I found this fascinating word count list (below) in my email inbox this morning. It pretty much explains why our government is so big and our legal system so complex.
- Lord's prayer: ........................66 words.
- Archimedes' Principle: ................67 words.
- 10 Commandments: .....................179 words.
- Gettysburg address: ..................286 words.
- Declaration of Independence: .......1,300 words.
- US Constitution with 27 Amendments: 7,818 words.
- US Government regulations on the
sale of cabbage: ..................26,911 words.
I sometimes long for simpler days when fewer lawyers and lobbyists ran the country.
You said it!
ReplyDeleteExcellent! Not only the gov. but a lot of us need to learn to limit our words. Jesus had a way of getting to the point using only a few words. And I've heard the longest prayer in the Bible takes only about 3 minutes to pray.
ReplyDeletewoops! looks like you've been fooled by that email! http://www.snopes.com/language/document/cabbage.asp
ReplyDeleteThanks for the Snopes link TF! I usually validate before I hit publish but must have been a bit lazy last month.
ReplyDeleteEven so, I do find our legal system to be quite voluminous and verbose. You get a peek at that enormity when you consider the size of the tax code.