Yearly Archives: 2015

August 23, 2015

Freedom and Democracy

Luis Rubio  A few years ago, when Italy was traversing an electoral moment, a European publication accused the Prime Minister of suffering from a disease so rare that it had yet to be found in any medical journal: “proclamitis”, the compulsive announcement of new rules of the game. Mexico’s electoral system seems to be like […]

August 21, 2015

Practical Effects of Poor Decisions

FORBES – Luis Rubio “Experience, wrote Frederic Bastiat, teaches us effectually, but brutally. It makes us aware of the all the effects of an action, by causing us to feel them; and we cannot fail to finish by knowing that fire burns, if we have burned ourselves”. The Greek drama of the last months has led […]

August 16, 2015

Mexico as seen from Korea

Luis Rubio Korea and Mexico were more or less the same at the beginning of the sixties. That was a great time for the Mexican economy, with growth rates above 6% annually and a per-capita GDP higher than that of Korea, a country devastated and divided after a long and bloody civil war.   Fifty […]

August 9, 2015

The Old Authoritarianism

 Luis Rubio The recent elections illustrated, once again, one of the greatest paradoxes that characterize Mexico. The country has taken extraordinary steps in electoral matters but, nonetheless, there is no let-up of conflicts, of insults and above all distrust.  Although diverse political parties and, now, independent candidates, participate actively, there persists in a good part of […]

August 2, 2015

Fears and Political Paralysis

Luis Rubio After Wilson’s departure from the Paris Peace Conference at Versailles following World War I, Clemenceau, on his way to a meeting with Colonel House, Wilson’s adviser, was fired on by a young anarchist, Émile Cottin. As Clemenceau’s car sped away, Cottin fired seven (some say eight) more shots. One hit Clemenceau near the […]

July 26, 2015

Reforming the Power

Luis Rubio Alexander Woollcott met G.K. Chesterton for lunch at a London restaurant and asked him about his view on the difference between power and authority. “If a rhinoceros were to enter the restaurant now, there would be no denying he would have great power here. But I would be the first to rise and […]

July 23, 2015

The Politics of the Paucity of Growth

                                                                                                FORBES –  Luis Rubio The incapacity of […]

July 19, 2015

Culture Shock

Luis Rubio None of the ills that currently afflict Mexico is especially recent. For centuries, we Mexicans have known corruption, criminality, the wrongdoings of the government, the poor use of public resources and the propensity of diverse communities, above all in certain regions, to rise up and impose their will. If one concurs with these […]

July 12, 2015

D.F. Compass Absent

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July 5, 2015

The Matter of Power

Luis Rubio What is peace? Is it simply the absence of war? Kant thinks not. These are core questions that Kant analyzes in Perpetual Peace. Kant affirms that if peace is no more than a truce and is directed toward both parties regaining strength for their next attack, if peace is no more than the continuation […]