Caleb Smith Block 7
Jair Bolsonaro has gone too far to the point that he is threatening Brazil’s democracy. It is clear that his goal is to grab more and more power and while it may be hard to tell your supporters to cool it, that is exactly what he needs to do. It appears that his supporters are extremists and while he definitely wants to stay in their good graces it is not worth turning into an authoritarian regime. Bolsonaro’s political opponents are right in claiming that he is taking away democracy in Brazil. What might save Bolsonaro is the fact that he is allegedly giving up certain levels of Brazilian sovereignty to the US. While this enrages Brazilian politicians it helps keep Bolsonaro in power. Even Brazil’s right leaning governor did not condone Bolsonaros actions and said that his actions were, “deplorable.” His son made the whole situation worse by saying that if congress was bombed no one would care. The whole situation goes way beyond the petty squabbles we see in America over politics. The good news is this situation can be fixed by some simple compromises. If Jair Bolsonaro wants to become an authoritarian dictator, Brazil is not the place to do so. They were a dictatorship as recently as 1985 and that time has been described by a leftist politician as twenty one years of rape, murder, lower wages, debt, and a faulty government. If Bolsonaro decides to convert to an authoritarian regime the people will eventually revolt so it would be in his best interest to compromise with his counterparts in congress on laws and other governmental actions. The American government also has a responsibility while they do benefit from Bolsonaro as the Brazilian president it is critical that America stands for democracy because not doing so would be hypocritical to their past history.