Monument

Mark Evanier’s post today (about Chris Bliss and Jason Garfield) reminded me that I wanted to write more about Chris Bliss. Not about his juggling, but about what could be a much more impressive feat. Bliss is spearheading an effort to put up monuments to the Bill of Rights in every state of the union. He's made a good deal of progress in the first state he's worked with, Arizona.

These monuments will be on public land, but funded individual contributions from private citizens. Essentially, Bliss must raise money for the individual monuments while at the same time getting state legislatures to permit their construction. You can hear Chris speak with KMOX radio host Paul Harris about it here, or visit his website, mybillofrights.org.

Needless to say, I think this is pretty cool. The Bill of Rights never gets the respect from the government that it deserves. It’s worse now than usual, but no matter who’s in charge, the government always works against our rights. The Bill of Rights is an explicitly anti-government statement, drawing a line the government cannot cross. The fact that it has been crossed, so flagrantly and insistently, is proof enough that we need to make this document more prominent in our public discourse. Go, Chris!

Rob