Let’s put the right to happiness in the Italian Constitution

It is a question on which jurists of every nation and era have questioned themselves. Is there a right to happiness? Can it be included in the Constitution? The United States included it as early as the eighteenth century in their declaration of independence. There is a day dedicated to happiness, March 20, established by the General Assembly of the United Nations Organization starting from the awareness that “the pursuit of happiness is a fundamental aim of humanity”.

The call is, for all Member States, to propose a more inclusive, equitable and balanced approach to growth economic development that promotes sustainable development, the eradication of poverty, the happiness and well-being of all people.

There is also a list of the happiest countries, the World Happiness Report of the UN which sees Finland, Norway and Denmark on the podium. Italy is in 47th place in this ranking made by putting together factors such as income, health, education, work, life expectancy, social status. They are real elements, but do they really serve to measure something as intangible as happiness?

The Italian Constitution, in article 3, speaks of the full development of the human person. It does not explicitly mention the right to happiness. For some it implies. Romana Liuzzo, President of the Guido Carli Foundation, proposes to insert it instead in this article which establishes the principle of equality.

Beyond the American model, why the choice of the Constitution?
“Because the Constitution is not just the Charter that underlies the civil coexistence of our country, but like every Constitution it expresses the soul, the spirit of national unity. Here, I think that recognizing the right to happiness of every Italian citizen among the fundamental rights enshrined in the first part of the Charter constitutes a sort of secular consecration of a natural aspiration of the individual. And I believe that the most appropriate place would be Article 3, which establishes the right to equality. Everyone must be put in a position to be able to contribute to individual happiness. This is also a way to contribute to collective well-being ».

How is the concept of happiness declined in everyday life?
“Being happy is not a permanent state of life, we know it very well, this goes without saying. But one can aspire to happiness, that is, to the full realization and fulfillment of each person’s personality. We can be happy, for example, if the conditions exist to carry out a decent job, if we are able to give life and maintain a family with dignity, if we have the possibility of being assisted and cared for in difficulty or illness. Anything that contributes to making our life better in some way is an incentive to happiness ”.

The concept of happiness is linked to the individual. Has the centrality of the person in political objectives been lost?
«It seems a paradox, but the more politics has transformed the parties into leader structures, in which the law of the strongest, of the charismatic and undisputed leader commands, the more the citizen-voter has become a number that contributes to forming the mass. An indistinct mass that populates social networks, which makes opinion and consensus in polls, and which is therefore taken into consideration as such, not as a set of individuals. Yes, I think that progressively the centrality of the person has been increasingly neglected by the political agenda, replaced in the attention of politics by the belly of the mass. That yes, supported and satisfied by the various forms of populism ».

Happiness passes through equality of rights?
«Equality of rights does not create happiness in itself, but certainly if it were to be fulfilled it would guarantee an equal starting condition that would facilitate the path. I mean that if we are all put in the conditions to live from our work, to repeat the basic example of a moment ago, perhaps there is some more chance that we can dedicate ourselves to our own happiness or that of the people around us. Without a job or a decent life for your family, everything becomes more complicated. Imagine the path to a happy life. These are considerations that mark these times and that have led the Guido Carli Foundation, which I have the honor of presiding, to organize a two-part Lectio magistralis, on March 5 in Rome, precisely on the “Right to happiness” and on “Future of ethics”. One of our great in-depth events, this time a confrontation between Gianni Letta, a man of the institutions, and the philosopher entrepreneur Brunello Cucinelli ».

Are the pandemic and the changes it has brought about an opportunity to be seized to change our perspective or is it a train that we have already missed?
«It did not go and everything will not go well, if you want to paraphrase the good-natured expression that marked the first weeks of the pandemic in 2020. This seems evident to me. However, at the same time, I think that all is not lost. That the conditions exist to be able to make the worst crisis that has been experienced from the post-war period to today what the ancient Greeks called the kayros, the propitious moment. Every crisis by definition marks a transition, most of the time positive: that is, it turns into an opportunity. And if from this sort of suspension of our normality, of our humanity we do not get better, then yes, the sacrifice of such a long time and so much missed life will be wasted. I’m confident. I remain convinced that this will not be the case, that we will be able to create a better world. And why not, happier ».