Not so fast. South america is a weird place (disclaimer: I live in Brazil).
The overall vision is that the coming of democracy, after a history filled colonization, monarchies and military dictatorships in most countries, has been a net win; but at the same time, the presidential figure gets a disproportionate amount of worshiping in all of those, which is a sign that the democracy has not fully matured.
As positive as the bills passed by Mujica may be, the notion that the president has to be some sort of Robin Hood, Batman of the poor, is problematic, as it inflates the State, turns the legislative power useless, and has a tendency to pass popular policies, as opposed to good policies.
EDIT: Brazil is falling prey to that ideology, as many other countries around here, where the approval of the president is at an all time high, despite the government's failure in addressing all the systemic issues (education, crime, public health, infra-structure, foreign investment). There's an awful cognitive dissonance between what the population perceives and what results are, mainly because the poor are misinformed and cannot judge (the government will always blame an external force: the opposition, capitalism, USA, whatever), and the middle-class prefers to ignore reality (for them, it's better to have an incompetent, but left-wing government than to forfeit their ideologies).
> has a tendency to pass popular policies, as opposed to good policies
Isn't that the point of a democracy?
What do you think how many wars, regime changes and dictatorships (all sponsored by the US) South America would have seen in the last 50 years if every single one of those aggressions had to pass a popular democratic vote in the first place?
I do not think that there ever has been a majority in any country (where the basic needs of everyone is met) that would consistently vote pro war.
I my view the real problem is that we only get those "good policies" and never the chance to choose or at least vote for policies we actually like.
The overall vision is that the coming of democracy, after a history filled colonization, monarchies and military dictatorships in most countries, has been a net win; but at the same time, the presidential figure gets a disproportionate amount of worshiping in all of those, which is a sign that the democracy has not fully matured.
As positive as the bills passed by Mujica may be, the notion that the president has to be some sort of Robin Hood, Batman of the poor, is problematic, as it inflates the State, turns the legislative power useless, and has a tendency to pass popular policies, as opposed to good policies.
EDIT: Brazil is falling prey to that ideology, as many other countries around here, where the approval of the president is at an all time high, despite the government's failure in addressing all the systemic issues (education, crime, public health, infra-structure, foreign investment). There's an awful cognitive dissonance between what the population perceives and what results are, mainly because the poor are misinformed and cannot judge (the government will always blame an external force: the opposition, capitalism, USA, whatever), and the middle-class prefers to ignore reality (for them, it's better to have an incompetent, but left-wing government than to forfeit their ideologies).