The Meaning of the State in Mexico
Diego Martín Velázquez Caballero
David Miller explains that Latin American states have attempted to shape themselves around the demands of North American imperialism, perhaps for this reason there are so many contradictions in the models they have tested. However, as is often the case with other perspectives of imitation, copycats try to be more representative than the original phenomenon; the imitator may end up being better than the original or generating a bizarre reality. This is how the process of neoliberalism has unfolded. Suddenly, among the various Mexican neoliberal analysts, there are enormous gaps between the arguments of those who speak of the need for a strong state to protect the market—internal or external—a state capable of fighting monopolies and crime, collecting taxes, and generating public order; however, others speak of a minimal state that advocates deregulation, decentralization, and allows the mercantile energies of the invisible hand to flow; the latter are part of anarchist libertarianism.
What is the ideal proportion? Everything depends, primarily, on the context. One of the errors that has underpinned the evolution of political and economic liberalism in our country emerges from the absence of liberal currents in the debate. Liberalism has become dogmatized by factional political interests, and each elite proposes the state model that suits its interests. Liberalism is a school of civilization and democracy that is denied in Latin America, where the Habsburg Model is imposed on democracy and capitalism—even on socialism.
Ideological and political impostures lead to the structuring of a transformist muégano that makes any kind of evolution and social change impossible. Rulers dream of governing, but in reality, the state barely survives the invisible power and barbaric strength of society.
The historical rupture in Latin America and the transformation of the feudal economic, political, and, above all, social structures are fundamental. The foolish republics must put their constitutions into practice and defeat the powers that deny their hegemony. Without this quantum historical leap, there will be no modernity or economic model to discuss. It's better to give the president a cassock and ensure the right of blood. The United States has found it useful to take advantage of institutional weakness in Latin America; however, in the face of the trade war with China and the geopolitical evolution of organized crime, solid states can prove to be more efficient allies and build stable policies. Given the current situation, Trump is increasingly resembling Morena and Hidalgo.
