positive politics.

[someinstant]

(Apologies to those who might have seen this already on carol83.)

I'm playing a little game over in my non-fandom journal right now, and I thought the more people play along, the better. Here's the explanation:

Sarah Vowell was on the Daily Show [last night]-- fantastic interview. (I love, love, love her contributions of This American Life. She's just

Comments

[porntestpilot]

That was an excellent interview! There is a lot of stuff here for me that I am proud of in our political past, but my favorite is the Gettysburg address. The speech was concise, and elegant, and had a tremendous effect upon those that heard it.

[I have a copy somewhere of the letter Lincoln wrote during the civil war to a women who had lost five sons, and it's beautiful. In general, I am fond of Lincoln's presidency.]

[someinstant]

How many sentences are in the Address? Isn't it something like ten, total? (I know it only took about four minutes to deliver.) And while those are some pretty dang hefty sentences (O! glorious semi-colon; how we have forsaken you!), the speech really is a masterfully concise piece of work.

Additionally, I know what letter you mean-- the Bixby Letter, isn't it? How weak and fruitless any word of mine.... Or something to that effect. It's been a while, and Google eludes me tonight. But it is beautiful.

[porntestpilot]

I still have it memorized from fourth grade, it has stuck with me all this time.

Yes, that letter - though it looks much longer in his handwriting. I would love to see someone with his command of language again.

[arresi]

The Constitution.

What, you want an explanation? Um, okay . . . here's the thing: if the Constitution were a fictional character, it'd be Methos (Highlander: the Series). Intelligent, deceptively lean and simple, complicated, mysterious, elegant, and willing to do or be almost anything to survive another day. Haunted by the more morally questionable choices, but has acquired tolerance and compassion in response. Shows signs of age sometimes, but seems readily adapted to modern life.

Also, has a rabid fanbase.

(And now I'm getting this very weird image of the Constitution in boxers. So I think I'm going to stop.)

[someinstant]

::laughs uncontrollably::

You, my dear, have just won. I'm not sure what, but you are unquestionably the victor. Seriously, this is fantastic-- we should make this into a personality quiz. Which Harry Potter character is the U.S. Constitution? The Declaration of Independence? The 1965 Voting Rights Act?

(Plessy v. Ferguson is Delores Umbridge, I think.)

However, now my academic gremlin wants to play around in this delightful metaphor you have so thoughtfully constructed. This could be amusing.

Potential Implications of Highlander Constitutional Theory

I. Highlanderism presumably states there can be only one. But this raises the critical question: one what? One system of government? One political philosophy? One Constitution? Is there a contradiction between the duality of the state-federal system under Highlanderism? That is, do individual state constitutions constitute a violation of the Only One principle?

II. What is the role of the Second Amendment under Highlanderism? Clearly, the right to bear arms is

[arresi]

I win? *blinks* Huh. Cool. Thanks