I have a ballcap I love for two reasons: (1) even though it only cost me five bucks it’s a very nice cap — bought it at Kohls BTW, and (2) the logo is a flag with “established 1776” underneath. The whole “established 1776” works as the simple story, but America (OK, the United States for my international readers) didn’t spring fully formed from Washington’s head in 1776.
1776 is the date of the Declaration of Independence, which after a stirring introduction is a laundry list of grievances and concludes by declaring that each state is independent and a nation in its own right. And 1776 was a couple of years after the First Continental Congress. So was 1776 the birth of nation? The Articles of Confederation were approved by Congress in 1777, ratified by the states in 1781 and are the original constitution of the United States. Dissatisfaction set in almost immediately however, and so the current US Constitution was created in 1787 over period of almost four months. It wasn’t until 1789 that it was ratified by enough states and took effect (with Rhode Island and North Carolina ratifiing after it took effect).
The Bill of Rights, or the first 10 amendments, was the result of the complaints about the Constitution during the ratification process, and were proposed in 1789 almost immediate after it took effect were ratified by 1791. It has been amended 17 more times since, with the 27th amendment originally proposed as part of the Bill of Rights in, yes, 1789, and ratified in 1992. Some people dislike the messy amendment process, where they have to persuade a majority of the American public across the land, so instead now we have the Supreme Court simply amend the constitution on their own say so.
All this is a long preamble to noting that two years after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, Iraq voted on and may have ratified a new constitution this past weekend. If so, the next rendezvous with history will be the parliamentary elections to be held December 15 this year. The path has not without winding and stones, since a lot of Iraqi’s have not had a chance to read the document for themselves, and some issues were kicked down the road to be settled at a later date. Kind of like slavery in the US constitution, but hopefully more like the Bill of Rights, which was added as a result of pressure and politics following the ratification of the constitution. Even if this Iraq constitution was voted down, they are still way ahead of the US, which took 13 years from the Declaration of Independence to ratify our Constitution.
Part of the dissatisfaction with progress in Iraq is historical amnesia – we who live in a time tested democracy under the rule of law simply have forgotten the time required and difficulty in forging a new nation when there wasn’t even the need to create a political culture of law and democracy as well as since it was already bequeathed to us by Great Britain. We forget that the early trials and tribulations strengthed our political institutions, not weakened them. And so we Americans demand perfection when we have no right ot expect it nor should we want it.
We can only do so much in Iraq; the rest is up to the Iraqi’s. And so far, they are taking ahold of their own future. Congratulations, Iraq, and good luck.
