Federico Reyes Heroles
The deception is collective. Freedom of expression, secrecy, parties, independence of the organizers, institutional relay, respect for differences, and rules by the authorities—all of this under the watchful eye of an honest citizenry—should be sufficient guarantees. But everything—managed with malice—can become a disguise. It is a cage.
It is global. The founding democracies -England, the United States, and France- were flagships. With the postwar era would come a new generation. Germany buried the dictatorship that buried the Weimar Republic. Lesson: democracy is reversible. The course seemed clear: democracy embodies liberal values. After Mussolini, Italy would become a fantastic laboratory with politicians like Berlinguer and theoreticians like Bobbio. Plurality was evident, with very elaborate ideologies, from Christian Democracy to the Socialist and Communist parties—a republic in permanent revision.
The “democratic waves” mentioned by Huntington were added. China was opening up to markets and with them would come liberal principles. This was not the case. Latin America shook off the dictatorships of the 1970s. Some have already returned. Spain buried the dictator and moved towards its own formula: a democratic monarchy. It is in crisis. Red lights: Berlusconi and the use of the media, severe distortion. Sartori warned images for ideas. Le Pen challenging the French centrism from the extreme right. Nationalisms, the demand for identity as an engine that crushes the liberal scaffolding of democratic equality. Neo-Nazis in Germany and other highly educated European countries. That is no guarantee either. Ideologies in disrepute. But the deception continued, they are stumbling blocks, it was said, the compass of the liberal democracies, continues marking the course. The European Union was seen as the ultimate civilizing expression of humanity. The collapse of the USSR gave life to new democratic regimes. But Russia marched toward a new form of dictatorship. So?
There were more deceptive signs. The cell phones of the Arab Spring were a new instrument in the service of freedom. But neither Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, Libya, or Syria marched towards democracy. Daniel Kahneman warned that thinking fast does not mean thinking better. New cages amid modernity.
Merkel leaves, today we know her to be irreplaceable. Trump appears as a coup plotter, but… very popular. Macron warns: “Europe in mortal danger”. Trump reappears who, even with his conviction on his back, may be the next president of the most significant power. No one with such a sentence could enlist in the armed forces. The Economist asks: Is America Dictator Proof? The answer, Dylan dixit, is up in the air. Anne Applebaum states: “There is no liberal order in the world. Either democracies will defend themselves or the forces of autocracy will destroy them,” The Atlantic, March 2022.
Several demons visit the liberal democratic order. 1.- Lying without social condemnation is the acceptance of it. 2.- Criticism of ideologies without doctrinal substitution. 3.- Raudel Ávila -El Cultural, 01/06/2024- rightly points out the contempt for politicians that dragged politics as a vocation. 4.- The galloping improvisation: from Milei to Nuevo León. The use of the media (Sartori) 6.- Ethical degradation through social networks. From concepts to TikTok. 7.- Without solid political parties and professional politicians, democracies are adrift.
Surprise? Throughout the electoral process, basic principles were violated: fairness, respect for critics, non-use of public money, weakening of electoral bodies, threats, powerful injections of hatred, and a systematic presidential violation of the rules. Also, corruption was normalized (Nahle). They are going for the Judiciary and the plurinominals.
They made it; we are already a democracy… illiberal. We are in the cage. And how is it opened?
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