For the first time in our history, a democratic Constitution turns 40 years old. A Constitution, which has governed us through all the vicissitudes to which we have been subject since it was approved: December 6, 1978. Until that moment, our Constitutional History was marked by constitutions that a part of Spain threw on the other. Each time that power was seized -either through elections, pronouncements or coups d'etat- a constitutional text was adopted replacing the previous one or the very essence of constitutionalism was denied.
That ended with the current Constitution, adopted with broad democratic agreement, splendidly endorsed by the Spanish people in a referendum in which, it must be remembered, the highest percentage of positive votes cast corresponded to Catalonia. Not in vain did the reconciliation efforts carried out by a large part of the anti-Francoist left combine with those of that other resistance that from the so-called "Munich Conspiracy" had been conspired to prepare the path that would lead to democracy.
Therefore, that Constitution, prepared and approved with a consensus full of agreements and waivers so that it could be the Magna Carta felt as such by the citizens, has allowed the political alternation, has built an advanced system of fundamental rights that many would like his in other coordinates, has allowed us to integrate in the European Union (EU) and has been a model for other processes of transition to Democracy.
Generosity
It is not acceptable that these days, when these 40 years of Democracy are being fulfilled, nationalisms and populisms distort the meaning of History and try to manipulate concepts. And it is not, on the one hand, because of the disloyalty staged by some, to which it generously integrated itself into the constitutional consensus. Recall in this regard that the PSOE yielded one of the posts that had originally been reserved in the paper that prepared the Constitution, so that what was then the "Basque-Catalan minority" was also represented in it.
And it is precisely they, or their successors, who now lash out, with blatant lies, against what has allowed them to build a regime of self-government with which they would never have dreamed and what is, but rather the most, one of the most decentralized in the world. world. On the other hand, we can not accept the interested ignorance or shamelessness of others, who try to make public opinion believe, especially a youth that has been practically abandoned at the feet of horses in terms of their historical, legal and political formation and socioeconomic, which are in struggle against a Francoism or a Fascism that they did not know, neither in person nor in the books.
Both converge in wanting to liquidate what they contemptuously call the "Regime of 78" or the "oppressive Spain", yes, without taking well-founded knowledge of what we have come hard to build, not only in Spain, but since in the Congress of the Hague of 1948 when the democrats who had defeated totalitarianism were conjured up around the three great principles that have presided over us - despite all the attacks - since then: the Rule of Law, Democracy and Human Rights.
Consensus
Certainly, as is often the case with constitutional texts, some of the regulations they contain should be improved, because although constitutions are updated by their legislative and jurisprudential application and are ratified electorally each time citizens vote with their vote, the The passage of time and the new social coordinates may indicate the need for changes. Procedures we have for this, similar to those that other European democracies also have.
But the procedures require, as in any reform of a 'law of laws', broad majorities, not only political, but also social. This implies that, although sometimes we are not facing "times of action", we are in the presence of "times of reflection", always bearing in mind that only a just, serene and loyal reflection can lead to reforms that strengthen that democratic model that it can not be destroyed but, on the contrary, it can be strengthened.
We are the only democratic country that does not teach, in compulsory education, in a systematic way, its legal-constitutional model or the basic notions of the functioning of democratic states. We do not prepare our daughters and sons to be citizens, or to understand the world. Nor for them to exercise that citizenship that Bobbio claimed as free and conscious. Free so that he could mobilize his efforts directing them towards the construction and guarantee of the same freedom, equality and solidarity. If we do not teach them that, not only with words but also with facts, they will be easy prey to everything that destroys instead of building.
Let's analyze
We should not praise the Constitution simply because it is a constitution. We do not have to defend it uncritically, petrifying it unduly, but we have to analyze what has gone well and what has gone wrong. We will check that, many times, it is not the constitutional text that has not worked, but the way in which it has been applied. We will verify that many times it is not necessary to change the Constitution so that the political system adapts to the times. Legislative reforms, in broad institutional fields, competencies, citizen participation, could offer sensible improvements in the quality of Democracy. Even, in many occasions, simple changes in the political practice would return us to an exercise of responsible citizenship.
But, for this, the great political agents, the political parties, leaving aside the practiced short-term tendencies, should believe the State. So far, it is evident that this has not happened because, if they had believed it, the Democracy would never have been put in danger. Why? Because a hard core of essential principles would have united the basic policies that structure the citizenry facing the challenges and facilitating political-social cohesion. And not only that, we could also address changes or reforms without endangering what unites us, updating, in its letter and its practice, what we fight for and that the democrats are not going to let us take away. That is why, in its 40th anniversary, The least I can wish is long live for the Constitution and constitutionalism.
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