#Referendum, appeal to the defenders of the Constitution (by Giuseppe Palma)

If you care about the Constitution, regardless of political sympathies, be actively involved in spreading the reasons for the "No" until the last day, until the last hour.

Phone relatives and friends and explain to them why it is necessary to vote "No" in the constitutional referendum of 20 and 21 September, therefore the damage that this reform could cause to representative democracy .

After that, on Sunday 20 and Monday 21 September, go and physically take those undecided friends and relatives from home or who would not want to vote, and accompany them to the polling stations convincing them of the reasons for the "No". It is a sacrifice required of us by the glorious constitutional civilization of which we are heirs, also because – unlike the abrogative referendum – the confirmatory one does not provide for a minimum quorum of voters for its validity: each vote can be decisive.

The Constitution is in the hands of a band of resentful, angry and opportunists who want to destroy democratic representation , that is, adequate popular representation in the country's most important institution, the Parliament.

It is not only the numerical composition of the Chambers that is at stake, which for charity can certainly be the subject of discussion in the presence of adequate balances and counterweights, the role of Parliament is at stake , now reduced to a mere role of " deferred notary " of decisions of a plenipotentiary government.

One can also agree with "cutting" the number of parliamentarians ", I am too, but only in the context of an overall constitutional revision that adequately balances the reduced representation of the people in Parliament. Counterweights were needed , which are completely absent. I am thinking, for example, of the direct election of the President of the Republic or the grafting of instruments of direct democracy such as consultative referendums, or a revision of perfect bicameralism.

None of this provides for the reform, if not a disjointed numerical reduction of the members of the Chambers, with all the problems that this entails. Parliamentary democracy is at risk.

Punishing the "caste" by depriving the people of the right to adequate parliamentary representation is in itself a contradiction. Also because the fake warriors against the "caste" have become – today – " caste " themselves. If "the politicians" were to be punished, as some supporters of the reform horribly put it, the "salaries" of parliamentarians could have been cut (even on this I disagree but it would have been a more logical solution), and not the number representatives of the people.

Nor is the idea “ if you don't start doing something, nothing ever changes ”. Changing just to change is useless, indeed, as in this case, it can even be harmful. Rest assured that if Yes wins, no corrections will be approved.

If you really want to save representative democracy and Parliament, vote "No" and make a concrete commitment to get as many voters as possible to vote "No".

The enterprise of stopping the drift of anti-politics is almost impossible at this stage, and for this reason it is still worth fighting until the last hour.
In order to say to our children, unfortunately one day they would have a Board of Directors to represent them instead of a Parliament , we were there and we tried with all our strength to save parliamentary democracy.

Parliaments were not born to give efficiency , far from it, but to slow down decision-making processes in the interest of the nation and the community. The law, the fruit of the various demands of a people, is the summary of the general will discussed in a Parliament of elected representatives who represent the demands of all. Dictatorships are fine for speed.

Giacomo Leopardi wrote in his Thoughts: “ There are some centuries that, to say nothing of the rest, in the arts and disciplines they presume to do everything again, because they can do nothing “.

Giuseppe PALMA

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PS Those who wish to deepen the reasons for the “No” to the confirmatory referendum of 20 and 21 September, will be able to read the penultimate book by myself and by Paolo Becchi, “ A wrong reform. Twelve reasons to say NO to the cut of parliamentarians ", Editrice Gds (first edition February 2020):
https://www.amazon.it/Una-reforma-sbagliata-Dodici-parlamentari/dp/8867829920/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=una+reforma+sbagliata&qid=1599220139&sr=8-1

Giuseppe PALMA

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The article #Referendum, appeal to the defenders of the Constitution (by Giuseppe Palma) comes from ScenariEconomici.it .

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This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/referendum-appello-ai-difensori-della-costituzione-di-giuseppe-palma/ on Fri, 04 Sep 2020 13:13:59 +0000.