What kind of presidency do we need?

By Marilú Acosta

To say that a woman would be a better president is as exclusionary as saying that a leader must have the serenity of masculinity. Feminine and masculine energy are complementary and there is no earthly or even universal activity where they do not interact and complement each other. So no, it is not a question of gender. It must necessarily be a human being, because I cannot imagine that any extraterrestrial would want to preside over a country as complex as Mexico, especially because, in spite of the sui generis, it is still a country predominantly of earthlings and who knows if we coincide in objectives. Of course, someone of Mexican nationality, not exclusively by birth but who has grown up in the country, in order to know the subtleties of the language, the culture, the prejudices and the successes and mistakes of previous administrations and above all the greatness that is generated here, this should be his compass.

I can't identify whether having a political career is an advantage or a disadvantage; you certainly need to have great negotiating skills and not take things personally. You should bet on someone with mental health, the problem is that if it becomes a requirement, the options are drastically reduced and maybe that mental health would make you turn down the job. We could ask for a little bit of health in all its spheres, at least someone who knows satisfaction and fulfillment, who has true friends who have the confidence to tell him: hey, you are making a mistake.

Security is a requirement, even if the possibilities decrease, it is the mixture of several ingredients: feeling loved by his family and friends, knowing who he is (without identity crisis at the moment of assuming the presidency), without guilt because then they go around wanting to take it away without caring if that project, that speech, that public policy is what the population needs; finally the understanding that others will usually point to others, before assuming responsibility for their actions, that is, the lion believes that all are of his condition and does not go around reacting to any provocation.

From here we move on to empowerment, he who is not afraid of his responsibility, knows that he can and this power is not momentary or based on a position or an infrastructure, it is forever. It is imperative that he can philosophize, because we require that he knows about ethics (the discipline of philosophy that studies human behavior and its relationship to good and evil, morality, duty, happiness and the common good). His value judgment should not be his compass, but to understand that depending on where things are seen from, we could find the good in the bad and the bad in the good, very Yin-Yang.

Because when things are, they simply are and we do not have to complicate our existence too much, when what is does not generate the consequences we want to live, we have to change what is being.

What would I change? It is something very simple and also very profound and therefore it is not a simple thing. Our focus should be on changing the paternalistic system; mind you, I am not talking about patriarchy, I am talking about becoming a more mature and responsible society. Because it would be useless to remove patriarchy if we continue in a maternalistic system. Without entering into a conceptual debate, let's go directly to the examples.

We need a public administration that puts health above absolutely everything else. Every public policy must be reviewed through the lens of health and generate the necessary legal changes to have healthy public policies and nothing else. Call things by their name, separate health services into two: sickness services and health services. One is in charge of the chronically ill, they would have a large budget expenditure, the idea is to reduce it. The other focuses on sustaining health, providing good and timely care for all acute conditions, which of course costs money, but what would cost the most is to create a disruptive structure and innovative processes to provide the best experience for the patient and their loved ones. It is essential to reverse the view of disease as abundance and health as the risk of losing power and profit. The healthcare workforce needs a good shake-up. Both the public and private sectors need to put the person at the center as the most important thing, including the health personnel themselves. Respect must be the axis of the relationship between all. Another point is to unify public and private services, as well as to regulate both public and private health insurance.

And this is just the beginning... to be continued.

The opinions expressed are the responsibility of the authors and are absolutely independent of the position and editorial line of Opinion 51.

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