When journalists start believing they own the truth, they fall prey to reporting events as they wish them to be. Similarly, when a Supreme Court justice deems themselves the master of the Constitution, they might be tempted to interpret it as they think it should be. This can be disastrous for journalistic credibility and jeopardize due process, fundamental freedoms, and the very framework of a democratic state. It breeds institutional instability, legal insecurity, and economic unpredictability, potentially spiraling into chaos. Or, as Supreme Court Justice Oscar Dias Correia, know for his witty remarks, humorously told me, “Not just chaos, but Chaos with a capital ‘K’.” He was underscoring the consequences if the Supreme Court itself ignored the Constitution. I chimed in, “Or if journalists turned facts into fiction.” All this feeds into the unpredictability of what tomorrow holds.
Former Brasília governor and senator José Roberto Arruda asked me where I saw Brazil heading to in the future. I told him I don’t have a crystal ball and without one, predicting our path would be impossible. I quoted Pedro Malan, as I had done earlier with former President Bolsonaro: “In Brazil, even the past is unpredictable.” We are at the mercy of fate. With a population largely indifferent to national goals and elites barely looking beyond their own interests, charting a course for the country is impossible. Without public spirit, social awareness, civic activism, or national objectives, and with a nearly masochist passivity, forecasting what tomorrow holds is impossible. We’re on a wandering journey, taking steps without knowing where we tread or where we’re headed.
If we upheld the Constitution, we’d at least have guidelines for the road ahead. Yet, even this has been stripped from us. The Constitution’s guardians have overshadowed the document itself, setting rules without consulting those who embody original power. The Legislative branch, empowered by the electorate, doesn’t seem to represent its constituents. The neglect of those sworn to uphold the Constitution leads to deviations from the Democratic Rule of Law. The Senate, which could intervene to amend this situation, remains stagnant under an inactive president. The present and future drift aimlessly, “like a feather in the wind,” as Verdi’s opera goes.
Here, everything is uncertain. No one knows what tomorrow might bring regarding economics, politics, or freedom. We might wake up to a four-star general in handcuffs or hear about a 32-year-old waiter who, instead of receiving care at a top hospital, went to a public clinic and died waiting. Or about a protester dying in jail due to lack of medical treatment he had been begging for. We might wake up in the morning to the dollar surpassing R$ 6.00 or the picanha steak becoming even more unaffordable, as well as to interest rates and the public debt climbing due to government overspending, in addition to the highest VAT in the world. Those who vowed to defend the Constitution, law, and order live in their own selfish bubbles, indifferent to the futures of their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. They find comfort in an illusionary escape that only deepens the harm; on a directionless, irreversible path, clinging to the false hope of change.
Power occasionally pricks citizenship to check if it’s still alive despite having had so many rights amputated and to make sure only helpless groans are heard. Freedom of expression is being smothered; there’s a push to overturn censorship bans so to silence the remaining effective voices of criticism. The inviolability of parliamentary mandates is being eroded, the right to due process is being buried; the relationship between state and nation is flipped, making the state the master rather than a servant of the people. Taxes are justified only if they provide quality services to the nation—not to prop up an inefficient state. And so, without a clear direction, moving from one day to the next, we fail to notice that we are sinking deeper into quicksand.
Leia também “Defesa enfraquecida”
tem algo errado na coluna do alexandre garcia – esta tudo em ingles