11:00 am in a cafe I normally frequent. Sitting at a table by the window, I start reading my book again: one of the adventures of Captain Alatriste, by Arturo Pérez-Reverte. Light and fun read, suitable for a retired lawyer on a rainy day.
At a table next to me, two men in their 40s are animatedly discussing the Constitution, which attracts my attention. They clearly lack legal training, which increases my interest.
One of them considers the Constitution an obstacle to the country’s progress, as it blocks the innovations he believes it needs: the expulsion of foreigners, the persecution of the corrupt, the reintroduction of the death penalty for a “bunch of bandits”, identified in such a suggestive way, that the interlocutor interrupts him with “f…, I hope you don’t include me.”
This defends the Constitution, which guarantees freedom, democracy and equality, protects workers’ rights and prevents the return of fascism.
I must not have been able to disguise my interest in the other person’s conversation, because the first one, despite me not having looked up from the book, turns to me and asks the terrible question that I feared: “And you, what do you think?”
What to do? (this is not an invocation of Lenin’s famous writing What’s wrong?)
Apologize, get up and leave? Simulate deafness? Reply in bad German?
My explanatory compulsion ended up prevailing, the result of several decades of teaching.
I questioned them. Answering a question with another is one of the few things I learned from our politicians: do you sail? They looked at each other, intrigued and responded negatively. But do you know what the keel is? Does this have to do with boats?, one ventured. Okay, I approved. And do you know what it’s for? Silence.
I explained as best I could. A boat without a keel was out of balance. The keel lowers the vessel’s center of gravity and stabilizes it, preventing it from listing, that is, from tipping over to one side. It sways sideways, but does not adorn.
You know a lot about boats! Are you a sailor?
I am not and do not know anything about boats, except what I have read in books or seen in films. But it doesn’t matter. Your question was about the Constitution.
Now, think of the State as a vessel and the Constitution as its keel. We can modify many parts of the vessel – cabin, navigation station, engine, sails, equipment – without problems, but we cannot remove or modify the keel. This is essential for the balance of the vessel.
Similarly, we can modify or replace most laws, but constitutional norms, the backbone of the community, must be preserved; or, at least, not be modified without special precautions. The Constitution is an instrument of stability and social balance and not an obstacle to development.
They both seemed to understand. But experience tells me that it is much easier to explain than to convince.
Former president of the Constitutional Court
and subscriber of the ’50+50 Manifesto for Justice Reform’
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