Enemies, foreign and domestic

An interesting take on recent events in Honduras:

...what happened here is nothing short of the triumph of the rule of law. These are the facts: On June 26, President Zelaya issued a decree ordering all government employees to take part in the "Public Opinion Poll to convene a National Constitutional Assembly." In doing so, Zelaya triggered a constitutional provision that automatically removed him from office.

Constitutional assemblies are convened to write new constitutions. When Zelaya published that decree to initiate an "opinion poll" about the possibility of convening a national assembly, he contravened the unchangeable articles of the Constitution that deal with the prohibition of reelecting a president and of extending his term. His actions showed intent.

Our Constitution takes such intent seriously. According to Article 239: "No citizen who has already served as head of the Executive Branch can be President or Vice-President. Whoever violates this law or proposes its reform [emphasis added], as well as those that support such violation directly or indirectly, will immediately cease in their functions and will be unable to hold any public office for a period of 10 years."

Notice that the article speaks about intent and that it also says "immediately" – as in "instant," as in "no trial required," as in "no impeachment needed."

Continuismo – the tendency of heads of state to extend their rule indefinitely – has been the lifeblood of Latin America's authoritarian tradition. The Constitution's provision of instant sanction might sound draconian, but every Latin American democrat knows how much of a threat to our fragile democracies continuismo presents.

I don't claim to be a Honduran constitutional scholar, but the author of the above would seem to qualify. And it seems significant the military is not now running Honduras. From appearances, it would seem they and the Supreme Court acted to protect their young Constitution against a domestic enemy. As the author of the second link says, time will reveal true intentions.

Our own military swears an oath to support and defend the Constitution (not the President, not the Congress or any other individual) against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Given the well-documented track record in Washington of ignoring inconvenient parts of our governing charter, one wonders if our own armed forces may one day feel compelled to act.