Spain's Constitution Day

Recently Spain celebrated its annual Constitution Day (on December 6th). Though it was nice to have the day off work, I did actually spend some time thinking about the Constitution and what it means. I hadn't really thought about it before but Spain doesn't have a lot of history being a democracy what with its royalty (which is still kicking around) and subsequent dictatorship. I sort of take it for granted that having a constitution and inalienable rights is the norm when in fact this year only marks Spain's 37th year as a democracy (a little history lesson: the dictatorship of Francisco Franco ended in 1975 when he died, then they made a change of government. The Constitution was radified by referendum in 1978). This is why its Constitution Day is so important.

For someone who comes from a country with a long history of democracy (USA!USA!USA!), it is weird for me to think that people not much older than myself knew what it was like to live under a dictatorship. Jose's parents and grandparents lived with a goverment and were not able to vote. You can imagine that voter turnout tends to be high when people know what its like not to be able to do so.

Jose's grandparents also have stories about living through the Spanish Civil War in the 1930's. After Franco died, many older people were worried that there might be another one. There was a lot of uncertainty and fear. I can't imagine living through that.

Thank goodness for the Constitution which grants us rights (even to me, just a lowly legal resident) and security. Happy belated Dia de la Constitucion!

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