A Nation Of Laws, Not Of Men

Am I referring to America?

Nope not today. Today I'm talking about Honduras.

The recent Exile of leftist President Manuel Zelaya (background Q&A) from that small, mostly forgotten former Banana Republic has caused quite a stir. The OAS, the UN and even his divineness Barrack Obama have condemned the move.

Those of you who follow Uncommon Sense to any degree would know that normally it would take little else for me to support the Hondurans but those condemnations. However, add in Hugo Chavez's offer to reinstate his leftist friend (by force if need be) and Daniel Ortega's enthusiastic (one might say marionette-like) support for Hugo (reminds me of the way the old soviet block countries would issue similar scripted condemnations en-mass any time they perceived a threat the the Warsaw pact... ) and my support would seem to be clinched. But I'm not nearly so shallow.

The exile of Zelaya was a legal constitutional act undertaken by the military under orders from the Honduran Supreme Court and Congress.

THIS WAS NOT A COUP!

Article 239 of the Honduran Constitution a President that violates the principle of alternation of the Presidency or even proposes its reform, will "immediately cease in the exercise of office". So the simple act of proposing this reform (which no one is arguing did happen) removes a President from office ispo jure (by operation of law). (H/T)

As for his expulsion from the Country that too is covered in the Honduran Constitution under Article 42 which says in part; (*)

ARTICLE 42 .- The quality of citizen is lost:

5. For inciting, encouraging or supporting the continuity or re-election of the President of the Republic.

- In the cases referred to in paragraphs 1) and 2) the declaration of loss of citizenship will file
- For the cases of paragraphs 3) and 6) the statement will be made by the Executive Power by a government agreement,
- and for the cases of subparagraphs 4) and 5) also by governmental agreement, after the sentence handed down by the competent courts.

On top of all this constitutional authority the majority... let me say that again the MAJORITY of the Honduran Congress, the duly elected members of the Honduran government supported the removal of Zelaya, and it was Ordered by the Supreme Court of Honduras!

So why is this an issue? Why are Canada and the USA, the most mature and stable democracies in the Americas supporting the OAS and the Peoples Banana Republics of Venezuella and Nicaragua in condemning Honduras? We ought to be standing and cheering this triumph of law in a place that has had real Coups in the past.

Alas, once again we seem to be applying our own standards to a political system and nation completely disimlar to ours. There is no provision for revoking a citizenship in Canada and our supreme court would not (probably could not) issue such an order as quickly to prevent a would be dictator like Zelaya.

So the Hondurans are living by and abiding by their own constitution, and their constitutional law and we (speaking specifically of Canada and the USA) are siding with the politically correct collectivists of the OAS/UN and the real enemies of freedom (Chavez and his ilk) in condemning them for it.

Here is a young, stable, constitutionally formed Republic showing us what it really means to be a "Nation of Laws, not of Men" and we are censuring them for it.

Shame on us.