Good ole' Mexico

I'm really glad that things like this generally don't happen here. Although, really, this is just a bit of great political theater, and Great Britain's unruly House of Commons (watch "Prime Minister's Questions" on C-Span sometime to see how...ahem...respectful the opposition MP's are to Tony) proves that civility isn't a pre-requisite for an effective government. It isn't really the protest that I'm disturbed by. Instead, it's Lopez Obrador's insistence on refusing to honor the results of an upcoming decision by Mexico's electoral court on whether the July election was valid, unless of course the court rules in his favor.

I am much too far removed to know who "actually" won the Mexican election. Corruption in elections is rampant anyplace where large-scale elections are held, and so there was undoubtedly some foul play going on in Mexico. But Lopez Obrador is just a candidate, and his followers are just average folks. To analogize, how would a pig farmer from Iowa, or a stock brocker from New York, or an actor from Hollywood have any idea whether an election was "free and fair?" Simple answer; they wouldn't. I haven't seen a single piece of hard evidence indicating fraud in Mexico's election. Instead, it is enough for Lopez Obrador that he didn't get enough votes. That, in and of itself, provides the necessary proof.

Lopez Obrador has gone so far as to say that if he loses in court, he will "create a parallel government and rule from the streets." Imagine if we did that here? I can just imagine "shadow" Secretary of State Joe Biden delivering addresses on Iraq at the behest of "shadow" President John Kerry. Lopez Obrador may or may not be the better choice to lead Mexico, but that really isn't the point. He lost the election, and he and his party need to end the fight before they do irreparable harm to the spark of democracy that exists there.