And thank goodness for that, observes my Cato colleague Roger Pilon. Promising more while in practice delivering less, other countries’ constitutions tend to be less careful in enumerating and limiting government powers, even as they promise all manner of (often unsustainable) entitlements. More: Mike Rappaport and relatedly, on the academic left, Mark Tushnet (among his colleagues “debate has ended over whether constitutions should include …rights” of the social/economic sort that depart from U.S. constitutional practice).
One Comment
I tend to think of the rest of the world as basically the same human beings as Americans – and their countries.
You really get a wake up when realize the US is (TTBOMK) the only country in the world where you cannot be punished for telling the truth (Truth as an Absolute Defense).
It’s even bigger if you go to some of the third world countries that are great and elegant for first class vacations and discover that 2 blocks off of “miracle mile” there is a fully equipped and manned tank that has been sitting there for years and doing nothing – but is ready to rock and roll w 10 seconds notice.