They would seem to have their work cut out for them. But
they asked for advice, and being an adviser, I offered that the rhetoric of
reform—even of revolution in the United States—always harks back to a founding
golden age. Don’t ask for something new, ask for something old, something
you’ve already had, something you’ve already done. In the U.S. we invoke the
Constitution. Before the Constitution, we invoked our rights as Englishmen to
justify a Revolution against the British Empire. How’s that for cheek? Stanisław
took down a note, then reminded me that their Constitution is post-Communist
era, hardly a golden age, and 270 pages long. (“Quinn’s Law: the longer the constitution, the
shorter the shelf life.” Frederick Quinn, Democracy
at Dawn: Notes from Poland and Points East, 22) That could be a problem. Then
Stanisław
identified Kosciusko’s Constitution of May 3, which has real iconic promise,
but it never went into effect. Otherwise, you have to go back to Kazimierz III Wielki,
“Casimir the Great,” who according to our readings just last week, “Polecił
ponadkto skodyfikować
prawa zwyczajowe z terenów
Wielkopolski i Małopolski.
Sądy miały
odtąd jednakowo sądzić
i wydawać takie same wyroki.” (“He
recommended the codification of the customary laws of the territories of Great
Poland and Small Poland. Courts henceforth had to judge equally and render the
same verdicts.”)
Everything that needs to be done, has been done. We need only
remember how to do it.
I hope that reading’s on the Final.
