Voluntarism and Reality

The Federalist Papers inspired the U.S Constitution. They were published in several New York newspapers between 1787 and 1788 by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay. The papers are reflections of these three individuals, willingly expressing a public opinion in a time where the Constitution of Philadelphia was being debated. The U.S. Constitution has clauses that allow it to be modified with amendments on several occasions, as well as allowed for more than two centuries the inability to perpetrate any regime change or coup d’état. The Civil War, less than 100 years after the Declaration of Independence, was settled with hundreds of thousands of deaths, but ended with the political peace between the President Lincoln and Confederate General Robert E. Lee, who rests in the Arlington National Cemetery marked with an eternal flame.*

At least until now, the flexible loyalty to a constitution that has been interpreted in the social and judicial context of each time and circumstance has allowed the rise and power of the United States. Madison, the fourth president of the United States, wrote in the Federalist No. 51 about the equilibrium or balance of the State, emphasizing the principles of a limited government, which is no other thing than the separation of power previously announced by Montesquieu. Madison was accused of being an extremist. Thomas Jefferson, the third president, was also described as radical when he stated that the government does not exist to grant rights to all citizens, but rather to secure or guarantee the natural rights all individuals have prior to the existence of the government.

Forgive this deliberation so remote in time and space, but I find pertinent to point out that anything occurring in the near future to the idealist and voluntaristic statements of the government and the broad sectors of society will have to take into consideration the importance of rights and reality. If a government manifests itself in favor of independence, it means that the bridges have been broken with Spain; it could represent a point of no return. If an alternative plan does not exist, if Europe does not approve this decision, if the debt buries us and if we do not know how it will be the next day, the best advice would be not to rush. The government does not own the country. In order to make this decision we need to call for elections with this program, and then hold a referendum as soon as possible. It is necessary.

*Editor’s Note: The only grave in Arlington National Cemetery with an eternal flame is John F. Kennedy’s; the cemetery itself, however, was established on Lee’s estate