In light of Independence Day, I though it would be fun to go over the history of the US Constitution and see how it differs from what they're trying to put together in Ecuador.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_...

The first, and most obvious difference is that the US Constitution has stood the test of time - from 1789 to the present, a period of almost 220 years. That's no small achievement.

There have been 27 amendments, the first 10 of which are the familiar Bill of Rights http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_...

The significant point is not that the document was perfect and could accomodate every future contingency and turn of event. Obviously it couldn't, and that's why it was given an amending formula. Madison's contribution to that, the Bill of Rights, was to set the tone and quality of the amendments that followed. In other words, amendments should be expansive, not restrictive, of personal liberty, and apart from one poorly misconceived detour, that path has largely been followed.

In the context of Ecuador, it's probably worth noting as Madison wrote in Federalist Paper #10, that a large country with many different interests and factions could support republican values better than a small country dominated by a few special interests. (wikipedia).

And here we come to the essential difference. Ecuador is now writing its 20th Constitution, and what do we see? Exactly what Madison described: one special interest attempting to set limits on other special interests, all the while flying the flag, not of personal liberty, but of a preconceived set of social obligations, some of which contradict the principle of Natural Law on which the US document is based, and which Madision gave teeth to with his Bill of Rights.

I realize this is a superficial characterization of a very complex issue. People spend their entire careers studying this stuff, but on the face of it, it seems to me the critical difference is respect for the individual as the primary basis of the body politic. This seems more honoured in the breach, or by explicit exception in Ecuadorean Constitutional law, the concept of "plurinationality" being the most recent example.

The form of a constitution may vary from place to place, taking into account elements of history and culture. Nonetheless, the principles of liberty and equality embodied in the US Constitution are essential aspects, universal in their intent, which is why I uphold them and look to the US example for inspiration, even though I was born British and am a naturalized Canadian.

ebear