I am sure that you have either heard of or read a story about an immigrant who fled to the United States. Specifically, one who left because the conditions “here” are or in some cases were the opposite of conditions “there.” Wherever “there” may be. We forget sometimes in the face of rampant inflation and growing corruption that we still have a pretty good country, at least on paper–New York and California aside. One thing that more and more people have become aware of is how easy it can be to lose the things that make people want to come here. Like elections.
Let us set aside discussions of corruption, ballot-stuffing, malfunctions, and flat-out incompetence. That is being addressed in other places. Let us concentrate for the moment on the fact that at least, for now, the states maintain control over their elections. And that matters, not only to us but to the people in Mexico
Tens of thousands of Mexicans were in the streets on Sunday. They were protesting a plan by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to change Mexico’s electoral commission. Obrador maintains that electoral authorities worked to thwart his presidential runs in 2006 and 2012. He said that his reform would give citizens the job of electing election authorities. It would also reduce the influence of economic interests, limit ad time, and cut financing for political parties. The Mexican Congress is discussing the plan.
On the other hand, many of the citizens see the move as a potential attempt to centralize power and give Obrador more sway over elections. According to the report in the Washington Free Beacon, the number of protestors in Mexico City swelled over the course of the day, and Reuters quoted one witness who said that the crowd reached approximately 50,000. People wore t-shirts and carried placards that read “Defending the INE” or Instituto Nacional Electoral. Economist Ana Lilia Moreno, who was at the demonstration, stated, “Democracy in Mexico is in danger. I hope that many young people — and even those who are normally not interested in politics — will attend, that they will value our institutions, and will defend what our parents and grandparents built to mature politically.”
Related: Failure at the Border: 5.5 Million Illegal Immigrants Have Crossed Into the U.S. on Biden’s Watch
So it would seem that concerns about limiting an executive branch are not unique to the United States. People everywhere understand that true freedom is achieved through smaller government. And Americans, especially Gen Z, would do well to listen to the stories of why they left “there” to come “here,” before “here” becomes “there.”
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