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The European Constitution see also The True Story of Magna Carta What Really Happened at Runnymede English Liberty Through The Ages The American Constitution links to further reading Governments make laws which apply to the conduct of citizens. This comes with the explicit consent of the citizens, who have relinquished the right to settle differences between themselves by argument and force if necessary, in favor of handing the power both of decision and enforcement to government.
The advantage is relative peace, as governments gradually assemble a body of generally acceptable law which citizens observe, having confidence that others too will observe the same laws.
The handing over of individual power of many citizens into the hands of a relatively few members of government creates dangers of abuse which need to be foreseen and as far as possible excluded.
Governments need to be told what is expected of them, what are the limitations upon the scope of their laws, and in what specific manner they should proceed, ensuring for example opportunity for debate, as well as checks and balances between various government branches or departments. Herein lies the purpose of constitution.
While governments make laws applicable to citizens, constitutions set the frame and regulations applicable to government. An interesting example of latter-day constitution-writing can be seen in the efforts of the European Union. Here again, as in Philadelphia 1787, the basic focus is a power struggle between federalists and nationalists, with barely a nod of recognition towards the eurocitizens whose daily lives the document would hope to regulate.
It may indeed be quite fitting for the EU's present constitutional council to establish departments, branches and procedures together with their functions and limitations. But more importantly in the minds of citizens will be issues of limitations on the overall powers and reach, as well as the cost of government, and it would be interesting to have a Bill of Citizens' Rights drawn up by members of the various societies representing civil liberties, limitations on government size, and taxation.
Popular and regularly recurring examples of constitutional restrictions which protect citizens' liberties from encroachment by government are provisions which protect freedom of religion, assembly and speech. Such commonplace generalities may be predictable, but should nonetheless be present. Today however, the provisions for citizens' protection against the spread of government influence and intrusion must be more precisely stated and considerably more sophisticated if liberty is to be preserved.
One of the most basic rules of constitutional principle is that government should not be permitted to conduct its affairs in any way which would be unacceptable in the private citizen or business. That the law-makers, either monarch or government, should be subject to their own laws is one of the fundamental principles of constitutionalism. And yet if we apply this principle in the area of finance we can at once see the glaring disparity between the legally permitted conduct of private sector business and that of government. Government can go into debt on its current account, then simply continue to go ever deeper into debt without any hindrance whatsoever. Conduct which the law would never tolerate in private citizens or business is, apparently, quite acceptable in government. This is a sure sign of a lack of constitutional discipline.
Of more concern to many citizens is the assumed right of government to take and to increase taxes as of right, without any apparent limitation and without any accounting or productivity disciplines. The establishment, monitoring and enforcement of rigorous constitutional disciplines over government operational and financial conduct and efficiency is essential.
A constitutionally-imposed openness and discipline in the area of government productivity and finance would be of economic benefit in terms of the overall standard of living. Government does after all take some 40 to 50% of the national income. Productivity in an area of this magnitude would prove enormously influential.
At the same time however, government financial and functional transparency would impose corresponding disciplines on the electorate, forcing a public awareness of the fact that government can only give away what it has already taken (less a substantial handling charge) and that government "programs" and subsidies have to be paid for. Other basic truths would have to be faced in the areas of public health systems and pension schemes, neither of which can give out more than is taken in.
The motivation to improve government productivity and its standards of business practice is unlikely to come from inside government itself, and even if it does, the disciplines thus created are likely to be more cosmetic than real. Governments frequently pay lip-service to improving productivity and financial discipline, but seldom make any real changes. Self discipline is a noble ideal, but discipline is always more effective when it is imposed from outside, or more importantly, from above.
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