Lebanon cannot be preserved as a nation, nor can the idea of the state be restored, without a single decisive choice: moral courage rooted in the full and uncompromising application of the Constitution, in both letter and spirit. There is no alternative path. Attempts at political maneuvering, calculated ambiguity, and deliberate ignorance of violations have hollowed out the state and normalized its collapse. 

The Constitution is not a symbolic document reserved for ceremonial rhetoric. It is not a flexible reference invoked when convenient and ignored when interests are threatened. It is a binding founding contract that defines the nature of the state, regulates power, and anchors the rule of law. Any deviation from it is not accidental. It is a conscious political act. 

Lebanon’s crisis is not caused by a lack of constitutional texts. It is the result of systematic manipulation. Clever evasions, selective interpretation, and the deliberate obscuring of violations have transformed the Constitution from a governing framework into a bargaining space. Rules have been replaced by settlements. Accountability has given way to accommodation. Sovereignty has become a negotiable asset. 

What Lebanon needs today is not political daring, nor risky experimentation. It needs moral courage understood in its most basic form: returning to fundamentals. Saying clearly that what violates the Constitution is unacceptable, regardless of who commits it and regardless of political cost. Redefining patriotism as adherence to the law, not the ability to bypass it. 

This form of courage cannot emerge from actors trapped in personal calculations or driven by ambitions of power. It belongs to those who have detached themselves from the logic of spoils and from the illusion that collapse can be managed rather than confronted. To those who view the state not as a tool of influence, but as a shared framework of rights and obligations. 

Without such courage, the line between rivalry and complicity disappears. “National dialogues” turn into mechanisms for dissolving responsibility. Friendly gestures and symbolic consensus become cover for emptying sovereignty of substance. Violations cease to be exceptions and become norms. The state itself becomes a postponed detail. 

Public policy in Lebanon requires a fundamental recalibration. The priority is not producing new settlements, but halting constitutional erosion. Not redistributing shares of power, but restoring the authority of the reference framework. Not managing balances, but affirming the concept of a sovereign, just, and independent state. 

Returning to the Constitution is not a moral slogan. It is a practical condition for rescue. Without it, financial reform cannot succeed. Judicial independence cannot be secured. Public administration cannot function. Trust cannot be rebuilt. Every reform pathway begins with acknowledging that the state cannot be governed outside its founding text. 

Lebanon does not need new political customs. It needs respect for what was written. It does not need intermediaries between the state and its Constitution. It needs officials with the courage to apply it. There, and only there, lies a real chance of salvation, while the window of opportunity remains open.

Simon A. Kachar, PhD

Founding Director of the Good Governance and Citizenship Observatory at the Asfari Institute, and Lecturer in Political Science at the Political Science and Public Administration (PSPA) Department at AUB. Dr. Kachar holds a BA and MA in Public Administration, and a PhD in Political Science.