NOVA CONTEST
Sofia: Good morning honorable members of the judge, staff and everyone present today. It is a honor for us to be here.
Natalia: Before beginning *DISCLAIMER *FIRST SLIDE*: None of this is personal, it
is mere political opinion!
Sofia: “King can do no wrong” is an exceptionalist and monarchic idea that allows certain people to do certain things. This can also be referred to as a double standard.
A double standard is referred to as a rule or standard that should be generally expected to follow by some people but not by others.
Natalia: And what other than the Government and its members to exemplify this problem?
This is a political system and body which has the power to administer a country, regardless of it being a democracy or not, it has always been surrounded by a history full of corruption and nepotism.
Sofia: These ideas adapt to different contexts and generally hold back evolution and justice, as members of society and the government try to gain either more power or more money. They have the whole control.
Natalia: Throughout history, False promises and lack of Morality have been protagonists and paid actors in the movie that most politicians produce to be elected.
Sofia: So, what happens with all the promises and proposals that politicians make to excite their people, to show the world the good in them and show them that change still exists? Easy answer, nothing. But truly, it’s about priorities.
Natalia: As the state loses interest in its own people, it being because of corruption and/or negligence, the population continues to put itself second, and allows for the same cycle of corruption and privilege to repeat again. Where the priorities of authorities prime over the population.
Sofia: Alvaro Uribe Velez, one of the most controversial right-wing politicians and most popular presidents in Colombia, giving a speech about corruption, the same one who has had more than 259 investigations for the same crime.
Natalia: 259? Isn't that illegal? Or at least against the constitution?
Sofia: It is ! In the CHAPTER 6, of the constitution, named “CONGRESSISTS” and more specifically in the ARTICLE 179, which proclaims that the following may not be congressmen:
1. Those who have been sentenced at any time by judicial sentence, to a custodial sentence, except for political or negligent crimes.
But since everyone decides what to believe, the evidence and investigations speak for themselves about how honest a politician is or not.
This example shows how Kings determine what will and will not be allowed. The same constitution can be used to exemplify how the Colombian government will make certain exceptions.
Natalia: Another example is las FARC, which in Spanish means Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia or in English Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces, a paramilitary group which not so long ago signed a peace treaty after years of conflict. Yet, even the treaty itself was deemed as controversial.
Article 36 of the Justice agreement between the government and las FARC allowed for changes in the political constitution and gave people responsible for heinous crimes, directly or indirectly, the possibility of participating in politics and being able to be a candidate for roles of popular election.
Sofia: The problem here doesn’t come from allowing a said “justice” for ex members of the paramilitary groups, but the fact that it goes against the political constitution and is limited to certain groups of people.
Natalia: Now, it is important to mention that these problems aren’t limited to 3rd world countries but in fact extend to a whole handful of countries. So let’s travel to the most renown country in the world, the United States of America.
Natalia: King can ignore its people (for its own benefit)
Sofia: In most countries the idea of “sovereign immunity” which has trespassed standards by the lack of consequences after government officials or employees commit a certain type of criminal violation or general misbehavior and incompetence. Shielding all people or entities directly related to the government, regardless of the severity of their actions.
Natalia: This particular example of corruption limits progress and justice. It doesn't allow these entities to receive lawsuits or/and furtherly prevent more situations or problems.
An example of double standard in the US came with the “Fast and Furious” gun scandal.
Yes, as in “Fast and Furious” the movie.
Fast and Furious is an ATF operation (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) under project Gunrunner, which involved allowing gunwalking (strategy where a possible member of a mexican cartel will be allowed to walk away with a gun that technically would be traced to cartel bases) This project allowed 2000 weapons to surpass the mexican border to supposedly “dismantle” (Emphasis in supposedly) the Mexican Drug Cartels.
On several occasions some weapons used by cartels on homicide and massacres were traced to this operation. However the risks that this operation involved blew up when:
Agent Brian Terry died in a firefight during a border patrol in the hands of Mexican citizens outside the law, who used weapons linked to the operation “Fast and Furious” and killed the agent.
Sofia: This case became a scandal the moment this operation and those involved didn’t receive any prosecution or firing considering the risks that these operations represented, showing corruption within Obama’s “Justice” Department.
Natalia: This particular incident caused a major scandal within Obama’s office, as here the King completely ignored a case of major controversy to almost protect the integrity of its people or the members of the government, even though it has been considered as one of the darkest eras of national security in the US.
Almost as if he had taken Toretto’s idea of Nothing is stronger than family too seriously, and put those personal desires over true justice. As if the government and its members were all family, and were protected by the idea of government.
These ideas of family can also be extended to:
Sofia: King can help “some” (emphasis in some)
The Russian Invasion in Ukraine, quickly became the fastest growing crisis in the world.
With 6.5 million people displaced within Ukraine, and 3.5 million escaping to other countries. The neighboring countries have received ukrainians warmly, yet asylum seekers from other nations are neglected by countries such as Spain, Libya and Turkey. These are some examples of countries, which made agreements with the European Union to limit the access of asylum seekers. (Chatam House (.org) 2022)
Natalia; Meaning that the spotlight held by Ukraine, has caused limitations in the rest of humanitarian aid. Here the King (some European governments and the European Union) only help some of the people in need, rather than the whole population.
Natalia: King has no morality
Sofia: May I quote. "I swear by God, by the Country and by my honor, to comply with and enforce the Constitution and the laws of the Republic, uphold and defend its independence, respect its rights and faithfully fulfill the duties of my office."
Oath taken by politicians and the President before they are officially awarded their position, but is it really taken into account?
Not really, at least not completely.
Moral and political, constitute two social practices of a different nature. Politics conceptualizes a specific type of human activity: that directed towards the formation of the more general collective order of a human group (Dowse and Hughes, 1979, p.22, Sartori, 1984). Voting, enacting a law or attending a party assembly is a political activity, but it is also, for example, influencing another to change their political ideology. The implications of this doing, which however are not defining notes of it, are the use and distribution of power and the formalization of social authority networks. The largest and most formalized of these networks is naturally the state.
Natalia; Morality, for its part, constitutes from the formal point of view, a set of evaluative-prescriptive principles of all human behavior and its different objectifications (norms, customs, institutions, states). It is externalized in various practices and institutions and its social purpose, at least from a secular angle, lies in preventing conflicts and promoting cooperation
Sofia: Without morality, hence its importance, any rudiment of collective life would be impossible. Hence its unconditionality. It is true that it is not always taken into account, politics refers to certain behaviors directed towards a specific purpose. While morality, we only analyze social or public morality from a formal point of view, is presented as a set of principles, statements, judgments or maxims about justice, applicable to all human conduct. Whatever their purposes or motivations are.
Conclusion (King can do wrong, it just goes unpunished)
Natalia: The typical phrase "the law is for everyone" is not entirely true, since there are those who follow it and those who create and administer it and at times those are the same that ignore all kinds of protocols even when they exceed their own morality.
Sofia: The king lacks morality and lacks a permanent standard. But we don't, we know the damage it causes to the world, to our world. That's why we emphasize that nothing said here are empty words.
Natalia: Kings historically couldn’t do no wrong, they were able to punish but for the most part, never punished. Monarchs had full authority. But, if governments around the world continue to use these monarchic ideas that they are Kings, and are exempted from anything, the cycles of corruption, hence double standards will continue.
Naty: My name is Natalia Perez Samudio
Sofia: and my name is Sofia Gonzalez Diaz and this was
Both: “THE KING”. Thanks for your attention
