Ricardo Pascoe Pierce
The overrepresentation of Morena in Congress was consummated. In a few weeks, there will be at least a change of the Judicial Power and the elimination of the autonomous bodies. An electoral reform to close the way to minorities and reelection will also be approved shortly. With this, the second floor of the so-called fourth transformation will be consummated.
What has actually been consummated is the radical change of the political regime in Mexico. As in Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia, and Venezuela, the intention is, by various means, to eliminate the alternation of power forever. What is the reasoning behind eliminating the “unnecessary” alternation of power?
President López Obrador’s ideas and words defined why there should be no alternation in power in Mexico. In his opinion, his reasons justified the changes in the electoral rules to eliminate views different from his own regarding the future of Mexico as a nation.
He said: “I am leaving with peace of mind, we have already made progress, the example remains for future generations, our children, our grandchildren, we have already left them this inheritance, this legacy of how it is possible when there are abuses of power when a few feel they are the owners of Mexico, it is already clear the recipe to be applied that our children and grandchildren will apply if required when the oligarchs want to impose themselves again, there will be (sic) true democracy again, power of the people and for the people”.
The basic premise of López Obrador’s thinking is that no party other than his own shall or will be allowed to govern Mexico in the future (hence the reference to children and grandchildren). He then confirms that electoral competition between parties with different ideological and governmental platforms is not a true democracy. That competition is a crude competition for power and the usufruct of privileges.
According to López, true democracy is the “power of the people and for the people”. In his idea, this differs from the vulgar alternation between political parties. Underlying his thinking is eliminating elections as an instrument to settle differences. Therefore, the heart of his election proposal is to eliminate dissent and opposition. There is, in his mind, only one party that represents the real people in power: his party, Morena. What is the point of prolonging the elections system since they only tend to stimulate dissent and heated discussions, which confuse the people?
The idea is to simplify the political processes, given that the party representing true popular democracy has already emerged. Let’s say no more. In other words, for López Obrador, everything has already been said and solved: the people came to power through him.
The new President seconded him in the event where an ecological park was handed over in Texcoco. She used the same language as the President. “It should not be forgotten that here they wanted to build an airport, and that is why they repressed so that it would not be the people who prevented the construction of the airport, which they then wanted to build again here in Lake Texcoco, but in 2018 the people of Mexico said enough of repressive governments that only serve a few interests.” The President stated emphatically, “There will be no going back, no return to the past, nor will corruption or privileges return”.
The position of the new President echoes the conception of López, the President. His conviction is that they have inaugurated a new era in Mexico’s life, where there is no longer room for the ideological positions of the opposition. Their shared idea is that they represent an epistemological rupture with the country’s very history as we know it. For them, there is no turning back. They say it with all their words and conform to it with their actions.
Extremist interpretative positions have meant the same as the President and now the new President. They consider themselves bearers of wisdom about the future that is conferred to few and select characters. Robespierre, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Hitler, Ayatollah Khomeini, Fidel, and Putin were among that select group. There are many more, but this list allows us to go deeper into what we want to describe. All these characters absolutely denied the possibility of alternation. Theirs was an eternal and immovable Truth.
The ideologies of the opponents were fiction, arbitrariness, and, finally, betrayals of the only and unquestionable truth that was called to direct the destinies of the peoples for time without interruption. It seemed natural and evident to Hitler that the Third Reich would last a thousand years. To the Mexican President, it seems a truism that there is no need for any more elections. The people voted, and he and the new president are beginning a new era in Mexico’s history. He says this because he believes it to be so, as an evident and unquestionable truth.
Alternation no longer has a place in the new Mexican political order. What makes sense is simply following the path they decided to follow, simplifying everything to make democracy accessible to all. Justice Batres proposes not only the popular vote of judges, magistrates, and Justices but also the abolition of lawyers so that the people can access justice by simply filling out a form with their complaint/claim/denunciation and passing it to the Court Clerk’s Office so that it can be attended to. And the matter will be solved. There will be justice for all those who fill out the form.
The proposed new electoral rules will lead Mexico to a new political regime. Should the political process designed by the President move forward, the Constitution will lose all meaning. Under the premise that everything is understood from a central and enlightened intelligence that plans and decides the necessary actions so that the people do not have to exhaust themselves with those reflections, democracy is obviously directed by a core of power.
In this new regime, the Constitution has lost all meaning because it no longer corresponds to the reality lived in Mexico. The State is no longer composed of three independent and autonomous Powers. There is only one Power: the Executive. The Legislative Branch is fictional because it simply approves the executive orders. At the same time, the new judicial branch will be a brotherhood of judges devoted to approving and legalizing whatever the executive orders. Any similarity with Russia, Cuba, or Venezuela is no mere coincidence.
Alternation exists and is necessary when society proposes to analyze and debate the convenience of alternative routes to address and solve major national problems. However, alternation is no longer required when there is no analysis or debate because everything is solved centrally without involving society in public affairs. It ceases to exist.
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