January 1, 2023 heralds the first day of the new year and the outset of a new government in Brazil. President Lula was elected for his third term in a scenery of a divided country by an artificial agenda, riddled with screeds from the extinct cold war, and which disregards the most urgent needs of Brazil and its population.
The problem is that although it is possible to win an election in a divided country, it becomes difficult to govern it afterwards. It is relevant to say that when the Nation is divided, it will not gather the spiritual, social, intellectual and political energies necessary for the resumption of development, the reduction of inequalities and the construction of democracy, since all the national effort will have been exhausted in useless and sterile disputes.
The division of society regarding crucial issues to build the future of a country is an inevitable consequence of the historical process and overcoming it can trigger creative energies for national life. Brazil has already been divided into favorable and contrary opinions in formative episodes such as the Independence, the Abolition of Slavery, the Proclamation of the Republic and the Revolution of 1930. In all these cases, the breakups were overcome and the country found its path again. It is not what happens today. Brazil is divided by an agenda of customs far apart from the reality of the people and by an ideological guidance far removed from the real challenges of the country. The centrality of the national concern, related to how to make Brazil stronger, developed and socially balanced are themes that were overlooked in the last presidential election.
Brazil needs the union of its people, its political, entrepreneurial, intellectual and academic elites to face the countless challenges in order to make the country a prosperous and respected society throughout the world. It is evident that this is everyone's responsibility, but it is even greater for the rulers, who must set the example of defending the unity of the country and its pacification.
It is necessary to allow a vote of confidence in good faith to the elected government and wait for its initial measures. The first signs are contradictory, as the objectives are not very clear and mingle political pragmatism with raptures that can reveal resentments and touch still open wounds from the recent battles which have alternated winners and losers in 2018 and 2022.
The president elected for the third term will govern in a very different context from that of the first term. The violent competition between China and the United States, NATO's war against Russia in Ukraine and the difficult internal economic situation shall condition the ambitions of the government. When compared to the context of his first term in 2003, the presidential authority is now much more contested. Actually, President Lula has little margin for errors in economics and politics, since the concessions to identitarianism and environmental neo-Malthusianism constitute announced and priced errors since before his inauguration. Let's wait and hope for the best.
