Mary O’Grady weighs in on Brazil,
Brazil’s Middle-Class RevoltThe effort to impeach President Dilma Rousseff is a sign of a maturing democracy. (emphasis added)
Brazil’s economic outlook is grim, and the recent discoveries of rampant corruption are demoralizing. But it can take a crisis to bring about reform, and the nonviolent, popular pushback is notable. The call to impeach is a sign of a maturing democracy in which civil society is confident enough to rise up against the political class.
This vitality is aided by three relatively recent developments: the end of hyperinflation, the exchange of ideas and information on social media, and the ability and willingness of prosecutors to use plea bargains to investigate organized crime.
As I have mentioned, what Brazil’s institutions and people do will determine the fate of their country – and possibly of the hemisphere – for the remaining of the 21st century.
