The Archdiocese of Mexico’s weekly “Desde la Fe,” has called on voters not to leave their ballots unchecked or to abstain from voting during the July 5 elections, saying that doing so would lead the country to democratic failure.

In a recent editorial, the weekly responded to some commentators who have urged voters to leave some boxes unchecked or to abstain from voting. “Desde la Fe” warned that such action would be a concession to “those who think that Mexico can only function with totalitarianism.”

-Catholic News

On July 5, during midterm elections, Mexicans will elect 500 federal deputies to the lower house in Congress. Also on this date, local balloting will take place in 11 states, six of which will elect new governors to six-year terms.

The abstention and null-vote enthusiasts (the latter favoring a blank ballot, the former arguing that no vote at all is best) base their position on the premise that there isn’t a single Mexican politician even worth casting a vote, all of them being basically the same: corrupt, hypocritical, deceitful, and self serving.

“My posture is that, based on the behavior of all of the parties in recent years, you can conclude that there isn’t a substantial difference between them.”
-José Antonio Crespo, null-vote advocate

There is an obvious truth to this theory: each of the parties do suffer from various and at times even grave deficiencies, many of which are similar. But the idea that all of the parties are the same is simply untrue; both in their virtues and their vices, the parties display significant differences in both philosophy and tactics. To pretend that all of the parties are equal is to ignore these basic facts.

“Although non-participation is an expression of repudiation, in a democratic system like the one Mexicans are building, non-participation or annulling the vote can be truly irresponsible.”
-Desde La Fe editorial

I understand the anger and mistrust of my people, for decades our needs have been ignored, but not voting or annulling our votes is not the answer.

Voting is just the beginning. We tend to think of our duty being completed once we cast our vote into the ballot box, but it isn’t; that is where we have failed ourselves.

A democratic system is based on the idea that a governing body represents it’s people: We have a habit of never makinge ourselves heard after the vote, where it counts, we never complete our duties, how can we expect them to.

The bottom line is: We must go out and vote on July 5, and we must complete our ballots, silent cries and annulling protests will fall on deaf political ears; we have done it for almost a century, in one form or another, and are no better off.

From the moment elected officials take their oath, we must insure they know their place: They work for us, they will meet our needs, if they are incapable of such duties, they must step down or be removed from office. We, the people, must stand up and do our part to insure our own personal well being and the well being, recovery, and positive progress of our nation.

The time has come for change.