The problems of the political class

Film director and novelist Guillermo del Toro recently put his finger on the problem with the present leadership in this country.  During a recent press conference at the Guadalajara International Film Festival, he rattled a few cages, and raised a few eyebrows when he remarked “I would love to sit down with the political class and light a fire under them so they might have a sense of history, rather than just a desire to steal… Many of us will be forgotten, but the bullshit they do will be remembered by history.”

The political class too often tries to emulate their counter-parts north of the border (a country with a notorious sense of amnesia when it comes to national history) in pushing “new” proposals that aren’t really new, or in introducing bills that undo standing rules (like the strict separation of church and state in education) that came about through long historical processes.  However, the people are not north-of-the-border people … it’s nothing to find taxi drivers who can map out Pancho Villa’s battle plans, or street vendors who know where the Emperor Montezuma once walked, or farmers who can quote Benito Juárez.  The people don’t forget… whether they will continue to forgive I can’t say.