Never in the field of human history has there been a clearer illustration of the maxim “Culture matters” than that which has been provided by the English-speaking peoples and their relationship with Magna Carta Libertatum. On June 15 of this year, we celebrated the 800th anniversary of the signing of the document, and all of the usual platitudes came out in force. The charter, Prime Minister David Cameron suggested in England, had “shaped the world for the best part of a millennium, helping to promote arguments for justice and for freedom” and to codify “the belief that there should be something called the rule of law, that there shouldn’t be imprisonment without trial.” A few feet away sat the queen of England, graciously nodding along. The principles contained within the treaty, her majesty observed without a trace of irony, were “significant and enduring.”
Watching from America, I could not help but feel a touch of pride. And yet I also couldn’t avoid reflecting that — uncomfortable as this might be for Cameron and his ilk to acknowledge — the values for which Magna Carta is supposed to stand are in much better shape in the United States than abroad. “Parchment barriers,” James Madison noted acidly, are often little use when set against “the encroaching spirit of power.” In Britain of late, that power has encroached mightily, and, in so doing, it has erased many of liberty’s red lines. One might ask, What good is our piece of paper now?
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