Kamala And Lincoln, Law And Democracy: Preliminary Parallel – OpEd
The deep meaning of a democracy is encapsulated in two words, reward and punish. A state that fails to do so with justice is not democratic. Aristotle, one of the founders of the Western logic that has governed our civilization since then, recalls this statement. Aristotle tells us that it was stated – now 25 centuries ago – by Solon, the man whose name has become synonymous with political wisdom. Solon had be given full dictatorial powers in Athens and was unanimously charged by parties in war to create the Athenian constitution to end the internal wars that were tearing society apart. It is noteworthy that Solon, once the laws were defined, communicated that he was leaving the city for ten years, “so as not to be the person who made the laws and at the same time interpreted them”. It is an exaltation of the rule of law that characterizes democracy and it is well fitted for America now.But why, via Solon, the Kamala – Lincoln parallel?
In the frantic debate that has been ignited since the formalization of the role: Kamala yes, Kamala no, there is an aspect that has been ignored, and which should instead be remembered in the run-up to her official coronation at the National Democratic Convention on August 19-22 in Chicago. This aspect, which is preliminary to all debates in a democratic society, is the rule of law – America is the longest-lasting democracy in the entire Western world. The French one, which in 1789 anticipated it by a little, while containing the fundamental principles of every subsequent Western democracy, has often been interrupted by kingdoms and dictatorships. While Great Britain, in the opinion of the writer, can never be considered a full democracy as long as it recognizes a hereditary reigning power at its top, even if it is formal. Democracy sub judice, that of the sovereign, even if he now has more of a reputation than his family, a function that he performs very well. The Ameircan Democracy, on the other hand, has not been interrupted. Compared to its two centuries, the few decades of the Western republics are little and it is not sub judice to anyone, except for the right to the Constitutional Court.
The rule of law is therefore the first pillar of American democracy, and here in a glaring way two electoral characteristics of the two contenders and the merits of Kamala.
1. the abysmal difference between the legal status of Trump, found guilty on several occasions for a variety of violations of the nation’s law, and the legal status of Kamala, absolutely exempt.
2 But even more important is the legal projection into the future of the enormous power of President. If it is true, as it is, that democracy is defended first and foremost by the protection of the rule of law, it is a unique fortune for Americans to be able to elect a President who for the first time, with the sole exception of Lincoln, has his legal profession as his pillar. That’s why Kamala and Lincoln is not a far-fetched parallel.
The issues of economic development, international relations, internal balances of power, which will rightly be the key themes of the electoral campaign of the two contenders, must not make Americans forget that all this is discussed and debated in a legal context of protection of the law. And it is a unique fortune to have at the political top contender, Kamale, a person who until now has had the protection of citizens’ rights as a public profession. And this is the first point to underline, with Kamala as president, every citizen can feel more protected in his rights.
Kamala, therefore, emulating Lincoln, is therefore not a risky aspiration. But there is a practical terrain on which this parallel could be further developed, again taking Solon as a reference. The ancient Athenian legislator freed the poorest category from debts who risked entering slavery because of the interest. And Solon, in addition to freeing debts, forbade the guarantee of the person that could be given.
Kamala can imitate Solon by freeing students from a debt that has become incredibly heavy. In Germany, university education is absolutely free. The most generous states offer all educational materials free of charge, not just manuals, in the form of loans or non-repayable grants. In Berlin, parents pay a lump sum of 100 euros for all teaching materials, and there are exemptions for families in financial difficulty.
Student loan debt in the United States totals $1.753 trillion !!. It is an unacceptable figure that weighs on people up to the age of 50. Solon reduced the debt of the poorer classes. Kamala would do well to announce a gradual and generalized reduction of this immense debt that weighs on the shoulders of young people, no longer young, because they wanted to be educated. America owes all or almost all of its economic development to the development of knowledge that today, thanks to the Internet and the Information Revolution, has become a real commodity bought and sold by billions of Internet users.
In this doubly revolutionary context produced by knowledge, the internet and the information society, India is the first country in the world that tries to calculate the knowledge product of a nation, the GDKP, Gross Domestic Knowledge Product, but the USA is the nation that has promoted knowledge at the highest social levels and that in the GDKP would have the true measure of its past and future wealth. It is therefore right that, inspired by Solon on the rule of law, Kamala follows his indications even by reducing that immense and disproportionate debt made by students for the interest of America. In doing so, Kamala could further develop the parallel with Lincoln who made a law to abolish slavery. A gigantic debt of $1.7 trillion that burdens people up to fifty years, is a form of modern economic slavery. The jurist Lincolm would appreciate it.
