Hungary’s New Constitution: Ideas have Consequences

„Next week, the Hungarian parliament is scheduled to declare itself to be a constitutional convention and to debate several draft documents over the next five weeks. This may be a very short time in which to conclude such a great matter, but so far the constitutional process (begun last September) has gone according to schedule. The smooth sailing of what is normally a very complex, organic process has prompted some criticism from those who believe that developments are predetermined by the governing FIDESZ party, which enjoys a two-thirds majority in Parliament, enough to reform the constitution without opposition support.

As Hungary drafts and debates a new constitution, it is undeniably a precarious moment. But it is also a rare opportunity to replace the amended communist constitution of 1949, and as many believe, a chance to symbolically complete the regime change that began in 1989. As Hungarians contemplate the exact form of their future government and the philosophy on which it will be based, it is vital that terms of great philosophical significance, such as republicanism, self-government, and liberty, be considered on their own merits. No misuse of these terms in practice by individuals, political parties, or popular culture can erode the philosophical truths that they represent and their universal applicability.

America’s own constitution was anchored in the universal truths set forth in the Declaration of Independence. These truths have kept America the land of the free and the home of the brave for 235 years. Their timeless relevance can be applied to Hungary’s political circumstances as surely on an iPad as with Madison’s quill pen and parchment paper. But there’s no app for that: it still takes serious philosophical work to apply timeless truths to the particular circumstances at hand. The world will watch with expectation Hungary’s new experiment in establishing good government.”