We the people of the United States...
with the start of the EU Constitution:
His Majesty the King of the Belgians, the President of the Czech Republic, Her Majesty the Queen of Denmark, the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, the President of the Republic of Estonia, the President of the Hellenic Republic, His Majesty the King of Spain, the President of the French Republic, the President of Ireland, the President of the Italian Republic, the President of the Republic of Cyprus, the President of the Republic of Latvia, the President of the Republic of Lithuania, His Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Luxembourg, the Parliament of the Republic of Hungary, the President of Malta, Her Majesty the Queen of the Netherlands, the Federal President of the Republic of Austria, the President of the Republic of Poland, the President of the Portuguese Republic, the President of the Republic of Slovenia, the President of the Slovak Republic, the President of the Republic of Finland, the Government of the Kingdom of Sweden, Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain And Northern Ireland,
Not only is the EU Constitution much wordier (the entire US preamble is 52 words which only gets to the President of France in the EU preamble), it shows the European ideal that power comes from the rulers instead of the people.
bookmark~
WELL SAID!!!!
I've posted elsewhere on the comparison between the beautiful simplicity of the US constitution and indeed the Declaration of Independence, where the intentions of the writers are conveyed in elegant and totally comprehensible paragrahs and the unintelligible gobbledygook stretching out for almost a thousand pages of the EU constitution.
However what I enjoy about the preamble which you post is the variety of the forms of government. For example, the Latvians are represented by the president of their republic whereas the Spanish are represented by their king, all well and fine. We don't point out that the Luxemburgers only get represented by a grand duke; that would be bad manners but what to make of the Hungarians? They have neither president nor royal bigwig, indeed they don't have a personal representative at all but a parliament and the Swede's aren't represented by their king but by their king's government, confused yet? What to make of the fact that Belgium doesn't have a king but the Belgians do. And we really don't want to point out that the lady with the longest title "Her Majesty the Queen..." appears to be claiming ownership of a sizable chunk of the President of Ireland's jurisdiction, best to quit when you're ahead I think.
A few years ago, I listened to a talk radio show during which the host was interviewing an American who had lived for many years in Europe. I don't remember the name of the host or the guest, but I'll never forget something the guest said. The host had asked him to summarize for the audience, in one sentence, the difference between Europe and the United States. The guest thought for a moment and said:
"In Europe, if something is not explicitly allowed, it is forbidden; in the United States, if something is not explicitly forbidden, it is allowed."
While I've never been to Europe, this fits with everything I've seen come from that continent. It speaks to where the primary or default power of decision resides, with the people or with the political class. Of course, when the primary power of decision resides with the people, that is a state we call freedom.