Centerfield

I think they're turning Portuguese

Earlier in the week, Jon posted this summary of a bill before Parliament in England. I grew up in England, and I still have friends and relatives there, which makes me anything but a disinterested observer.

For those reasons, and a few others, I read the bill with great concern, concerns I have put together in I think they’re turning Portuguese: The stealthy emasculation of the royal prerogative and the expansion of executive power in Britain. This essay examines the scope of the bill, its internal protections, and its effect, concluding that this represents a major (and unwise) change in the British Constitution, undertaken either by stealth or without consideration of the consequences, depending on whether its consequences are intentional or accidental. I also examine the Constitutions of Britain's twelve Maasctricht co-signatories and find that such a commingling of the legislative and executive functions is so far beyond the mainstream of European constitutional norms that it would be unconstitional in every other Maastricht signatory but Portugal (hence the title)

This is still very much a draft, and I would welcome feedback and comments.

We are so used to the idea that human progress is an "excelsior ratchet," a constant process of moving onwards and upwards, that we are loath to contemplate the idea that a major western country in this day and age could become more authoritarian, but however well-intentioned its genesis, I think that is exactly what this bill opens the door to.