Are the PiS presidents included in the function of serial, constitutional criminals carrying out an assassination on the regulation of law? Can Donald Trump be recalled as president? Will we get a book in 2040: How to rise the president of Poland? If the law is interpreted, is it inactive a law?
Prof. Marcin Matczak, lawyer, philosopher, book author, academic teacher and publicist answers these – and many another questions.
Polarization is simply a "dead enemy" for democracy
One of the most dangerous phenomena of modern politics is to lock people in tribal identities. In specified a world, all effort to go beyond the line of its own camp is treated as treason, not as an component of honest thinking.
– The most common comment I get from 1 side and the another is: I can't perceive to it. It's like another imagination of the planet hurt. After all, this is what it is about reasoning about confronting something else – emphasises Prof. Marcin Matczak
It is this "thinking pain" that makes public debate increasingly turn into exchanging passwords alternatively of arguments. And the consequences are more serious than you might think.
– If people lock themselves in bubbles, if they live in tribes, it's deadly dangerous to democracy. due to the fact that at any point the question arises: why quit power to those we consider traitors? – he says.
The regulation of law is based on security
In this context, the regulation of law ceases to be an abstract concept. It becomes a prerequisite for the endurance of the community and the safety of the individual.
– The regulation of law is the regulation of law, not the people and their whim. If individual destroys the regulation of law, it destroys the basic social fabric of allowing a man to live as he wants to live. Breaking the Constitution always ends with breaking a human being – emphasizes the guest of "Evening on the Theme".
This conviction sets the actual rate of dispute. It is not about legislation, but about the limits of power and whether a citizen can function without fear of arbitrary policy decisions.
– If there is simply a power in the country that says: I know better than you, I am smarter than you – it is all at risk. Our plans, our lives, our self-fulfillment – adds Prof. Matczak.
State by policy
The problem begins where the constitution ceases to be a commitment and becomes an obstacle to circumvention. Then comes the temptation to change the meaning of the law without changing its content.
– It's not interpretation, it's twisting the constitution the another way around. This is an effort to tell the nation: I don't care what you have agreed, I know better – says Prof. Marcin Matczak.
In specified a model your rules cease to be common. They become a tool in the hands of those who are in power.
– This is contempt for the nation. The Constitution is the will of the community, not the material for any interpretation. If individual breaks it, they admit that it is more crucial than the law, or more crucial than all of us," he adds.
And this, as experience shows, inevitably leads to escalation of tensions.
– If individual unilaterally changes the rules we have agreed on together, this must lead to conflict. due to the fact that the another side will yet get up from the table – says Matczak.
Borders of interpretation
The law requires interpretation, but that does not mean freedom. Borders are determined by the language, context and consistency of the full system. Their crossing is no longer interpretation, but manipulation.
– If anyone can give words any meaning, we no longer realize each other. This is an attack on the language and consequently on the community," he says.
This is why a dispute over 1 word can trigger a much larger conflict – due to the fact that in reality it is about controlling the sense of the full system.
More than a political conflict
From this perspective, today's dispute ceases to be simply a clash of parties. It concerns the basic principle, which for decades has been the axis of modern democracy.
– The full effort of humanity was not to let 1 group of people to impose their will on everyone else. due to the fact that erstwhile this happens, evil begins – says Prof. Marcin Matczak.
And that is why, regardless of current disputes, the question of the regulation of law remains the question of whether the state is inactive protecting the citizen, whether he is beginning to submit to it.
Watch the full episode of "Evening on the Temat" with Prof. Marcin Matczak on our YouTube channel on Themat.
