Remembering the Magna Carta

On the bank of the Thames 800 years ago, on June 15, 1215, the Magna Carta was signed by King James. Brokered between the King and his barons, the Magna Carta is said to be the first contract to establish the idea that law was above government. As British politician and historian Daniel Hannan stated to Breitbart, “from Magna Carta flowed all the rights and freedoms that we now take for granted: uncensored newspapers, security of property, equality before the law, habeas corpus, regular elections, sanctity of contract, jury trials.”

While many consider the Magna Carta to be an early predecessor to the American Constitution, many of the rights spelled out in the archaic document now have been violated in America. For example, the central theme of the Magna Carta’s chapter 39 is “No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way, except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land “

The American citizens who indefinitely await trial at Guantanamo Bay Prison will not receive this basic right – regardless of America’s own 6th amendment, a passage which is virtually identical to what appears in the Magna Carta’s chapter 39.

Likewise, despite President Obama agreeing that the NSA privacy violations are troubling, the use of blanket surveillance techniques has only increased in the prior 7 years. The unwarranted blanket monitoring of Innocent American’s phone records has expanded and continues to violates Americas 4th amendment, the right to due process.

On this day, 800 years after the Magna Carta was first signed by King James, many of the rights we have taken for granted are in danger of disappearing. Like the people of Medieval England, the American people must hold their government accountable for violating the law of the land. If such action is not taken, a return to the feudal era is all but guaranteed.