Jana “the Cartographer”
Seattle

Damn it to hell Alison–am I ever going to get a signed copy of your book? I saw your drawings in the comics museum in SF but your book wasn’t in SF yet. Then I went on my travels and it’s like I arrived at some of the places you were ahead of you. Now that you’re closer in proximity (Austin), I’m about to leave for New York. Damn, damn, damn.

Quite seriously contemplating taking off in my car now for Austin but I don’t think I can manage it–I’m behind on a book deadline and need the time to write. Now I’ve just looked at the plane schedule and would have to fly to Chicago or Memphis (weird, not the cities, the plane schedules) in order to get to Austin in time. What a dilemma!

Maybe I should just do another NYC trip again in February? Will you please post info on the nyc trip as soon as you know? And will you be doing the same presentation there that you have been at the bookstores? I’ve heard it’s wonderful. Possibly any other bookstore dates in the US other than those listed? Maybe I’ll have to talk my university into bringing you here?

A couple of further points should be clarified: (1) The TEPJF has been generally regarded as politically neutral, and its personnel have been generally well-respected, since its constitution in 1996; (2) Lopez Obrador has not always respected the outcomes of other democratic processes in the past: notably, his expropriation policies in downtown Mexico City and his failure to accept the IFAI transparency policy. Note that he left the PRI only after its decline became obvious to external observers, and that he joined the PRD for what might well be construed as opportunistic reasons. His overall approach to policy is not that of a left-winger – his record as Mayor clearly shows this – but that of a populist or caudillo. (This, and not his ostensible socialist party affiliation, is what un-nerved the financial markets. The markets can manage a socialist with defined and consistent policies, as many previous elections in e.g. France, the UK, Germany, Sweden, etc. have shown. What scares financial markets is erratic or economically nonsensical policies, e.g. Peru under Garcia (first term), Zimbabwe under Mugabe, Sudan under many regimes including the present one, Argentina under Peron, etc..)

There’s a final point to make here. I’ve noticed a rather unfortunate tendency developing in many countries over the past few years: when a candidate with whom we disagree is elected, it is becoming increasingly acceptable to claim that the victor is not legitimate – to ignore or disavow the election results. This phenomenon is visible in Europe, both North and South Americas, and in some parts of Australasia. When an election is close it is of course right to check it and monitor it with great care, and to fight for every hanging chad. But once this process is over, we have to be prepared to draw a line under the election, and move on. If we don’t let go, the risk is that our disrespect for one individual or one election result will spill over into a more general disrespect for the electoral process and our system of government as a whole. This, I believe, would be a very dangerous outcome: democracy is to some extent a confidence trick – we all need to have confidence that the system works in a more or less unbiased way. (This, of course, is why we should be pleased that Mexico is now having contested election, rather than facing another PRI triumph: Mexico is one of the countries that have moved towards this outlook in recent years.) Crying “fraud” every time we don’t get the result we want, and suspecting nefarious forces of foul play, ignores the simple fact that sometimes we are in the minority: sometimes a majority, large or small, may disagree with us. Howling about this, beyond the point of careful monitoring and review of the democratic process, is not what makes democracies work.

Sorry this post was so long, but I felt I should get it off my chest. Thanks, as always, for a great website and strip.

And, re the map: How sad for those of us in the U.S. that instead of also laying claim to the title, “the country with health care,” we can merely confess to be living in another of those countries with an illegitimately elected president.

Could you add Dublin???