Sometimes I wanted to believe, I had minimal certainties and maybe a little enthusiasm for politics. He believed that citizenship was a way to integrate into the community, under the idea that power would create the necessary conditions for progress. I read the story and hoped that, against all odds, we would become a republic, and that rules and institutions would replace barbarism, mischief, and direct action; that peace would be the fruit of the civilization chosen by our ancestors, those who, even at the cost of their lives, challenged us to be a state.

electric vacuums

But that trust, more intuitive than rational, failed. Distrust, therefore, is not a complaint. It is born of the proof that until it is understood that the only task of the state is to serve, there will be no such thing as pompously called democracy; certainty that, in the conditions of a country permeated by corruption and populism, there will be no power that will obey and respond. The validity is that the law and its rationality are fictions, and that legal certainty is an uncertain chapter of discourse. It’s a lie that repeats itself.

crime wins

Distrust is not a complaint. It is a logical conclusion that strikes anyone who observes how crime and corruption flourish, how politics serves to diffuse discord and strengthen agreements, while the state collapses. Distrust in the face of inoperative structures and discourses that deny the truth, in the face of a state ruled by incompetence, in the face of a system that glorifies calculations and nonsense.

Distrust is not a complaint. It’s a logical conclusion that strikes anyone who observes how crime spreads…

How can we not believe, if we give part of our freedom to a state that only serves to collect taxes, and from which we only receive talks and promises? How can you not believe the parade of characters who talk and cheat shamelessly from right to left? How can you not believe the cheap literature that floods the Assembly? Should I believe after watching the news that captures the spirit of any sane person? Not. Indignation is what fits.

reconcile or confront

Trust is the glue that holds society together. It is a value that strengthens the bond between neighbors, friends and neighbors; between employers and workers; between experts and clients; between an officer and a citizen who requires their services. This is what explains obedience to government and what maintains the legitimacy of the legal system. If there is no such moral connection, society is a fiction and the state is a lie. And it is not a matter of passing new laws, signing new contracts or inviting investors. Restoring trust is now, more than ever, a monumental task that involves, first, understanding the magnitude of the drama, assuming that the system is overloaded, that without a huge dose of common sense, commitment and responsibility, people will continue to poison themselves with hatred, fear and frustration.

Trust is not restored if every citizen carries a weapon. It will be renewed if there is testimony that the government, the deputies, the judges, exist outside of speech. And that power is given to the people. (OR)