Representative Government and Chronic Ignorance

– Folha de S. Paulo, November 23, 1987 –
by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira
Today, I address a matter of great importance in our troubled national situation, but not in my capacity as President of the National Council of the TFP. I do so simply as an observer of events unfolding before everyone’s eyes. If I mention a current initiative of the TFP to illustrate my point, it is only because it provides a striking example and a useful analytical tool.
I aim to underscore the gap between the truly historic importance of several issues raised during the debates of the Constituent Assembly and the role culture has played in shaping those debates.
One could argue that the more significant a subject is, the more eager our constituents — and the political, social, and economic sectors interested in it — should be to listen to the experts (of whom we have long had a substantial number, endowed with unquestionable competence) whose contributions would elevate the preparatory studies and the debates …More