Power to (some of) the people
The work part of the work was, needless to say, not terribly exciting. Mostly, it involved counting things. People. Solders. We counted capitalists, not once, but many times. The government, it was understood, was highly concerned with the exact state and being of the capitalists. This was simple enough as a statistical matter, my mentor, Ricardo, had given me a copy of LaPlace's writings estimating the population of France and outlined the general concepts for me.
But not everything we did was statistical.
Some of us were sent out and about the country to "gauge the mood" and were asked to estimate the risk of revolt, and whether said risk was falling or rising. This exited the realm of statistics and entered....I am not sure what. Magic.
Nonetheless, estimates stated with the authority and certainty that only numbers can possess that the revolt risk throughout most of the Republic was currently at or near zero. Apparently, Santa Ana did his work well: a mere seven months after the battle and subsequent looting of Zacatecas, it was, like much of the rest of the republic (with the notable exception of Texas), at peace.
I had been there for about half a year when Ricardo informed me I was about to go on one of these fact finding trips.
We were once again in his office, like we ahd been when I first met him.
"I want you to understand something that is going to happen." he says, as he leans back in his chair.
"There is a new player on the board, and he is moving as we speak." he gestures towards the map on his desk, pointing at Texas.
"He is using various connections, rumors, articles, what have you, to do two things: to plant the idea of victory in Texas in the minds of the people, and secondly, to paint certain parties as being against this idea."
I frown. "I'm not sure I understand."
"What kind of system of government do we have?"
"A Republic?"
He snorts.
"Far from it. A very small portion of this country can vote. Wealthy men. Powerful men. A very small select circle. True, we have elections, parties, elected bodies of representatives, the window dressing, if you will, of a Republic, but no, we are not even this. In a small circle of voters, the difference between a coup and an election can become hazy. If you use a combination of force, inducements, and the press to convince the voters of something, and the voters enact, bloodlessly, the governmental change you want, does it constitute a coup? Students of this sort of thing focus on the 18th of Brumerie, but at least as educational is the 22nd of Floreal or 30th of Prairial."
"So... someone is planning a coup?"
"A bloodless one..well.. mostly bloodless. I wonder how he's going to deal with Santa Anna. There's a man who won't go quietly."
As so I left, traveling around the country. It was not a rapid process, but I had money for the best coaches or horses, and could make decent time. My fact finding consisted of me attending parties.
Everywhere around the Republic, the higher classes, the ones that could vote, met socially, in parties. Words were exchanged. Victories, and losses, in the battlefield. A name. [post=13442790]Muzquiz[/post].
There was something else, too. Nationalism. The war seemed to be making people proud. Suspicion followed pride. Suspicion of foreigners. Suspicion of liberals, who were seen as having fomented the revolutions in the first place.
At first, it seemed to me that all was proceeding as Ricardo said it should. But as I continued to go to these events as some sort of minor anonymous functionary, I wondered. The thing being born here, this consciousness, was it perhaps bigger than a thing which could be "manipulated" into being? These victories, after all, were real, tangible things. The Republic had seemed to go from one disaster to the next since the revolution, and here for once we seemed to be having a clear victory, something we could be proud about. And its not as if the Liberales had ever had a huge following among the powerful elite of Mexican society.....
When I got back, Ricardo hugged me, like a Father welcoming a Son. A few days later, he took me to the Senate, where the next step in the plan, he said, was going occur.
I watched it unfold, and, for a moment, I believed. By the time the day was over, by hook or by crook, half of the Liberals Senators were gone, all legally. The "votes" that were counted all seemed legitimate. And who knew? From what I had seen in the countryside, they might even be so.
Ricardo nodded appreciatively, not in agreement, but as a man will nod in appreciation of a well rendered part if he is himself an actor
I looked at the remaining Liberals, and that is what gave me pause: half of them were gone, but I could see: the half that remained, their determination had only increased.