La imagen de la entrada anterior (un montaje fotográfico de Aído con un bebé-zapatero en brazos) me ha hecho reflexionar: si personas sin preparación llegan al poder simplemente por su mejor verborrea y su adscripción a un partido o una corriente ideológica, por su amistad con otro político ya instalado en el poder, etc. ¿no será esto un gran peligro de la democracia?.
Ya hablé de esto en una entrada anterior reciente.
Los estadounidenses presumen de que en su país "cualquiera puede llegar a ser presidente". Esto parece haber quedado patente con la llegada de Obama, un afroamericano. Pero es sólo apariencia: nadie llega al poder sin un partido detrás y sin buenos contactos con ricos que financien las costosas campañas electorales. Eso significa una hipoteca para cualquier presidente que no se financie él mismo la campaña: cuando llegue al poder tendrá que devolver los favores. Y los que pueden financiársela es que ya son ricos, por lo cual pertenecen a una élite que cuida de lo suyo antes que del bien común.
Resumiendo: primero hace falta estar dentro de un partido poderoso y luego tener don de gentes, para ir ascendiendo dentro del partido. Además, hay que tener pocos escrúpulos -o ninguno-, para tragar todo lo que decidan las mayorías (si es que hay democracia interna en el partido) o los poderosos del partido, asintiendo con la cabeza y defenderlo con las palabras, sin fisuras.
La ventaja de los partidos es tienen filtros internos que -supuestamente- sólo dejan pasar a los más preparados. En teoría, de nuevo, porque en realidad los elegidos son los que mejor conectan con los votantes. Porque, al final, los partidos son empresas para ganar elecciones y subir a la poltrona a todos los que tiraron del carro, aunque hay siempre alguno que es la cabeza visible.
Y aquí veo yo el peligro. Pongamos que llega al poder un personaje de fuerte magnetismo (todos lo suelen ser, por lo que dije antes) pero de oscuras intenciones, y que luego se rodea de otros personajes de parecidas ocultas intenciones. Y se ponen a legislar para perpetuarse en el poder, vendiendo con su verborrea y los medios de comunicación afines sus pérfidas intenciones como bondadosas acciones hacia el pueblo. ¿Qué podría pasar?. Pensemos en lo que ocurrió con Hitler. ¿Podrían los resortes de la democracia detener a semejante hidra?. Pensemos que en España, por ejemplo, los partidos mayoritarios (especialmente el PSOE) ya maniobraron hace años para controlar con sus mayorías los órganos de gobierno de los jueces, así como los tribunales Constitucional y Supremo. Poquito a poquito, el poder ejecutivo va engullendo a los otros poderes, hasta que son simplemente unas sucursales más del poder omnímodo.
¿Podrán las masas -adormecidas, acomodadas, indolentes- darse cuenta de la ratonera en la que les están metiendo sus políticos y reaccionar a tiempo?. Algo así parece estar ocurriendo en Irán estos días. Grandes manifestaciones contra unas elecciones fraudulentas. Pero allí no están en una democracia "occidental" sino en una "teocracia" con ínfulas de democracia. Y la gente está muy harta de tanta opresión.
Pero el engaño en Occidente vendría mucho más sutilmente. Ya hemos visto que las apelaciones a la seguridad han recortado derechos civiles en USA y Europa. Otros recortes pueden venir por el miedo al desempleo, o el miedo a ser "retrógrado" (si uno critica las políticas gubernativas o defiende la vida humana), o a través de "homologarnos" con otros países del entorno (argumento muy usado en España en los últimos años), etc.
El viejo eslogan de Zapatero, "Más derechos para todos", esconde una mentira capital: cuando se aumentan los derechos de alguien, se reducen los de otros, como si fueran vasos comunicantes. El eslogan de ahora parece ser (frente a la crisis): "Más dinero para todos", sin que la mayoría se percate de que ese dinero se está robando a nuestros hijos (y a nosotros mismos), porque ellos (y nosotros dentro de unos años) tendremos que pagar el enorme déficit que la chequera de Zapatero está creando.
Esta falta de crítica por parte de la ciudadanía, o quizá es sólo falta de movilización, es lo que me lleva a preguntarme si no existirá un peligro real de totalitarismo -quizá disfrazado- en las democracias de Occidente.
WICHITA, Kan. – Dr. George Tiller, one of the nation's few providers of late-term abortions despite decades of protests and attacks, was shot and killed Sunday in a church where he was serving as an usher.
The gunman fled, but a 51-year-old suspect was detained some 170 miles away in suburban Kansas City three hours after the shooting, Wichita Deputy Police Chief Tom Stolz said.
Although Stolz refused to release the man's name, Johnson County sheriff's spokesman Tom Erickson identified the detained man as Scott Roeder. He has not been charged in the slaying and was expected to be taken to Wichita for questioning.
There was no immediate word of the motive Tiller's assailant. But the doctor's violent death was the latest in a string of shootings and bombings over two decades directed against abortion clinics, doctors and staff.
Long a focus of national anti-abortion groups, including a summer-long protest in 1991, Tiller was shot in the foyer of Reformation Lutheran Church, Stolz said. Tiller's attorney, Dan Monnat, said Tiller's wife, Jeanne, was in the choir at the time.
The slaying of the 67-year-old doctor is "an unspeakable tragedy," his widow, four children and 10 grandchildren said in statement. "This is particularly heart-wrenching because George was shot down in his house of worship, a place of peace."
The family said its loss "is also a loss for the city of Wichita and women across America. George dedicated his life to providing women with high-quality health care despite frequent threats and violence."
Stolz said all indications were that the gunman acted alone, although authorities were investigating whether he had any connection to anti-abortion groups.
Tiller's Women's Health Care Services clinic is one of just three in the nation where abortions are performed after the 21st week of pregnancy. The clinic was heavily fortified and Tiller often traveled with a bodyguard, but Stolz said there was no indication of security at the church Sunday.
Anti-abortion groups denounced the shooting and stressed that they support only nonviolent protest. The movement's leaders fear the killing could create a backlash just as they are scrutinizing U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, whose views on abortion rights are not publicly known.
"We are shocked at this morning's disturbing news that Mr. Tiller was gunned down," Troy Newman, Operation Rescue's president, said in a statement. "Operation Rescue has worked for years through peaceful, legal means, and through the proper channels to see him brought to justice. We denounce vigilantism and the cowardly act that took place this morning."
President Barack Obama said he was "shocked and outraged" by the murder. "However profound our differences as Americans over difficult issues such as abortion, they cannot be resolved by heinous acts of violence," he said.
At Tiller's church, Adam Watkins, 20, said he was sitting in the middle of the congregation when he heard a small pop at the start of the service.
"We just thought a child had come in with a balloon and it had popped, had gone up and hit the ceiling and popped," Watkins said.
Another usher came in and told the congregation to remain seated, then escorted Tiller's wife out. "When she got to the back doors, we heard her scream, and so we knew something bad had happened," Watkins said.
He said the service continued even after an associate pastor announced that Tiller had been injured. "We were just really shocked," he said. "We were kind of dumbfounded. We couldn't really believe it had happened."
Tiller had in the past endured threats and violence. A protester shot Tiller in both arms in 1993, and his clinic was bombed in 1985. More recently, Monnat said Tiller had asked federal prosecutors to step up investigations of vandalism and other threats against the clinic out of fear that the incidents were increasing and that Tiller's safety was in jeopardy. Stolz, however, said police knew of no threats connected to the shooting.
In early May, Tiller had asked the FBI to investigate vandalism at his clinic, including cut wires to surveillance cameras and damage to the roof that sent rainwater pouring into the building.
In 1991, the Summer of Mercy protests organized by Operation Rescue drew thousands of anti-abortion activists to this city for demonstrations marked by civil disobedience and mass arrests.
Tiller began providing abortion services in 1973. He acknowledged abortion was as socially divisive as slavery or prohibition but said the issue was about giving women a choice when dealing with technology that can diagnose severe fetal abnormalities before a baby is born.
Nancy Keenan, president of abortion-rights group NARAL Pro-Choice America, issued a statement praising Tiller's commitment.
"Dr. Tiller's murder will send a chill down the spines of the brave and courageous providers and other professionals who are part of reproductive-health centers that serve women across this country. We want them to know that they have our support as they move forward in providing these essential services in the aftermath of the shocking news from Wichita," Keenan said.
After the 1991 protests, Tiller kept mostly to his heavily guarded clinic, although in 1997 he opened it to three tours by state lawmakers and the media. He wore a button that read "Trust Women."
The clinic is fortified with bulletproof glass, and Tiller hired a private security team to protect the facility. Once outside the clinic, Tiller was routinely accompanied by a bodyguard.
At a recent trial, he told jurors that he and his family have suffered years of harassment and threats and that he knew he was a target of anti-abortion protesters.
Federal marshals protected Tiller during the 1991 Summer of Mercy protests, and he was protected again between 1994 and 1998 after another abortion provider was assassinated and federal authorities reported finding Tiller's name on an assassination list.
Tiller remained prominent in the news, in part because of an investigation begun by former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline, an abortion opponent.
Prosecutors had alleged that Tiller had gotten second opinions from a doctor who was essentially an employee of his, not independent as state law requires. A jury in March acquitted Tiller of all 19 misdemeanor counts.
"I am stunned by this lawless and violent act, which must be condemned and should be met with the full force of law," Kline said in a statement. "We join in lifting prayer that God's grace and presence rest with Dr. Tiller's family and friends."
Por muy monstruoso que fuera lo que hacía este hombre y por muy malvado que nos parezca por su conducta, los que estamos a favor de la vida sabemos que el asesinato no resuelve nada y, por el contrario, hace daño a la causa contra el aborto.
Lo que sí me parece el colmo de la hipocresía (vamos a llamarlo "incoherencia", ya que el hombre ha sido asesinado y no es el momento de cebarse con él) es que este individuo estuviera ayudando a una iglesia luterana a pesar de todas las vidas que había quitado y seguía quitando, y se le considerase como un miembro más de esa comunidad "cristiana" (lo pongo entre comillas porque es para pensárselo).
Opino que el Cristianismo es, desde un punto de vista objetivo, la ideología (por llamarlo de alguna forma) más opuesta al aborto que conozco.