The Law is not the People's Choice Awards

Mark R. Kleiman wants to know what conservatives think about Mexico City's mayor facing minor criminal charges that may keep him from running for the presidency. Klieman is hardly alone in feeling that the current Mexican government may be trying to pull a fast one here, but I think he and several other bloggers right, left, and center are hitching their cart to the wrong proverbial horse.

Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is subject to the same constitution as all Mexican nationals, and therefore he must play by those same rules. "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time," I have always heard. Lopez may be being legally railroaded, but he is being treated in accordance with Mexican law. If the law is broken, then the people should push their elected officials to try to change it, but advocating a separate and more equal application of the law becuase of his popularity seems as least as much of a threat to Mexican democracy as is this selective application of charges, if not more so.

How does this conservative feel about this situation, Mr. Kleiman? I feel that the same people who didn't want the American government to intervene on behalf of one citizen in Florida, shouldn't suddenly want us to to reverse course and intervene on behalf of another single citizen in another land where our meddling is even less wanted.