Anniversary of the Magna Carta

For John, BLUF:  Holding Government to account.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Here is an item from The New Yorker on the Magna Carta.  This is coming up on the 800th Anniversary of that great and wonderful document.  On the other hand, the author of "The Rule of History:  Magna Carta, the Bill of Rights, and the hold of time," Ms Jill Lepore, is not that enthused.  That said, she is at Harvard, down county.  Poor Jill.

That said, I do like her concluding paragraph:

The rule of history is as old as the rule of law.  Magna Carta has been sealed and nullified, revised and flouted, elevated and venerated.  The past has a hold:  writing is the casting of a line over the edge of time.  But there are no certainties in history.  There are only struggles for justice, and wars interrupted by peace.

I worry that Democracy is tenuous and that we need every anchor we can find.  For me, the Magna Carta is one of those anchors.

Remember, 15 June 1215, at Runnymede.  Every school child should know this.

Regards  —  Cliff