MEXICO - Judicial Overhaul Concerns US
Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and his elected successor defended their proposed judicial overhaul, as a major U.S. business lobby added its voice to concerns over the reform’s impact on investment.
A committee in Mexico’s lower house of Congress was expected to take an initial vote on the plan, which includes electing all judges by popular vote. If it approves the measure as expected, it will then be taken up by the full body.
The United States and Mexico are each other’s top trading partners, and U.S. companies have increasingly opened factories in the neighboring country as they seek to move supply chains from China closer to home.
In a press conference to present the next head of Mexico’s state oil firm, President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum, who takes office in October, emphasized the judicial reform aimed to improve democracy and had been carefully drafted to ensure candidates are legitimate.
“We will always have a dialogue with our trade partners such as the United States, but we don't need to discuss everything,” she said. “Some issues are up to Mexican citizens.”
-www.reuters.com, 26 August 2024
Arno's Commentary
Mexico, with an over 130 million population, is the United States’ major trading partner, and so is the US to Mexico. Thus, political developments such as overhauling the judicial system have rung some alarm bells in Washington. There is a potential of endangering this well-functioning trading system, permitting more open doors to the giant, China.
One term is often used these days: democracy. It’s like a magic word. In plain words, it means a government where the supreme rulership is vested in the people. However, there are many different types of democracy, and in Mexico’s case, the proposed judicial overhaul is required. The absolute highest office in the US, however, is not exclusively voted in by the citizen. The League of Women Voters explains: “When you cast your vote for President of the United States, you are not voting directly for a candidate. Instead, your vote—and the votes of everyone else in your state—directs the votes of the people who actually vote directly for President: presidential electors, otherwise known as members of the Electoral College.”
Regardless of these variations, when analyzing democracy from Biblical perspectives, a Google search reveals: “At least eight times in the Gospel accounts, people tried to seize Jesus and kill Him because of something He did or said.” Before Jesus was led away to crucifixion, the people voted between Him and a murderer: “And they cried out all at once, saying, Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas” (Luke 23:18).
Revelation reveals the ultimate democracy: “And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast” (Revelation 13:3). We note the words “all the world.”
True freedom, prosperity, and security will not come about by democracy but by the Prince of Peace.
Arno Froese is the executive director of Midnight Call Ministries and editor-in-chief of the acclaimed prophetic magazines Midnight Call and News From Israel. He has authored a number of well-received books, and has sponsored many prophecy conferences in the U.S., Canada, and Israel. His extensive travels have contributed to his keen insight into Bible prophecy, as he sees it from an international perspective.
