Fewer Laws, More Observance of Them Needed on Anniversary of Mexican Constitution Rene Delgado - Reforma
go to original February 1, 2016

February 5 is the 99th anniversary of the promulgation of the Mexican Constitution of 1917. (Wikipedia)

Worshiping a document doesn’t mean observing it. Reforming laws in bulk doesn’t mean that the rule of law will be strengthened. Changing the rules again and again doesn’t improve the game, often times it complicates it or makes it void.

Those ideas come to mind because modifying the Constitution for every occurrence or emergency doesn’t bring it together, rather it makes the document disjointed. Making laws tougher without applying them leads to no effect; making programs legal without considering the impact on the budget is demagogy; turning regulations into fundraising tools isn’t something that a country that’s anxious to make their legal system perfect would do, rather it's one buried by the inability to establish what it wants or what it can do.

Legislators and leaders tread these waters. They modify and modify laws until they are turned into a ball of dough that is hard to apply and, the ridiculous thing, they become upset when they see the result. Worst of all is that, when in their respectivo forums, they make their voices deep and raspy to inform how many laws they have changed, but remain stuck in the same old reality.

It’s illusory to think that, now, when the Constitution is being commemorated, politicians are going to reflect on the uselessness of reforming and reforming laws. It’s illusory, but they would use less paper, ink and saliva. If only they acted or governed a bit without turning every little thing into the great event of the century, maybe, the country would move forward.

MV Note: What’s left from 1917? Of the 136 constitutional articles, 29 remain untouched. Most of these are secondary matters, such as the prohibition of noble titles, ... Others, fewer in number, are relevant and one is central: Article 39, according to which the sovereignty “resides essentially and originally in the people [who] have at all times the inalienable right to alter or modify their form of government.” These unmodified 29 articles are equal to 21% of the precepts, but their number of words, 1,687, corresponds to only 2.4% of the current Constitution text. This is what remains from 1917, in addition to a few other lines amid the added wordiness. (From article by Diego Valadés, February 25, 2014)

Every year, leaders and legislators reform this or that constitutional article and present it as a fait accompli. Then, when their useless effect is noticed, they try to fix the error, reforming the reform. The result is a paradox: they only make the fundamental document more disjointed.

Read the rest at Mexico Voices

Related: Mexico Government: Pending Legislation on Torture and Disappearances Needs Strengthening (Mexico Voices)

Translated by Joel Cloke

Mexico Voices is a blogging endeavor aimed at raising the awareness of U.S. citizens regarding the destructive impact of the U.S. economic policy and the War on Drugs on Mexico — on its people, their economic and physical security and their human rights, on the nation’s dysfunctional justice system, and on the rule of law and Mexico’s fragile democracy. Visit the website at MexicoVoices.blogspot.mx

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