If America wants to get real on restoring democracy, Mexico is having meaningful success fixing theirs, and provides a good example. Beating back neoliberalism and corruption are driving Mexico’s change. America has the same serious barriers to good functioning democracy. But can America change, even if it has the will? It is up to the people. But at some point, choices are gone.
Anyone who is not comfortable with America’s performance and direction should consider this straight-forward way of restoring democracy. This approach can work, and Americans need relief.
The largest political party in Mexico is also the newest. Morena, is left-wing populist. It has been the ruling party since 2018, and won a land-slide victory again in the general election of June 2024.
What Morena has accomplished for the people of Mexico.
Mexico made significant gains for the common working class. Nuance and insight are provided in an Edwin F. Ackerman article appearing on Portside. The results as drawn from official sources: real wages surged by approximately 30 percent, labor’s share of income increased by 8 percent, and the earnings of the bottom 10 percent grew by 98.8 percent.
Per Akerman: “The country’s Gini coefficient, a measure of inequality, improved, and overall poverty dropped by 8.5 percent, with over nine million people lifted out of poverty — the largest reduction in twenty-two years. Unemployment rates are now the lowest in the region, coupled with a slight decrease in informal labor”.
American exceptionalism precludes learning, especially from Mexico.
Alas, America has always marginalized Mexico, and our imperialistic persona will not allow much self-examination or discussion. And right now, sadly, America is reviving operation wetback, so there is even less tolerance for anything Mexican. Plus, Mexico has the pertinacity to keep pointing out that American guns are feeding the cartel drug wars.
How Mexico made impressive progress in restoring democracy.
Mexico, under the strong leadership of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, or AMLO, made the case against neoliberalism and corruption, and established the Morena party to work the issues. Rather than individual crimes or scandals, AMLO defined corruption as a function of reordering the state-economy relationship. He called out the government as forming a reverse-rentier state which drains public money by various mechanisms. These include outsourcing of government functions, overpriced contracting, tax loopholes, and improper unofficial alliances. Sound familiar, America?
The Mexican effort was more persistent than perfect. Aggressive progressives criticized AMLO, but he retired and the party is continuing stronger. It is now “the most important movement on the continent,” Camila Martínez, Morena’s communications and propaganda secretary, told AQ. Key to their effort is that they had leadership and a commitment.
America’s readiness for restoring democracy.
There is nothing radical or evil or wrong in the recommendation expressed here. But that is the way the bipartisan cabal will attack it. Of course, there is the traditional resistance to a new party, to protect the as-is. There is something really wrong if restoring democracy has to be a revolution.
Establishment politics, in bipartisan collusion, exclusively representing the 1% controlling oligarchy, routinely marginalizes the common people. They have a long-metastasized history of rapidly and aggressively misrepresenting and denying significant people-initiated change. Certainly, nothing is allowed that addresses gross income inequality. Ninety-nine percent of all goes to the oligarchy, and they are enjoying new unfettered power. The oligarchy will not entertain any idea of restoring democracy.
Occupy Wall Street set the tone and raised the issue, but they were quashed. This is directly tied to the UnitedHealthcare CEO assassination. Violence is never recommended and is not a solution, but the pain, indignity, and ruination of millions of Americans cannot go unaddressed.
A changing of the establishment guard is in motion. Old leaders who built the rigged system are passing away. Youngsters are being groomed to keep it in place, and relatively youthful oligarchs are already in place, particularly in technology.
Restoring American democracy means overcoming oligarchy.
American oligarchy has built itself up at the expense of common people, to the extreme. There is no indication that greed and corruption will abate under bipartisan protection. Eroded social conditions now make it a humanitarian issue, rather than ideology.
Make no mistake, oligarchy is the powerful enemy of democracy and the people. Now it is in the open, with control of America’s bounty being openly and eagerly handed over by the courts and politicians; they are not unlike favored slaves selling out the other slaves to their masters. Oligarchy is now established in America as the chief product of bipartisanship. But it is not going to hold. And it is not democracy.
Big money oligarchs assume to control all, and they will call out all the dogs to crush social populism. Oligarchs are the force that owns both political parties, that keeps them from doing anything of substance for the people. Trump kowtows to oligarchs to whom he is indebted, and they prevented Harris from even speaking. This is the operating style of oligarchy – above the fray for the most part, with fascist-autocratic type politicians to do the dirty work.
American oligarchs and their fascist-leaning politicians are out of touch with the plight of the people, and this is not a worry to them. Simply put, they do not get it and do not care.
American people must find and support open-minded strong, democratic leadership.
Mexico recognized their problems and had the political character to start a course correction. America needs to suck it up and do similarly. Common Americans will stand and fight for their rights and fair shares. Let’s find leadership and work a plan that features movement to left-wing anti-corruption politics.