Apologies to Honest Abe for the parody of his
"Government of the people, by the people and for the people". The government
referred to here is the government of México.
The "Washington Consensus" tells us that if a country embraces honest
elections and a free market economy, it enters the first world. This is
too simplistic because there is far more required.
We have talked about needed reforms of the law and judicial systems
in Mexico. Also are fiscal (tax) reforms and labor reform to provide the
foundation for a modern competitive country in the modern global economy.
Today's subject is legislative reform for México. Let's take a look at
what passes for the legislative system in México:
There are two main issues of needed reforms in our legislative
structure. The first are term limits. Under the federal constitution, the
President, Senators and Deputies (Representatives) are limited to one term
and one term only. This came about in the constitution of 1917 after one
president served over 25 years, well into senility and accompanying
extreme corruption. As usual, law usually goes from one extreme to the
other.
In lower elected posts, such as mayors in some states, they can serve
more than one turn, but cannot succeed themselves.
The result is that all office holders (The President, governors and
the congresses) are lame ducks and are freshmen to boot. The idea of
performing well to get reelected is absent. Missing is having at least
some of the congresses reelected to be able to pass on their experience.
It takes a lawmaker a few years to learn what is really going on, and
under the one term rule the congress barely learns their jobs just before
they are out of office.
Of course, this also makes for interesting careers for professional
politicians. The mayor of today is a representative tomorrow, a governor
next and so on all the while learning his new job.
The second Mexican quirk is the "proportional" seats of the
congresses. As an example, the Chamber of Delegates (Representatives) has
500 seats. The voters directly elect 300 of these seats. 200 of these
seats are reserved as proportional. The proportional seats are divided up
between the parties based on their proportions in the general election. If
party A gets 30% of the votes cast in July, 30% of those proportional
seats go to party A. The various parties submit lists of candidates before
the election and from there on it's a numbers game.
Now, let's be clear on this. 40% of the representatives that sit in
the chamber have nothing to do with people's choice. They are there by
their party's choice. And with no chance of reelection, they haven't any
tie to the people's desires either before or after the election. The same
system is in force in all legislative bodies in México with the Senate at
25% proportional.
Now, couple this system to the legal immunity granted to office
holders and we begin to see how the Mexican system is designed for the
creation and preservation of an elite political system.
A local columnist here commented recently that this was the beginning
of the "tizzy" season. I like that. By the end of March, those aspiring to
continue their political career are all vying for positions in the
"proportional" lists of the parties. It looks like a cockroach infested
room at night when the lights are turned on, running in all directions.
Some surprises came out of the PRI (Institutional Revolutionary
Party) conclave. A former governor of the state that I live in was left
off of the candidate list for a proportional seat. He felt "slighted" and
threatened to quit the party, but later reconsidered. I met him once and
concluded that here was a very arrogant man.
Another thing was the inclusion of two leading figures in our
infamous "Pemexgate" scandal. They are both high enough on the list to
insure that they get seats, however the election turns out. And because
they have been able to continuously hold one office after another, they
remain totally free from prosecution from the many charges on file against
them.
What we have here is a system installed by a (then) one party
government to insure control of the people by an elite. We no longer have
a one party government, but we still have the elite system.
On the other hand, how can you expect a governing class to pass
reforms that would limit their privileges and power? Not too likely.
Self-reform doesn't exist.
But back to Honest Abe. What we have in México is institutionalized
corruption. Not a government of, by and for the people.
_____________________________________
Richard N. Baldwin T., a HispanicVista.com (http://www.hispanicvista.com/)
contributing columnist, lives in Tlalnepantla, Edo de México. E-mail at:
R1041643422@aol.com
By
Richard N. Baldwin T. /HispanicVista.com