Where was the Magna Carta signed? At the bottom!

Way back in 1215, a new and radical change to the way in which England and Wales were governed came into being. This change forever ended the idea that the executive branch (in those days, the King) could act with impunity and had absolute power over the law and the people. The aristocrats of the day had decided that King John had acted in a corrupt and abusive fashion towards the nation, and since there was no suitable alternative to be brought to the throne in his place, it became necessary to make the monarch (i.e. the executive) subject to the law and not vice versa.

Thus, the Magna Carta was created to limit to powers of the executive branch and place a legislative branch (parliament) as a check upon the executive. Thousands died in the civil war that followed to ensure that this "great charter of freedoms" was enshrined in English law. 430+ years later, hundred of thousands died when the monarchy had gradually clawed back most of the powers that had been taken from it, and finally parliament again rose with the moral force of a deeply Christian leader as their motivator (Oliver Cromwell, whose statue still stands in front of the Houses of Parliament). Cromwell's attempts to restore the power and dignity of parliament proved disastrous, and he found his new parliament to be just as corrupt as the old monarchy, resulting in him taking the de facto role of monarch himself (and thereby becoming the tyrant he had himself despised). But when the Cromwellian Commonwealth collapsed following his death, both the monarchy and Parliament were restored.

Although the Magna Carta did not introduce democracy to this country, it did form the basis without which democracy would not have developed, and in the UK, parliament is still the seat of our democratic voice.

In 2006, the executive (now the Prime Minister and his cabinet, the PM still wielding the Royal Prerogative) once again attempted to rid itself of the burden imposed by the Magna Carta, by the means of the "Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill". Bizarrely (but also somehow fittingly), the remnants of those aristocrats of 1215 - the unelected House of Lords - were the ones responsible for protecting that heritage.

But now they are trying again.

Penny Red has the full story of what they're doing now. I'm not sure I'm entirely comfortable with her allegory of the executive branch date-raping democracy, but there are times when it seems appropriate to describe the tactics of this government. As she says, spread the word, get action together. Yes, even non-British people. Hey, you USAians, your country prides itself on being the bastion of freedom and democracy, your voices would be good too!

We need to shame this British government and confront it with its appalling lack of respect for the democratic rights of its people.

We are not at the start of a slippery slope with this, either. oh no. We are halfway down, and rapidly gathering speed.

(NB Penny Red's link to the blog that first alerted her to it, is only to the blog and not the specific story - the specific story is here.)