"I'm not going to write about that. I'm not going to write about that. I'm not going to write about that." That's what I told myself all week. Everyone will be talking about "that," people who are much smarter and more knowledgeable than me. Why would they want to read yet another column about it?

But the elephant in the room is too big to ignore.

Yesterday, I received a book that I bought on Amazon, taking advantage of the free shipping promotion. I was lucky enough to get it "like new,"at a greatly reduced price, a special edition that is not bound but sewn. "Alexander Hamilton" by Ron Chernov. For those of you who don't know him, Hamilton is one of the founding fathers of the United States, the face on the ten-dollar bill, the ideologist of the American financial system, one of the main promoters of the Constitution (as well as a delegate to the constitutional convention) of the northern country, among other things. With apologies to the most purist historians, Hamilton's life inspired Lin-Manuel Miranda to write the musical Hamilton, a Broadway smash hit, winner of eleven Tony Awards, and the most successful play ever staged (if you haven't seen it, it's on Disney+). From this, I would like to highlight two parts that I think are very well suited to the historical moment we are living in.

The first, in the song "Non-Stop," in a conversation between Aaron Burr and Hamilton, some verses say the following:

[BURR] The constitution is a mess

[HAMILTON] So it needs amendments.

[BURR] It's full of contradictions.

[HAMILTON] So is independence

We have to start somewhere.

 

We have to start somewhere. And so here we are, starting. Over the weekend, through a democratic process unprecedented in the world, we elected 155 constitutional convention delegates (77 women and 78 men), who will be responsible for drafting the country's potential new constitution, which must be ratified in a mandatory plebiscite once the new document is presented. We have already seen that these were not the results the market expected. But anyway, that's that. Nor am I entirely convinced that the vote the market expected was really something positive in the medium term, considering the context in which this process originated, but let's leave that to people who know more about it. For now, we have to start somewhere.

While Hamilton, a Federalist, was unable to get his financial plan through Congress, Thomas Jefferson, his fierce opponent and a Democratic-Republican, proposed a meeting to negotiate and reconcile their positions. In the musical, "The room where it happens"[2]:

 

[BURR] Congress is debating where to locate the capital—

Company screams in chaos

[BURR] It isn't pretty.

Then Jefferson approaches with a dinner invitation.

And Madison responds with Virginian insight:

[MADISON] Perhaps we can resolve one issue with another and achieve a victory for the Southerners, in other words—

[JEFFERSON] Oh-ho!

[MADISON] A quid pro quo

[JEFFERSON] I suppose

[MADISON] Wouldn't you like to work a little closer to home?

[JEFFERSON] Actually, I would

[MADISON] Well, I propose the Potomac

[JEFFERSON] And you'll provide him with his votes?

[MADISON] Well, we'll see how it goes.

[JEFFERSON] Let's go

 

Hamilton ceded the capital in exchange for passing his financial plan. In a nascent country, full of contradictions, power struggles, differing views, etc., two tremendously influential political adversaries were able to agree, giving ground to achieve progress on the issues that mattered most to them. Today, our constitutional convention does not have any political force that holds a third of the votes. It is true that alliances can be formed and this may change, but based on recent events, it seems that even within the opposition there is not much convergence on several significant issues, whether political, economic, social, etc. So there will have to be negotiations. Leaders will emerge and, being in the room where things happen, they will try to seek the best for their positions and for the country. It is true that some of those elected seem to have extremely radical positions, or even seem unaware of what a political regime is, but reviewing the Convention Manual prepared by Kenneth Bunker and his team of three-fifths, they appear to be a minority not necessarily capable of imposing those ideas.  It is true that there are risks, it is true that things may not turn out well, but the country has not made the greatest progress in its history over the last 30 years for nothing. That cannot be forgotten or dismissed. Improved? Of course.

[1] https://open.spotify.com/track/7qfoq1JFKBUEIvhqOHzuqX?si=3f9cbb760fba4b38

[2] https://open.spotify.com/track/2TK2KSrzXD6W01qjXVjNGh?si=a01d058a2f654b2f

 

Nathan Pincheira

Chief Economist at Fynsa