The Importance of an Effective Electoral System

 The Importance of an Effective Electoral System

Diego Martín Velázquez Caballero

The Mexican political system, like Latin American presidential systems in general, has reached a critical point in the debate surrounding its electoral and governance structure.

Experience reveals that outside the United States, presidentialism does not function effectively and has faced severe problems stemming from the separation of powers, high electoral competitiveness, and political fragmentation.

In Mexico, the electoral system has been subject to numerous reforms that, far from resolving these problems, seem to cyclically fall into the same errors, perpetuating a quagmire that hinders democratic governance and favors the intervention of de facto powers and external actors, such as the United States.

Giovanni Sartori, in his work on constitutional engineering, proposed the concept of intermittent presidentialism.

This idea should not be understood as a derogatory critique, but rather as a strategy to make presidentialism functional in contexts where governance has been severely compromised.

Adopting measures such as implementing runoff elections for all offices, eliminating corrupt practices in party financing, and reducing the influence of powerful vested interests are concrete steps toward strengthening a presidential system that, in its intermittent form, can offer greater stability and democratic control.

Accumulating evidence indicates that electoral reforms in Mexico have been insufficient, and that social distrust and the ambition of political parties only deepen the crisis.

One option, perhaps radical but plausible, would be to adopt elements of the U.S. electoral system to mitigate the erosion of presidential power.

The political history of Latin America demands robust democratic governance, and reforms must go beyond mere stopgap measures, promoting a Sartorian model that makes presidential power functional, inhibits the influence of external and vested interests, and guarantees the effective exercise of political power.

Continuing in the same logic of collisions only demonstrates that Mexican political science has failed to translate its knowledge into practical solutions, and that, ultimately, the country remains trapped in an electoral organization model that, despite its formal changes, maintains the structure of a system that fails to respond to the challenges of modern governance.

Elon Musk and the Breakdown of the American Two-Party System

 Elon Musk and the Breakdown of the American Two-Party System

Diego Martín Velázquez Caballero

It is undeniable that the political history of the United States has been characterized by the two-party hegemony of Republicans and Democrats. However, the possibility of a significant break looms on the horizon, driven by atypical figures such as the techno-feudal entrepreneur Elon Musk. Just as Ross Perot once did, Musk could seriously challenge this established dominance, opening a new chapter in American political dynamics and becoming a third rather than a leading actor in the United States.

The United States political system, although one of the oldest and most democratic in the world, shows growing signs of disenchantment and a progressive loss of its appeal in the evolution of contemporary liberal culture. North America has managed to develop a functional presidential system, perhaps the only one of its kind, despite an electoral model that many consider unfair and plutocratic. For some scholars, this particular characteristic is precisely what has allowed for the complex mechanics of checks and balances, equilibrium, and equilibrium, a uniqueness rarely observed in other forms of presidential government outside of their territory. In contrast, for example, the Latin American reality offers a mirror to the dysfunctionality of presidentialism. In this region, coexistence with multi-party systems often results in authoritarian schemes. Despite various electoral and political reforms, the proliferation of parties generates governmental paralysis that leads to inefficiency and, unfortunately, to recurrent authoritarian attempts. Therefore, the indirect, aristocratic, and savagely liberal system of the United States only allows the survival of two partisan institutions, although there is an enormous associative, philanthropic, participatory, union, and militant tradition in North America.

Therefore, the potential emergence of a third party in the United States takes on particular relevance. A party that seriously competes for power would not only revitalize the political sphere but could also return greater sovereignty to civil society. Ross Perot's precedent was extraordinary, emerging at a time of notable participatory crisis in the country. Today, the relevance of a similar movement is accentuated by the excessive polarization that permeates the political environment, a context that could benefit the "Party of America" ​​initiative that Elon Musk seeks to build.

The visionary owner of Tesla, SpaceX, and other powerful industries possesses not only the financial resources, but also the technological and media resources, to develop substantial competitiveness and reach a broad audience. His vast technological empire has the potential to contribute significantly to the well-being of American society, even to the point of conceiving futuristic projects such as Elyseum, Tecnato, Modelo Downsizing, or Project Venus. Musk, with his disruptive approach, could spell the apocalypse of conventional politics, understood as a purely instinctive activity, by introducing artificial intelligence and post-technocracy as a fundamental pillar of governance and decision-making.

This South African-American entrepreneur will undoubtedly put forward a series of innovative proposals with which a large portion of the American population could identify. The technological populism embodied by Musk represents a considerable challenge for the

Democratic and Republican parties, which seem to have run out of answers in the face of China's rapid evolution and the growing global disenchantment with liberal democracy. Will the traditional American parties be up to the task of this new political era? Musk could be the Robert Redford of the film United States of Amnesia.