We, the people of Mexico, have already shown our ability to reach a basic consensus for assuming, respecting, and exercising democracy. We should remember that in certain aspects of democracy, such as electoral issues, we Mexicans were weighed down by glaring inadequacies, the mistrust of decades, and even deep-rooted resentment. I am certain that if we could overcome suspicion and rancor to reach an agreement on the basic foundations for the decisive and irreversible step we took toward democracy, we can also reach an agreement on the basic foundations for economic growth. As was the case before with democracy, today irreconcilable differences seem to exist regarding the issue of economic policy. I am not unaware of this.
Many people choose to deprecate, reject, and even caricature economic policy.
It is therefore paradoxical that at the same time, debate on this issue is generally so lacking in method, short on seriousness, and in want of rigor. In a way that borders on the mechanical, the instinctive, and the simplistic, many commentators prefer to blame recent economic policy for all the country's economic and social problems, rather than stopping to analyze their real causes, which are both complex and deep-rooted. In trying to blame recent economic policy for all our shortcomings and problems, sometimes even such basic considerations as Mexico's high rate of demographic growth over almost half a century are overlooked. All in all, I am firmly convinced that a sound, constructive debate on economic policy for growth is possible, and that reaching the agreement I have described is possible. It is possible provided that above all other considerations, the higher interest of Mexico prevails in us all.