A couple of days ago a student asked me about prayer in school. She had heard that there was no religion in American schools, and she thought that was wonderful. She said that she hoped that some day Brazilian schools would be the same. I told her that most of the things that she knew about the US, about democracy and equality and freedom of religion and compassion for the poor and elderly, was about thirty or forty years old, and not in a very secure state. She was shocked. She, like so many Americans, took a lot of these rights and liberties for granted.
I did not move to Brazil to be an ambassador. I came here to teach English and play soccer. But I am the US Ambassador to the people who know me – students, friends, and restaurant managers – whether I like it or not. People want to know about the US, and they want me to tell them. And for the first year and a half that I was here, I could tell them, "Look, we didn’t vote for him, okay?" But now what do I say?
My students have asked a lot of questions, about the election, about the electoral system, and about politics in the US. Last week we talked about the electoral college, and this week we will be talking about why the electoral college exists. It’s all well and good to understand the system, but who can explain to them why more Americans are bothered by gay marriage than are bothered by an illegal and possibly endless war? I hope that eventually they will have an understanding, as much as I have an understanding, of what happened to my country. And this is a start, but it can’t help Brazilians understand what happened to the minds of the American people.
After the Bush v. Gore decision was read, I was in a state of shock and profound depression. My next door neighbor was a respected professor of American history (Hi, Bob, if you’re reading this!). When I finally found the energy to move, I went and knocked on his door. He opened the door, saw me, and invited me inside. He looked very tired, and like he might have been crying. I said something to the effect of, "Please tell me that someday things will be okay." And he told me about his youth in Georgia, and his work in the civil rights battles with Lester Maddox. And how the outlook wasn’t always brilliant, but they overcame. And I didn’t feel good after talking with him, but I felt better. But here in Brazil there’s no one to talk to.
Brazil has been a democracy for sixteen years now, and most Brazilians don’t have the same faith in democracy that Americans do. Brazilians take it for granted that politicians are corrupt, that nobody has the national interest in mind, and that nobody can make a difference. So they simply don’t understand why I think there was a lot at stake in the past election. Part of this is because their country lacks the global influence of the US, and part of this is that they lack confidence in the system. The last president, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, was a good president. The current president at least has his heart in the right place. But the senate and congress are full of powerful thieves, who frustrate the intentions of good presidents, so Brazilians have never had any experience of justified belief in their government.
The first president after the military government fell proved to be the Brazilian equivalent of Ferdinand Marcos. Things have improved since his impeachment, but that first democratic experience after years of military rule killed whatever serious hope most Brazilians might have had for democracy. They still prefer voting for thieves to living under a dictatorship, but they don’t have any illusions about politicians working for the common good.
Anyone familiar with Grover Norquist’s "bathtub"
line knows that the right wants Americans to expect less of their government,
in the way of services and legal protections. The right wants Americans
to take the Brazilian attitude toward their government. It is our responsibility
now to fight that attitude. The Republicans have at least two years to
do their damage to the government with minimal opposition, but we cannot
let them do their damage to our psyches. However bad you may feel right
now, I feel worse, because I’m surrounded by Brazilians who think it’s
really funny that I had anything at all invested in the election. Everyone
else has said it already, and said it better, so read Bartcop, read Atrios,
read whatever web site you want, but listen to what everyone has already
said about staying focused and not feeling sorry for yourselves. We do
not want to end up like the Brazilians.