The Tree of Liberty

On this day in the United States we celebrate the Declaration of Independence with

Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfire and Illuminations

as John Adams recommended in 1776.

The Declaration laid out a "a long train of abuses and usurpations" and referred to "certain unalienable Rights", which the former colonials went on to spell out in a written Constitution (the oldest in the world today) to which they added a Bill of Rights. Is their work done?

They drew from many precedents, including The English Bill of Rights of 1689, the Declaration of Arbroath of 1320, the Magna Carta of 1215, and the Charter of Liberties of Henry I. The tree of liberty has many roots, and has produced many branches, such as the Declaration of the Rights of Man of 1789 and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948.

After 231 years, the political leader of the country those colonials were revolting against proposes to grow the tree of liberty:

Change with a new settlement is, in my view, essential to our country's future. For we will only meet the new challenges of security, of economic change, of communities under pressure - and forge a stronger shared national purpose - by building a new relationship between citizens and government that ensures that Government is a better servant of the people.

— In full: Brown on constitution, Here is the full text of Gordon Brown's statement setting out his plans for constitutional changes to MPs on 3 July, 2007

The historical link is clear:

This route map seeks to address two fundamental questions: to hold power more accountable and to uphold and enhance the rights and responsibilities of the citizen.

And while constitutional change will not be the work of just one bill or one year or one Parliament, I can today make an immediate start by proposing changes that will transfer power from the Prime Minister and the executive.

For centuries they have exercised authority in the name of the monarchy without the people and their elected representatives being consulted. So now I propose that in twelve areas important to our national life, the Prime Minister and executive should surrender or limit their powers - the exclusive exercise of which by the Government should have no place in a modern democracy.

The effective successor of the executive power of George III is proposing to give up some executive powers.

What does this have to do with open participation through a fast Internet? It doesn't make any sense to take all power from the government and give it to a duopoly of unaccountable companies; not if we also want

...to hold power more accountable and to uphold and enhance the rights and responsibilities of the citizen.

There needs to be accountability so we can have participation, and to get it we need either government-enforced net neutrality or more competition or both.

-jsq