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I remember some time back (when it seemed relevant and important) to take a look at the EU Constitution. I actually downloaded and read much of it.

I was dumbfounded when I read it. It had everything up to and including the kitchen sink. When you read it, you clearly see the truth in the old saying “A platypus is a duck designed by committee”! It is the most absurd thing of its type I had ever seen since the USA provided a template for the rest of the world. (For what it is worth, Alexandr Solzhenitsyn remarked that the Soviet Constitution was a wonderful document, it was just that it was completely ignored and interpreted by the Soviet judiciary to benefit the interests of the state...something we are in danger of here)

I boil down the elegance and power of the US constitution to two things: It’s stress on the rights of the individual, and its remarkable brevity.

I saw this at a website, and thought it made all the points well:

The U.S. Constitution, with all its amendments, is 7,200 words long. The EU Constitution, now formally known as the Lisbon Treaty, is 76,000.

The U.S. Constitution, in particular the Bill of Rights, is mainly about the liberty of the individual. The EU Constitution is mainly about the power of the state.

The U.S. Declaration of Independence, which foreshadowed the constitutional statement, promises ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.’ The EU’s equivalent, the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms, guarantees its citizens the right to strike action, free health care, and affordable housing.

The U.S. Constitution came into effect only following ratification by specially convened assemblies in eleven of the member states, with the remaining two, North Carolina and Rhode Island, falling into line soon afterward. [. . .] In 2005, the [EU Constitution] was put to the vote in two of EU’s founding states, France and the Netherlands. Both rejected it: by 54 percent and 62 percent respectively. [O]n June 12, 2008, Ireland voted on the text. Once again, it was rejected. And, once again, the EU brushed aside the rejection and pushed ahead regardless.

Where the U.S. Constitution was based on empowering the people and controlling the state, the EU Constitution was based on empowering the state and controlling the people.

The U.S. Constitution begins, ‘We, the People . . .’ The EU Constitution, in the form of the amended European Treaties, begins, ‘His Majesty the King of the Belgians...”