In the year that has passed since I moved back to Mexico, I have learned from its current administration an important lesson that I would now like to apply to my personal life: in transcendental moments, pragmatism and cooperation are more profitable than ideology and intransigence. In the political environment in Mexico today, this vision is allowing us, finally, to construct the foundations for the country that we all desire. The current government--by no means perfect, but one of the most systematically pragmatic governments we have ever had--has decided to set ideology aside in order to promote the most significant process of transformation that we have lived in decades. Without a well-defined ideology, the current administration has put forth policies both from the right and the left. Its vision is not defined by anyone's canon, rather it attempts to go beyond the divisions that fragment our society for the sake of the "greater good" or, at the very least, for the sake of its own political success. Regardless of what its underlying motivation might be, what is undeniably true is that the current administration in Mexico has shown that it is possible to overcome political gridlock; in fact, as many have already pointed out, the political performance of the current government in Mexico could be a good example to follow for its neighbors (see the recent Christian Science Monitor, for example).
While in the United States politics now routinely stagnates in a morass of hatred and antagonism between its political parties, in Mexico--in spite of the tripartite political system that everyone had condemned as the worst of all scenarios and, perhaps, because of it--we have reached a fundamental agreement: let us forget about our differences and let us focus on what we can all agree our country needs. We are neither rich, nor poor; we are neither Conservative, nor Liberal; we are humans, we are Mexicans and we all want a better country. We may not agree on everything, certainly not on "how" we can create a better country, but there does exist a consensus today on the fact that great things, dramatic changes must be carried out now so as to take advantage of this historic moment we are living.
There certainly exist frictions between the parties that dominate politics in Mexico and, as a result, the pact that has been established for our country becomes strained from time to time. Nonetheless, despite our differences, the country continues to put forth a vision for itself that is not contingent on a consensus on the details, but that rather gains strength from our capacity as a nation to prioritize the processes that we must carry out to create the country we all want: a more prosperous, more inclusive, more peaceful and happier Mexico...
This pax mexicana will not last forever. And so much the better for it, since a greater degree of political contestation will allow us to grow and to improve as a nation, in due time. The important thing to remember is that there are times to argue and fight and there are times to forget about our disagreements and cooperate. Today, we are in a stage in our life as a nation that demands transformation, creation, maturation; we are in a time of global shocks in which every country must decide in what direction they want to go. This moment in our history requires forceful action; a vision that transcends factions; an attitude that gives priority to the goals we have in common. When the grand bargains to transform our country have been established, then we may return to the perennial struggle that allows nations to define the details of the plans they want to carry out as economies, nations and societies.
As for the United States, it is unclear to me what are the main obstacles for reconciliation. At this point I have more questions than answers, I suppose: What is it about a country that almost allows itself (and the rest of the world) to drown as a result of the inflexibility of its political parties? What can we say about a nation that every day becomes more and more polarized and that actively promotes ideology, rejects cooperation and calls any efforts for reconciliation a lack of integrity?
As a citizen of both of these great countries, whose futures will forever be intrinsically intertwined, I hope that cooperation in Mexico bears fruits soon and I hope that this compels Americans to take note and apply the lesson.
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