Thanks to the failure of Bolsonarism in the 2022 election, the failure of Bolsonarism in the 2022-2023 coup, the failure of Bolsonarism in the and the failure of Bolsonarism in trying to mobilize against Brazilian democracy, Brazil will have free elections for president at the end of this year.
In this first column of 2026, I propose rules to ensure that the debate of ideas is fruitful in the next campaign.
First and most important: the “moderate Bolsonarismo” meme has to die. The attempt to moderate Bolsonarism was an abysmal failure. Nobody moderated Jair, but Jair radicalized all the opportunist governors who licked their drool on the floor of Avenida Paulista.
Bolsonarists were eagerly working with the US to halt the Brazilian economy and democracy until last month.
They have already announced an offensive in the Senate election for this year with the explicit objective of killing the STF. You want to vote for a fascist, my friend, go ahead, I’m not your mother: but no nonsense about moderation.
Second: only those who can speak of “polarization” can speak of concrete measures taken by the left since 2018 that compare, in terms of radicalism, to what the right did under Bolsonaro’s leadership.
If you don’t know about a secret Maoist guerrilla being trained at Gleisi’s house, save the topic “polarization” to talk, for example, about the old PT vs. PT disputes. PSDB (where both sides, in fact, completely lost their sense of proportion).
Third: only those who can first prove that they know how to make Congress take the lead in combating the coup can ask the STF for self-restraint. That’s right, this Congress passed a dosimetry review. Good luck, son.
Fourth: only those who sign a manifesto defending agrarian reform with the conversion of agribusiness into kibbutzim self-managed by workers, collective wage negotiation as exists in Scandinavia, a drastic reduction in working hours and a minimum income tax rate of 40% for very high incomes can criticize the left for privileging “identity” agendas.
If you don’t know how to solve the problem of the bargaining power of the working class in the globalized market, don’t fuss about identitarianism. Ideally, you would never get upset about this, but as you can see, my rules are highly tolerant and centrist.
Fifth: everyone has to talk about the state of public accounts.
Sixth: when someone talks about fiscal adjustment, they cannot lie that the solution is to eliminate inefficiencies, end corruption or tax the rich.
I’m in favor of all of this, but even if we implemented the entire package at the same time and to an absolute degree (which is impossible), the bill still wouldn’t close.
It is necessary to say, clearly, what spending on popular things you would reduce or what benefits for politically powerful sectors in Congress you would eliminate.
Seventh: if you cannot comply with the sixth clause, please do not comply with the fifth clause.
Anyway, I can’t force anyone to comply with my rules, no matter how much they seem like elementary deductions from common sense. But I advise you not to listen to anyone who doesn’t respect them in this year’s campaign.
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