Where is the Magna Carta signed? At the bottom, of course. O.K., so it's not a terribly funny joke but it's an old one. And, an apt one for today's Village work. The Magna Carta, or "Great Charter," was King John's effort to quell a civil war in England. He set up the future guidelines for monarchy, insurance against arbitrary royal power, including, "no freeman shall be taken, imprisoned, or dispossessed of his property...except by the lawful judgement of his equals or by the law of the land." The dispossessed part will come into play in a bit...
An update: Ethan became king due to Gus's parliamentary error. He quickly transferred the balance of the town's bank account to his own private account. He also invited three villagers to be a part of a socialist cabinet thereby creating a "social monarchy" in his words. While Ethan maintained total financial control of the Village's money, he shared his power equally with the council for making laws and decisions. All four members must agree to something before it is decided.
It looks great on paper...but there is still a lot of unrest. More troubling, there are also banking irregularities and a few non-government peeps were seen making changes to the bank spreadsheet -- including zeroing out several villagers' accounts for disrespecting the king. Ears perked up as soon as we read that part of the Magna Carta and some villagers are in the midst of creating a similar contract for their king. Will he sign it? Will the people continue to follow him if he doesn't?
Reminder...due to concert practice there will be very little Village time tomorrow. Volunteers will be welcome (very, very gladly welcomed) all day on Wednesday.
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