Federico Reyes Heroles
We know they lie to us. They know we know they are lying to us, and… they keep on lying.
How far can it go? It is difficult to say. It appears in the world, and we can expel it. It has already been there for decades. Let’s remember Le Pen’s Dad and his offenses. Or Trump from four years ago. Or Bukele or Milei, the most recent. In the degradation, the human being seems to have no limits; there is always a lower step.
Could anyone have imagined the widespread pederasty of the Catholic Church in the 21st century or that human trafficking would become the main business of the mafias? Would it have been possible that one of the oldest and most consolidated democracies of the planet, the United States, could reelect someone who openly supports racist arguments, does not believe in science, has been accused of sexual harassment on multiple occasions, of fraud, of tax evasion and, for dessert, instigated a coup on Capitol Hill? Is Milei a surprise? Frankly, no. “That you think politicians take care of you is like putting your children in the hands of a pedophile,” said the future president of Argentina. That is the image of the politics that brought him to power. And what can we say about the triumph of the far-right Geert Wilders in Holland, racist and anti-Islamist? The country of Erasmus of Rotterdam and Baruch Spinoza, the nation that served John Locke as a refuge from the religious intolerance of his nation.
But does politics in itself really degrade? Or is the mechanics different: some politicians downgrade an office that, in itself, can exalt and bring out the best in us. Let us think of Obama, Francisco, Sanguinetti or Mujica. There, they walk and turn nations around. Today, it sounds romantic, absurd, and naive. But it is not so; let’s look at history. The human being does not know his greatness until he has the opportunity to bring it out. Did Martin Luther King imagine how far his words would go? Or Gandhi, the quiet law student, the revolution of independence and freedoms he would bring to his country? Or Nelson Mandela, the scope of his reconciliation proposal? Evidently not. Let us remember the mud from which they emerged. They are human beings who reverse the circle and begin the ascent.
There have been five years of insults, generalized offenses, denigrations, lies, tricks, etc., uttered by the one who, in principle, has the most outstanding personal responsibility for leading the country. Many are the damages in health, education, and justice that he has caused. But, perhaps the greatest wound is the ethical one. We know that they lie to us. They know that we know that they lie to us, and… they continue lying. We know about the rampant corruption, their central banner, and yet, with all cynicism… they continue to talk about being champions. Their alliances with the forces of illegality are evident, and now they have made it part of our life: it is normal for him to visit Badiraguato, but he cannot set foot in Acapulco.
He sails around the bay shielded by the Navy. Does he ponder about the suffering of the people and the possible solutions? No. By decree, there is no more emergency! What for, Mr. President, better to apply our system, we alter figures as with the dead by COVID, the disappeared, the consequences of not having applied essential vaccines to children. Don’t worry about the screams outside the Naval Base, Mr. President; the ceremony went very well, with good pictures. Grab a helicopter and fly to Oaxaca.
That is the ethical sludge drowning Mexico. The underlying slogan is not left or right, let alone the verbal fencing that arises from the whim of the witticisms. Today, the essence of the opposition lies in clearly establishing an ethical difference, genuinely empathizing, and acting accordingly. Concrete measures on the coming water crisis, on the health lags and the physical and emotional ailments of the sick thrown into oblivion, of the students who are left behind and without a future.
There is another kind of Mexican, willing to serve, with nobility, to vindicate politics, to make a greater Mexico.
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