If you can remember Constitution Day, you weren't really there

If you were partying too hard in honor of the feast of St. Sophia yesterday, you missed the 219th anniversary of the signing of the United States Constitution. You've still got time to listen to former secretary of state Colin Powell read the preamble at 2 p.m. EDT. (My favorite line about the preamble comes from some forgotten anti-federalist of the ratification period, who detected creeping federal power in the opening "We the people of the United States" and said, "Entering the house, I stumble at the threshold.") Pro Libertate sends us this handy-dandy Constitution database, searchable by keyword, topic and major court case.

Why does our constitution kick all other constitutions in the ass? Because: a) it's slightly less expensive than the other constitutions; b) it's much shorter than the other constitutions, which allows for flexibility and reasonable governance (though sadly it doesn't guarantee either); c) it doesn't contain any soggy language about the national character, the vision of the country, national languages or religion, or similar stuff that makes other constitutions suck; d) it's mostly about limiting the scope of government and the power of individual parts of the government (see "doesn't guarantee" language above); e) when it's working properly it makes it difficult to pass laws; f) the first ten amendments are way better than the ten commandments; g) I strongly object to having troops quartered in private homes in times of peace without the consent of the owners, or in wartime except in a manner prescribed by law—and the constitution opposes that in no uncertain terms.

If you're an Articles of Confederation holdout like me, learn more about the Anti–Federalists, those now-universally deplored gadflies who were instrumental in getting the Bill of Rights added to the Constitution (and who, confusingly, referred to themselves as the real Federalists, claiming the Constitution was an anti-federal document).