He woke up on August 21, the sun had already risen, everything was clear. He felt discomfort like a hangover or the beginning of the flu. He was up past midnight watching the elections on television. In the previous days, surveys of dubious reliability were received via various electronic means. But despite his obvious manipulation, there were constants that probably constituted a real trend, namely that the second place would be decided by three candidates, whose differences were within the margin of error. So what happened was a serious possibility. It was a “crying and gnashing of teeth” class. He always knew something like this was a real threat, he thought of activating some contacts he had out there to help him weather the storm. Or, better yet, work together to participate in contracts for a beach train, Caliche Dam, or helicopters with built-in human failure.

In any case, he did not think about one thing, the responsibility he bears for the results. It’s the ignorance of the people, it’s that all politicians are corrupt, it’s that the previous governments were bad, and also a series of “third parties” whose historical heritage dates back to the conquistadors, whose major shortcomings were the Catholics and the Spanish… it’s that he’s an objective man, he says this despite his eight Iberian surnames, about whose nobility he doesn’t allow questions. In any case, he never thought about what action or omission he contributed to the creation of this state of affairs that now terrifies him. He had a right to enjoy his comfortable immobility and his contented insignificance, so now he has no right to protest. Who’s he? Although this portrait may seem like a portrait of members of certain social classes, it actually tends to encompass business people, academics, professionals, intellectuals, even segments of the bureaucracy. This picture, comprehensively, tries to cover the most educated layers of the country. Those who cowardly and irresponsibly abandoned political activity and social activism. And that morning, they were the results of his neglect, his laziness and his selfishness.

The conditions shared by the involved segments are, of course, medium and high incomes, resources and time required for effective operation. The country should be imbued with the ethics of public responsibility, which leads us all to participate in political governance, charitable actions, the spread of culture and related activities. Politically, what hurt that morning, they failed to create parties with ideas, vision and adequate structures that would participate in election events and influence the progress of the public sector. What little there was in that sense dissipated when the silly prejudices of the “partyocracy” spread. And so we come to 20A, which puts him in the dilemma of voting for the worst in history or for the ethno-ecological option with dogmatic positions and irresponsible grooming.

A dream… for a moment. And it will happen again within a year and a half if there is no serious attempt to change the attitude. (OR)