Bush Vs Fox Essay, Research Paper

Mexico and the United States have gone through different governmental systems throughout their history due to the different mentalities that their settlers left them with. However, nothing is forever in life. These systems have changed as time has passed by, and along with the government its people and ideologies. Nevertheless, the turning point for both countries was last year s presidential elections. Vicente Fox, Mexico s new President is trying to move away from the country s past and wants to build a whole new political and social ideology. On the other hand, George W. Bush wants to bring back his country s original ideology and plans to improve and promote it among its citizens.

Mexico has always been a country with a centralized government and ideology. The Spaniards who settled the country established this system. They brought this system from their country with the idea of keeping a close eye on their new colony. This centralized government gave all the power to only one person, the viceroy. The power was eventually transferred to the president when we obtained our independence from Spain in 1821. Even though the government was divided in three branches: the executive, legislative and judiciary, the president was the one that took the final decisions.

After getting our independence from Spain, the governmental system was always embellished with the word democracy even though this was never true. A democratic government is supposed to give power to the people, let the people choose what is best for them. However, this was not the same definition Mexican rulers have had for the last 70 years. Their perception of a democratic government was totally different. They believed that democracy meant giving power to the privileged classes and accepting bribery as an important element in the government infrastructure.

The ruling party throughout these 70 years was the PRI. Each six-year term, power was easily passed among the party s members. This created a monopoly in politics. This monopoly led to a thick corruption network all over the population, from the lowest to the highest social classes. This corruption not only oppressed poor people, it also put a barrier in the country s development.

Vicente Fox grew up with this political monopoly and was, just as millions of Mexicans, clearly affected by it. He grew up in Guanajuato, Mexico in a cow-breeding ranch. He grew up among common people, the people that were mostly affected by the governmental system. Therefore, Vicente Fox s strong desire for a change in his country can be easily justified and understood. Growing up among the affected people helped him construct his ideal of taking the country into a new era of prosperity and change. With these ideas, he moved easily throughout several positions in the government and got involved in politics. He became part of the PAN and convinced them with his strong ideas. He wanted to give Mexican people the change they wanted, he wanted to bring real democracy to the country. This led them to the victory over the PRI s presidential candidate, Francisco Labastida, in last year s presidential election. For the first time in 70 years, power was taken away from the PRI. This important change in the government brought new hopes to the Mexican people. They felt that finally, for the first time in 70 years of tyrannical rule, they would get democracy.

Vicente Fox promised many things that appealed to the people s needs throughout his presidential campaign. This was probably the main reason for his triumph over Labastida. He gave the people what they wanted, a chance to participate in the government. However, as he said in an interview with Pablo Latapi on January 18 when he was asked what he had learned after almost two months of being president: I have learned that I have to tie my tongue and don t make promises that I m not sure I can keep . Even though he will not be able to keep all the promises he made in his campaign, Mexicans are sure that this change will surely bring positive results.

Vicente Fox wants to bring a radical change to the country. He wants us Mexicans to forget about the mentality that our settlers left us with. He wants to have the power equally divided among social classes; he wants the monopoly to end. Just as Octavio Paz described the inclusiveness of Mexican society It believes in the strict division of classes and groups, each one governed by

specific laws an statutes (Paz, 1995, p. 365). However, Fox must and will not forget about the values that have made out society what it is. If Salinas showed that Mexico was going to sail with the globalizing winds of change, Fox s inauguration speech showed that even a panista president has to work with a crew focused in Revolutionary values (Tuynman, 2001, p. 13). Fox can t strive to change a lifetime s set of values from one day to the next, so he better focus more on the improvement of society, economy and politics.

It is exactly in the realm of non-ideological improvements in government efficiency that Fox is most likely to succeed balancing the budget, reducing corruption and crime, and lowering inflation: These are the attainable goals of the Fox administration . (Tuynman, 2001, p. 13).

Fox is also thinking on making education accessible for everyone. I think that this specific change is one of the most important ones. I believe that the only way a country can progress and develop itself is if it educates it people and encourages them in becoming better citizens. When people are educated, their self-esteem is elevated and therefore they become more productive. From my point of view, this is exactly what Mexico really needs in order to develop itself: productive people. Nonetheless, this change is not going to be easy. We have a long history of oppression so Fox is just going to plant the seeds and in some time someone else is going to harvest the product: a new, productive and successful country.

On the other side of the border lies the most successful country around the globe. However, even this country needs some changes in its infrastructure and idiosyncrasy. These are the changes that its new president, George W. Bush, is planning on making in his country. He wants to bring back to the people the American Dream . However, he doesn t want it to stay as a dream, he wants it to become a reality. He wants this to be the reality of every citizen living in the United States. This shows how his ideology is completely opposed to that of Fox. This difference in ideology is mainly because of both presidents different backgrounds. The fact that his father was in office gave him many necessary abilities to be successful in politics. It also gave him a view of the big picture , he learned how to talk to the people and give them what the really need.

Freedom has always been one of the most important values, if not the most, throughout the United States history. The English pilgrims that first came to this country were seeking freedom in every aspect of their lives. They came looking forward to making all their dreams come true. Later on, with these same illusions, people from other countries immigrated to the United States. Immigration, therefore, has become a decisive factor in the development of the country. President Bush believes that immigration is not a problem to be solved, but the sign of a successful nation he believes more should be done to welcome legal immigrants . His ideology clearly demonstrates how he wants to bring back and encourage the Colonial Mentality their original settlers left them with. As I said before, freedom has been one of the pillars on which American society was built since its beginning. Bush knows it and strongly believes in it, so he will respect this important value and encourage it among his fellow citizens.

our goal now is clear: to speed up the day when our country has removed the last barrier to full, independent, productive lives for every person this goal follows very naturally from the most basic American ideals: Equal treatment under law, opportunity for all, and Respect for the dignity and rights of every person. (Bush, 2000)

As we can see, Bush s main goal is to bring back and improve all the values and ideals that have faded through time. On the other hand, it is not his only goal during his presidency. He wants his people to become united again. He, as well as Fox, believes in equality among people. He wants people to understand that everyone is equal and that they should take down those barriers that have been created because of discrimination and oppression.