson was right when he said that all constitutions die a natural death after 34 years. Click on the New Constitution gives for a few short comments about Catalan, Scotland and a New Constitution for the US.
Click the words Prologue & Introduction above to see where the story is going.
Take a look at the Table of Contents by clicking on the link above. This will show you the steps I will take to show why we are on The Road to Failure. Please “Comment” to me to let me know if I have overlooked anything.
And finally, click on Chapter One to experience some of the Echoes from Our Past.
Road to Failure 