Power to the people

Well, here’s a historic anniversary: Magna Carta is 800 years old. To celebrate, Brits have moved all four surviving copies to the British Library.

Technically, the birthday dates as of 15 June, but the four documents, from the Library, Salisbury Cathedral and Lincoln Cathedral, will be on display together for three days. Then—for some unaccountable reason—they’ll spend a day at the House of Lords. (Perhaps to remind those archaic residues of hereditary privilege of that notion that no one is above the law, not even those who claim some sort of divine right to rule.)

(Or possibly because they squawked about not being able to score tickets to the exhibit at the Library.)

I mean, the principles laid out in that original document were the first step towards a system of parliamentary democracy. And, even if it took about 700 years to filter down into something beyond oligarchy and plutocracy, it was out there in ink and sheepskin to be referred to whenever someone tried taking the political piss.

While Magna Carta essentially curbed the excesses of King John, it primarily only expanded the powers of the aristocracy. However, it formed the basis for our own Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. These are not insignificant things.

So for the next few months, take some time to pour yourself a nice glass of whatever appeals to you and drink a toast to those barons who muscled the first inklings of democratic government from a hereditary king.