After listening to certain statements by some politicians and politicians of the DC, regarding the Public Account of President Gabriel Boric and the progress of the Constitutional Convention, I could not help but remember a historical moment not so distant. When that same party (represented by Radomiro Tomic) believed in the State as an engine of development and social welfare, and in the people as a source of legitimacy for the important decisions that the nation had to make. But they are nothing but nostalgia. Like those left written by General Bachelet in the letter to his wife Ángela Jeria, from prison (quoting the poet Juan Clemente Zenea): “I have my soul, Lord, in pain / for some sorrows that have no name / and do not blame me, no, because I ask you / another Homeland, another century and other men.”
New State and New Institutionality.
“The Chilean institutional system is going through an acute process of crisis. Its origin may lie in the inability of the system to respond […], to the new demands of the economic, social and political development of the country.
Overcoming this crisis makes it essential to redefine the role of the State and to implement a new institutionality. In it, respect for the legal norm cannot be the pretext for betraying or delaying the aspirations of the people. On the contrary, it must be the condition for these aspirations to be expressed and realized in a process of accelerated social change.
From the previous formulation flow the characteristics of the new State. It must be transformative, democratic and modern.
To. The Transformative State
The redefinition of the role of the State requires that it become the transforming organ par excellence, directing, guiding and stimulating the process of economic and social change.
An indispensable instrument of transformation must be the unity of the organized people in order to assume their responsibilities in the direction of the State and the national economy. […].
The new State will be fully committed and identified with the interests of the great national majorities. It will not be an arbiter State. Consequently, the redefinition of the role of the State must be accompanied by the introduction of an institutional norm, binding on the courts of justice, on the State Administration and on individuals, which assigns a transformative purpose to the new legal system, establishing that any legal provision must be interpreted, in case of doubt, in order to promote the practical application of the principle of equality before the law, social justice and the elevation of the living conditions of the common inhabitants.
A prerequisite for the achievement of the above objectives is the separation of public functions and economic interests. […].
B. The Democratic State
The new State will guarantee the existence of conditions of social coexistence, which in addition to allowing the free development of the human person, promote the generation of a great mystique of national solidarity.
To that end, the definition of national sovereignty will be revised, establishing that sovereignty resides with the people. The latter will not only delegate its exercise to the authorities established by the Constitution, but will also exercise it directly through the plebiscite, in all those cases in which said authorities do not reach an agreement on issues of fundamental importance for the life of the country.
This new role of the State must also be expressed, in a redefinition of constitutional guarantees, in order to enshrine the social rights of workers and to establish as a fundamental guarantee the right to participate actively in social, cultural, civic, political and economic life, with the aim of achieving the full development of the personal life of all Chileans and their effective incorporation into the national community. Consequently, the State will have the duty to remove the obstacles that limit, in fact, the freedom and equality of individuals and groups, guaranteeing access to all Chileans at the level of economic, social and cultural well-being. […].
The redefinition of the role of the State, the new conception of sovereignty, the reform of basic institutions, the interpretation of the entire legal order for the benefit of the great majorities and the incompatibility between public offices and economic interests, must allow a new institutionality in which the rule of law is transfused.to join in a State of Justice.”
Excerpt from Chapter 2, “The Construction of a New State, Democratic and Modern” (p. 5). Government program of the candidate DC Radomiro Tomic, presidential election of 1970.
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