Although those who claim that Ecuadorians are not capable of agreeing on important issues are right, they forget that in moments of crisis we almost unanimously call for the establishment of an assembly. Right now, when the future of the Government and the Assembly is uncertain, these voices are already being heard in all tones. Reforming the Constitution or, rather, replacing it with a new one, would put everything in its place, would make utopias a reality – of good living or freedom, depending on where the proposal comes from – and would make us responsible and respected. beings of the law.

About twenty constitutions and countless steps on the edge of the precipice should be sufficient proof of the weakness of this proposal inherited from the old institutionalism. It is undeniable that norms and institutions shape and regulate people’s actions, but they do so only when they are ready to recognize them as legitimate, to respect them, even if they do not fully share them. That is, when they decide that living within a common order is an option in the face of chaos and uncertainty.

Democracy without a Republic

Weaknesses of democracy

It will be said that the Constitution is precisely the expression of that agreement, which is pompously identified as a social contract. Yes, it should be so, but for that it must be understood that the general will is more than the sum of group wills. Our own experience shows us how far we have always been from finding it. The elaboration of constitutions resulting from the triumph – armed or electoral – of some tendency was a difficult obstacle. Behind this impossibility is the blindness that prevents us from recognizing the economic, social, ethnic, gender and regional gaps that separate us every day. We see the result in a policy made of petty intrigues that want to impose themselves on others without assuming that both are part of a whole that has yet to be built.

Situations like the one we are experiencing are fertile ground for re-proposals.

Those who point to the constitutional sphere as a space where the problem can be solved should not only be recommended to reconsider the story, but to be asked what are the proposals of each of them and their parties regarding the reality of the groups to which they do not belong. Undoubtedly, the answers would be empty and clumsy like the congratulation we hear on Women’s Day or sending the natives to the arse. It is enough to review the conformation of political parties and movements to be convinced that those who incorporate diversity into their ideas and courses of action are an absolute minority. Deep down, we don’t recognize ourselves as we are. Everyone tries to push out what is different, as Byung Chul Han says, but we do not do this because of the individualization produced by a hyper-connected society, but because we carry the burden of our own history.

Situations like the one we are experiencing are fertile ground for re-proposals. They are also an opportunity for difficult speeches. It must not be forgotten that the great people of the country were the owners of the whip and the constitution made according to their measure. In the absence of social agreements, society itself applauds the vertically imposed order. Alien order. (OR)