By Rod Hughes
The publication of the State of the Nation report this week in Costa Rica and the nearly simultaneous failure of the so-called Super Committee of the United States Congress to reach agreement about debt reduction have an uncanny similarity.
The criticisms of the State of the Nation experts seem to echo recent polls in the U.S. They show citizens of two of the most respected democracies in the world losing confidence in their political leaders and, by inference, in themselves.
Item: More than half of U.S. voters polled recently have lost trust that their leaders in Congress (irrespective of party) can tackle the unemployment and national debt problems with any chance of success. President Barack Obama, who took office amid the euphoria of a majority, has seen his approval ratings plummet.
The last straw for U.S. citizens was last Monday’s announcement that the “Gang of 12,” as the Super Committee of specially chosen congressmen charged with coming up with a start on U.S. debt reduction were called, announced they could not agree on a course. Both parties blamed the other, a tactic that only served to deepen the disgust of voters.
In reality, of course, the bipartisan committee was neither super (in the sense of being “superb”) nor acted like a committee, but more like two rival street gangs in a territorial dispute. It was an echo of the congressional struggle to raise the debt ceiling, an episode which one CNN commentator said drily “was not democracy’s finest hour.”
According to the State of the Nation experts, Costa Rica suffers from a similar malaise, although the country is not as polemical as its northern counterpart. The writers point out that back in the 1990s when Costa Rica was a two-party system, 98 percent of voters were adherents of one or the other, and elections were exuberant celebrations. (It took Ticos to put the “party” in political party!)
Today, the report notes, adherence to the National Liberation Party is down to 30 percent, the Social Christian Unity Party can barely muster 10 percent, and relative newcomers the Libertarian Movement Party and Citizen Action Party seem to be gathering little traction with voters.
Like the U.S. Congress, the Costa Rican Legislative Assembly seems to be unable to get things done. In the case of the assembly, it is not partisan stubbornness but a sense of apathy – lawmakers seem more willing to talk a bill to death than to vote on it. There is also a certain forgetfulness among local lawmakers: The report notes that in the 2009-2010 period, 158 laws were passed, most dealing with new rights for citizens. But with 82 percent of them, lawmakers neglected to assign resources to make them work.
And this is when the lawmakers are actually doing something. The report writers did not forget that laws sometimes take years to enact here. Important legislation such as electricity generation reform, the traffic law (which needs adjustment) and the tax reform bill are still pending. Not only can’t they get things right the first time, they also can’t get around to correcting it.
The Executive Branch for the past 30 years came in for criticism as well, in large part for ignoring deteriorating infrastructure. The report notes that the government appears unable to even supervise private companies contracted to work on infrastructure – the comic opera case of the “platina” bridge over the Virilla River and the San José-Caldera Highway are examples.
All these problems and more have created a disconnect between citizens and their political leaders. The State of the Nation report recommends a dialogue among parties, government and citizens. Just how this could be arranged the experts did not say. It is not a new idea but somehow has never been formally put into practice.
We might offer another suggestion for both countries – if politicians would stop talking long enough to listen to the populace, they might learn something. It doesn’t have to be a formal process, just a sincere one. In both nations, politicians seem to always put a spin on their positions to feign that they are doing the will of the electorate, even when those positions are diametrically opposed to the public will.
Rod Hughes, journalist, novelist and former longtime Tico Times staffer, usually writes humorous perspectives but is serious in the one above. Check out his blog at www.fijatevos.com.
