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Coming To A Future Southwest: Democracy, Lopez Obrador-Style!

Lopez Obrador’s plan is to have his government help the poor, oppose privatizations and make the news media — which he has accused of ignoring him — more “truthful and objective.” It’s not clear how he plans to do that, but his supporters are already planning to hold an alternative swearing in ceremony to rival […]

Lopez Obrador’s plan is to have his government help the poor, oppose privatizations and make the news media — which he has accused of ignoring him — more “truthful and objective.”

It’s not clear how he plans to do that, but his supporters are already planning to hold an alternative swearing in ceremony to rival the official inauguration on Dec. 1.

People close to Lopez Obrador say he is assuming the role of his hero, 18th century [sic] President Benito Juarez, who led a roving, “unofficial” presidency from 1863 to 1867 during the French invasion, before driving out the invaders and executing the French-installed Emperor Maximilian. ~MSNBC

Does that mean that he has hopes of executing Calderon?  I wonder.  Of course, if Lopez Obrador and his followers do manage to start a civil war over this, the peoples of Mexico and the United States will be the losers, since, besides the destruction it would cause, it would make Mexico most undesirable for outside investment and the refugees from the war would be coming here in droves. 

But what Lopez Obrador is doing should stand as a shining example to people who think that the PRD-style of politics has something to do with any kind of democracy that we would recognise here or who think that the political habits of Mexicans in Mexico have no impact on the political habits of Mexican immigrants (who can, let us remember, vote in Mexican elections).  It is the politics of direct action and street protest (and, if need be, street violence), and it is the style that many of the people coming to this country from Mexico have imbibed from their youth.  These are the political habits they have inherited, and I think we would be foolish to think that they will not keep them even once they have relocated to this country.     

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