Guinea's military government leader, Mamady Doumbouya, has officially entered the presidential race, submitting his candidacy for the December 28 elections, aimed at restoring constitutional order following the general's 2021 coup. Doumbouya arrived at the West African country's Supreme Court in an armoured vehicle on Monday to formally hand in his candidacy, surrounded by special forces. He left without giving a statement.
One of the Constitution's founding purposes was to prevent change. But another was to allow for change without violence. Amendment is a constitution's mechanism for the prevention of insurrection-the only way to change the fundamentals of government without recourse to rebellion. Amendment is so essential to the American constitutional tradition-so methodical and so entirely a conception of endurance through adaptation-­that it can best be described as a philosophy. It is, at this point, a philosophy all but forgotten.
