Constitution Day, 28 June 2009

A founding text is mostly a list of things the state may not do. That is an unglamorous description and I think it is the accurate one.

Rights are written down because somebody, at some point, found that they were easier to remove when they were not.

Whether any particular provision is being honoured is a question for the people it belongs to, and they have courts and elections for asking it.

From me, on the anniversary: congratulations, and respect to everyone whose ordinary work makes the text mean something.