Will we ever learn?

I love Mexico dearly. And because I love it, because I love its people, I’m truly saddened by events like the one that occurred on Monday. I could go into a century of political history explaining the “democracy” of Mexico, past and present, but I won’t. I’ll just say that the 2000 presidential election was a turning point in Mexico’s government after 71 years of single-party domination. The past six years haven’t been peachy, but it was starting to appear like a greater sense of order was taking place. Then Monday happened.

The 2006 presidential election had declared Felipe Calderon as winner and new president of Mexico. Although it was an extremely narrow victory (very similar to US 2000 election), the democratic process declared that the people voted for Calderon. So what happened on Monday? Andres Lopez Obrador, who lost the election, decided to declare himself president and start his own government. Are you kidding me?! At a glance, it may seem like something to laugh at. But it isn’t. First of all, he actually has supporters. He’s not some crazy guy no one’s paying attention to. Second of all, guess how the Mexican Revolution started? (Not that I’m saying the 1910 Revolution was a bad thing, but another one now would bring more harm than good). Third of all, by declaring that the results of the election don’t matter, Obrador is spitting in the face of what Mexico is trying to become. Doesn’t he realize that he’s hurting the very people he claims to represent? This seems to be a cycle in Mexican history...

I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I pray things don’t escalate. Here’s an article for more info: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15820551/

PS: I hate the title of the article: “Mexico loser starts own government” um…how are we supposed to take that seriously?