Luis Rubio
The daily life of Mexicans intersects with innumerable suppliers of goods and services and governmental entities, very few of which materialize for the citizen and consumer, respectively, as their raison d’être. A patrimonial vision persists and endures in which the citizen is at once the subject and captive consumer, both of these the property of those who should be the furnishers of competitive services. Instead of anticipating future competition and conceiving of the consumer as informed and responsible, they hazard a bet on continuity. They mirror Orwell’s words when he, on addressing the language, affirmed that: “The political language is designed for making lies seem truthful and murder respectable….”.
The country has for decades been engulfed in mediocrity, faithfully reflected in the growth rate of the economy. However many attempts are engaged in by the authority, the evidence is resounding: the Mexican economy functions to the degree that the engine that exports and remittances represent operates; that is, we live because of the U.S. economy. The internal engines do not work for the same reason that they have not worked since 1970: because key issues have not been attended to. The core problem is political, in that concentration of power leads to the abuse perpetrated against the citizen and consumer, which in turn inexorably generates mistrust that inhibits investment and saving. The result should surprise no one. Some allusive examples:
- The government of Mexico City is delighted for having rid itself of the Federal District (the D.F.) because it will now serve, and with no qualms, its interest groups. The constituent process comprises only insiders. The new traffic regulations are designed to impose discipline by means of arbitrariness: their rationale seems more like tax collecting than like creating a space of civilized coexistence. Rather than currying citizen favor for his future candidacy, the Head of the City Government is experiencing the collapse of his popularity. Perfectly predictable.
- The Rule of Law is inconceivable without order and discipline, but the question is where to start. Miguel Ángel Mancera began by imposing fines in wholesale fashion, with all of the abuse that the latter can provide; Arne aus den Ruthen, in Mexico City’s Miguel Hidalgo Delegation, opted for the path of confrontation. Order is necessary; the question is whether arbitrariness is a model of civilization. Subjection of bodyguards is one way of combating arbitrariness and impunity, but without crushing it because making a great ado does not guarantee results. Arbitrariness does not end impunity and, in contrast, can propitiate it.
- Presently in the making, The Constitution of the Federal District is an illustrative case. No matter how hard a long list of notables has involved themselves, the greater part of the citizenry is not aware of this nor is it represented. Is this a private process, only for those currently in office? Some months ago, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the U.S. equivalent of the Mexican National Securities Commission (CNV), proposed a modification in the respective law. The first thing it did was to publish the proposal so that all the interested parties would be informed, comment on it, and petition changes or greater precision, a process that would take over a year: the objective is better regulation, not a boorish candidacy. The point is to facilitate public discussion that permits all of interested parties the opportunity of analyzing and evaluating its implications in order to recommend corrections as well as of adopting the pertinent modifications and mechanisms in order for it to possess, when finally implemented, full validity and credibility. The process in Mexico City (the new Ciudad de México [CDMX]) is absolutely arbitrary: the SEC process is absolutely predictable, thus zero arbitrary.
- Private companies are not far behind. Banamex cancels accounts of more than 30 years if they have not been used in the past twelve months, as if it were the holy government. The worst is that it is that the interested party who must prove that the bank is in error and not the opposite. When the light go out, the response of the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) is “… but we’re not billing when there’s no electricity”, as if a modern economy would be able to function not only with that degree of arbitrariness, but also above all with that inability of understanding the importance of the flow of electricity. Aeromexico flights depart at times different from those advertized and then changes reserved seats as it pleases. Who does it work for? The company registering the greatest number of complaints at the Prosecutor for the Consumer (Profeco) is TelMex. Where does the consumer stand in all this?
What’s paradoxical about Mexico with an open economy is that, while it has drastically increased the availability of goods and services, consumer dealings continue to be authoritarian and arbitrary. I ask myself what will happen when true when options really exist…
Arbitrariness is the norm and one of the obvious causes of the lack of trust, which has translated into the extremely low rates of economic growth and also into the most superlative levels of contempt for authority. Arbitrariness feeds on impunity and this generates cynicism. There’s no worse vicious circle.
The mediocrity overwhelming the country is the product of the indisposition to take the great step forward to construct an ordered and civilized nation. Of course it is necessary to discipline, but the latter requires its achievement with the legitimacy of governmental as well as entrepreneurial action. Without that we we’ll do nothing but go on digging the hole of justificatory language and poor results. There is no way of disguising overwhelming evidence such as these.
@lrubiof