The solution: Our constitution

Their power has an off switch: Let's use it

- by BRIAN REECE AND MARC HORN

FOR centuries, we've been led to believe that power in England flows from the top down - from a monarch or a sovereign Parliament that can make or unmake any law it wishes.

This narrative, while pervasive, is a profound misunderstanding of our history and legal foundations.

The English Constitution, when dusted off and understood correctly, reveals a revolutionary truth that has been hidden in plain sight: that you, the individual, are the true source of all law.

This isn't a philosophical wish. It is the logical, historical, and operational bedrock of our freedom.

The first and most crucial principle to grasp is that the traditional pyramid of power is inverted: all legitimate authority flows upwards from the people. Government is a creation of the people, designed to serve the people. It is the servant, not the master.

This isn't a modern political slogan; it is the foundational principle upon which English law was built.

When you understand this single, powerful idea, your entire perspective on the relationship between yourself and the state is transformed. You are not a subject to be ruled, you are the beneficiary and the ultimate source of the authority that the state wields.

If power flows from the people, what happens to it? It is entrusted to the government. This act of trust creates a strict and nonnegotiable legal relationship defined by a powerful concept from the rules of equity: fiduciary duty.