Forjando Patria: Pro-Nacionalismo

17: Our Laws and Our Legislators

83 In the previous chapter, we discussed one of the propositions that the Mexican delegation presented before the Second Pan-American Scientific Congress that took place in Washington, D.C., which was the convenience of revising and reforming the constitutions and laws of Latin American countries. In this chapter, we will refer to the qualities required of our legislators, so that they may conscientiously develop their lofty task. With very few exceptions, the legislative bodies of Mexico have been composed of individuals who represent the inhabitants of their respective political entities in a theoretical or nominal manner. Mexico City and the other political centers of the federation were the fertile wombs from which the highest percentage of political representatives sprang. Many regions of the country were never represented by individuals born in them or who were even familiar with the living conditions there. This naturally contributed to the political preeminence of some regions and the marginalization of others. Because of this, we say that representation was theoretical at best. This was especially the case during the Porfirian era. Back then, all knew that their legislators lacked a purpose, that their role was reduced to that of sleepwalking lackeys who presided over imbecilic and narcotic congressional sessions. The laws that have reigned in independent Mexico do not deserve to be called such; they are sociologically unilateral and geographically localist dispositions . Their application did not bring about the harmonious development of all of our social groups or the progress of all of the political entities of the federation. This disequilibrium is one of the causes of our current and previous 17 Our Laws and Our Legislators 84 O u r L a w s a n d O u r L e g i s l a t o r s revolutions. The revolution of ideas that is now taking place, a movement that is complementary to the revolution of arms, should not tend toward the reestablishment of that old social disequilibrium. Rather, it should begin to lay the foundations upon which to gradually build an equilibrated and strong national society. This can be achieved when one can rely on truly democratic legislation. To build such legislation, we must first have recourse to democratic legislators. Let us see some of the conditions that lend democratic legitimacy to legislators who can satisfactorily carry out their mandate. A. Ethnic Representation To legitimately represent the diverse ethnic groups of our population, our legislators must be named by and belong to these diverse groups, or at least be intimately acquainted with their way of life. The electoral mechanisms—except for the general means of gathering and transmitting data—shall also be those that are chosen by those diverse ethnic and regional groups, even if some seem very primitive compared with others. In effect, indigenous families conserve a deeply rooted patriarchal system that regulates electoral nominations, the settlement of local conflicts, and so forth. The federation and the governments of the states have no right to place obstacles to these proceedings, so long as they are not prejudicial to the collectivity. The houses of congress have never known the conditions and the necessities of the Mayas of Yucatán, Quintana Roo, Campeche, Tabasco, and Chiapas; of the Otomís of Mexico, Guanajuato, and Querétaro; of the Yaquis of Sonora; of the “pintos” of Guerrero; of any of the millions of beings that make up our indigenous families. This lack of knowledge is understandable if one thinks of how few indigenous individuals have ever served in the legislature, and that those few have been individuals who abandoned their indigenous heritage . Through their own will or through the exigencies of their environment, they had assimilated the culture, the language, the aspirations, and the tendencies of other social classes. Like the legislators of white race, they did not comprehend or “see” the urgent physical and intellectual needs of their former brothers, whom they now considered to be unredeemed and uncultured. Indigenous families were separated from the national whole, ignored by the constitution and by the federal and provincial laws. They only figured in the thoughts of the dominant classes when it was time to impose arbitrary taxes on them or to deceive them through commercial transactions. This desperate situation left them with a simple choice: rebel or die. Some of these indigenous 85 O u r L a w s a n d O u r L...