By Frank O'Collins (June 2006)
 
  So many Irish men and women died before they could witness the day that most of Ireland would be free and independent of England. So it is with the deepest respect, gratitude and praise is given to those visionaries such as Eamon de Valera who saw fit to cast a mighty constitutional document that became law in 1937.
  
  Since then, and with honor to its original authors, the Constitution of the Republic of Ireland has been the blueprint for a number of other nations as they too have sought to recast their prime law.
  
  Given such universal support of the present constitution of the Republic of Ireland why then should a new constitution even be considered? The reason rests with a call to history.
  
  The present state of affairs  
  No matter how respected the present constitution, no matter how universally accepted in Ireland, Ireland itself remains torn in two. The North remains firmly in the hands of England, with little sign of the Crown or Parliament of England willing to cede the remainder of Ireland back to the Irish.
  
  Instead, a complicated and bloody history remains both the motivation and the impasse for both sides- Republications and Unionists, nationalists and loyal monarchists, Catholics and Protestants.
  
  It is to this reality that the present constitution exists and has existed since its inception. To be fair, in 1937 England was still basking in the glory of the British Empire and commanded both vast wealth and military forces. It was only through the noble gestures of the English Parliament at the time that such historical documents were allowed to stand.
  
  However in matters of Northern Ireland, the English were and remain staunchly opposed to unification. The Empire has gone, but the bitterness towards the Irish has not.
  
  The last act of evil  
  Unlike the Roman and Greek Empires, the British Empire was not created upon noble ideals of a civilized world, but of a closed common market. In a word, the colonies were both the workers, the source of cheap materials and labor and the consumers of the Empire.
  
  England adopted many of the strategies of ancient Europe and used with devastating effect its prime strategy of “divided and conquer”. Thus, a favourite Machiavellian trick of England was to divide a previous nation into at least two halves, thereby crippling its soul.
 
  To this very day, we are paying the price for such evil trickery in the form of the puzzle of nations of Africa, the divisions of the Middle East and Israel, the Korean Peninsula and of course Ireland.
  
  While privately, England today would rather have not set in motion such acts of bastadry given what the world now reaps in misery and danger. However, when it comes to Ireland, England is unlikely to show one drop of compassion for its calls for unity until the very end.
  
  How to break through such hatred  
  How then do good people of all nations break through such hate, such evil, such continuing anger? Is it through more acts of terror, or is it through a supreme act of vision and compassion?
  
  Ghandi was able to overpower an Empire at its height, not through mass riots but through (mostly) peaceful civil disobedience. In the case of Ireland, it is recognizing that Ireland urgently needs a document of history that can be the catalyst and call for unification.
  
  For all its greatness, the present constitution fails on many counts in this regard. While it provides provisions for the rights of people, while it speaks of unification, it is not a document that calls to the pages of history of unification- only a constitution forged from a declaration can accomplish such a feat.
  
  The power of words
  
  We sometimes fall under the illusion that bullets and bayonet’s are an immovable force, particularly when controlled by a desperate enemy. We fear that our soft flesh is no match for the steel of a war machine once unleashed. Then again, we sometimes forget history.
  
  Victor Hugo once wrote “An invasion of armies can be resisted. But not an idea whose time has come.” Such a quote could aptly apply to the present situation of Ireland. For what is lacking is that document which calls to the heart and soul of every Irish person and every descendent of Ireland to unify in the common cause of One Ireland.
  
  Such power unleashed, such a singular and moral focus cannot be stopped once launched.
 
  Will the reformed constitution be considered?
  
  Even for those committed republicans who call daily for the unification of Ireland, the notion of a reformed constitution and a declaration of Unity is too controversial. Therefore for even the most radical of politicians, the response to the reformed constitution may be deafening silence.
  
  It is not to them that we appeal but the next generation. The generation who have witnessed the general cease fire of the IRA and yet see no tangible action towards unification. It is to the generation of children of loyalist and protestant families who have known nothing but hate, bleak bitterness and fear of their future, should unification ever happen.
  
  These are the souls that will effect change, not the politicians who have become comfortable with power.
  
  When will this happen? Soon hopefully. But if not, then the legacy of a document of history remains to be picked but those few or several patriots who recognize when fate calls. Ireland will once again be united. It is destiny and let no man or woman stand in its way.
  
     

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