Hey World (& President Obama), Honduras Got It Right

America has just celebrated her Independence Day, the day when our founding fathers stood up against the oppressive and unjust tyranny of the executive powers over them and sought to establish instead a government of liberty, justice and equality. And while we celebrated, the tiny country of Honduras was once again playing out our more than 200 year old drama.

Honduras has been an independent country for going on 200 years as well, but for most of that time was ruled by military power. A civilian based government was not established until 1982 with the writing of the Honduran Constitution. The constitution has since then gone through many alterations and, indeed, was designed to be flexible in order to survive a world, culture and society of constant change.

However, the 1982 constitution includes seven articles that cannot, according to its own declaration, be changed or altered. One of these articles stipulates the term limit for the nation’s president (four years) and includes the stipulation that if any president tries to reform the article or term limit, he shall immediately lose his office. This was to limit the power of the executive office and protect Honduras from entering into dictatorship.

Article 239: “No citizen who has already served as head of the Executive Branch can be President or Vice-President. Whoever violates this law or proposes its reform [emphasis added], as well as those that support such violation directly or indirectly, will immediately cease in their functions and will be unable to hold any public office for a period of 10 years.”

And that is what Manuel Zelaya tried to do.

In response to Zelaya’s unconstitutional action (among other alleged offenses), the supreme court, in order to uphold the unammendable constitutional law immediately removed Zelaya from office and had the legislature elect and establish a new interim government and president. These actions were in complete harmony with the stipulations of Honduras’s democratic constitution. It is the system of checks and balances working to beautiful perfection.

And yet the international community, and President Obama, have both refused to recognize this legal and just action as well as the interim government it has produced. They are instead siding with Hugo Chavez in their demands to have Zelaya reestablished as the president of Honduras. When an American president sides with Hugo Chavez on anything, it’s worth raising a few eyebrows. The international community and current American administration are voicing their condemnation, and imposing themselves both against Honduras’s constitution and national sovereignty.

The interim government of Honduras should be applauded by lovers of constitutional democracy and upheld as an example to faltering democracies around the world. They have upheld their constitution in the face of government corruption and have experienced a relatively peaceful (relatively and thus far) exchange of power. They have honored their constitution and it is our duty to, in turn, honor their bold step for liberty, justice and equality, just as we honored ours on our Independence Day.

Piece author Kristina Bjorkman is a guest contributor to GooseRadio. A 2008 graduate of Northwestern College in Saint Paul, Bjorkman spends her time thinking, climbing trees, making people laugh & changing the world.