Constitutional Fallacies

Last Friday I diligently comply with one of our most “plurinational”, and Creole traditions of the country and went to drink a few “frias” in one of the hundred “boliches” in Cochabamba; a magical place where you can talk about everything and anything when there are no maSSist zealots with cell phones around; but do to the current situation of the country, it focus mostly on politics.

Many were the topics of the night, but the most intense one was the supposedly marvelous new constitution we have in the country; there were obviously some infiltrated maSSist goons in the table; so most of us watched what we said but manage to screw with their minds anyways.

The maSSist poit of view was that with the new constitutions, followed textually, that means as Evo interpreter it for them; all problems of the country were going to be solved. One of the first comments, I meant, obstacles to them, was the insinuation that the maSSist might not win a majority of votes in the senate. The maSSist, after writing something in a little booklet replied, “All is set for the MAS party to have at least 50% of congress, which will allow them to be able to change anything in the constitution or any law if that matters”. This could happen because the maSSist constitution doesn’t respect the rights of the political minorities.

One brave person observed that there was no need to spend so many efforts to win Congress, since in Bolivia all you need is to have the power of the violent masses in the street and whoever is the President can screw this constitution like Evo screwed last constitution. I freezing breeze crossed the tables, since we all new that the maSSist forces included now the vicious of the violent from the Union Juvenil Crucenista in Santa Cruz and that in Bolivia, a change of topic was urgently needed.

I wisely moved towards attacking the maSSist enemy, yes, the USA; and informed all that when I was in that country I had the chance to read their constitution and was involved in studying some of their laws at the time they deported my for being an illegal, I meant, “unauthorized” worker. And told them that their Constitution is so fucked up that allowed black people from being segregated and having their human rights taken away from them; since their Constitution in the 60’s is the same than today. Someone rapidly jumped with a comment indicating that an interracial couple; I believe in Alabama, was denied civil matrimony by the justice of peace based in racism.

These really messed up the maSSist minds in the table, they happily paid for the beer and left with the belief they hit a jack pot with the juicy news of the racist USA Constitution; they were probably thinking on how to beat each other on communicating it from, “reliable’ sources, to their bosses, Evo, Lineras’s and company.

The rest of us left knowing that it doesn’t matter what it says in the constitution, what matter is that if you make presidents so powerful, it will be human nature to try becoming a totalitarian ruler where a Constitution is no more than a paper to clean their ass. And so will happen if you allow the majority of the society to decide over the rights of the minorities, as it happened with Afro-Americans in the 50’s and 60’s. Both of the situations will happen in Bolivia if Evo Morales is allowed to win the December elections, it is a good thing the democracy fighters are ready to reduce the possibility for it to happen and are now prepare to fight on the long run if this preliminary battle is lost.