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Few Latin American artists have managed to write and in turn transmit and popularize a rhyme that explains in the most basic, simple, and universally possible way the dilemmas of power. Of course “if you give more power to power, the harder they will come to fuck you”, is part of the most famous and emblematic song of the Mexican band “Molotov”, and its author is the bassist and vocalist Micky Huidobro.
Today I don’t know if Huidobro is an outstanding libertarian who understands in depth the dynamics of power and economics, or if he just in a moment of inspiration composed one of the best choruses of Latin American rock, but undoubtedly marked a milestone in Mexico and the rest of the region.
Analyzing “Gimme Tha Power” I find it curious that it has been perhaps one of the most widespread and sung songs from Tierra del Fuego in Argentina to the Mexican border with the United States, and yet, probably one of the most misunderstood, because despite the fact that drunk and euphoric Latin Americans have sung it millions of times shouting “if you give more power to power, harder they will come to fuck you”, every time they have the opportunity to go to the polls they end up voting for politicians who propose to give more power, money, and resources to the State, while weakening the individual rights of citizens.
Sometimes it is difficult and complex to understand our societies, it is very likely that in all Latin American countries citizens are asked: do you trust the politicians in your country? and most will answer no; for example, in Mexico, in a survey conducted this year more than 76% of citizens said they do not trust the parties and politicians in their country, but still voted for president a socialist who proposes more power for the government and fewer freedoms for citizens; they sing at the top of their lungs the Molotov song, but it seems they like to be screwed.
Give me the power!
I think Huidobro knew —and knows— what he is talking about, why would a sufficiently thinking person want a politician —of those who have had to compromise with millions of people and have left thousands of favors along the way— to choose the school your children can go to, the hospital you can go to in case you get sick, or even in what line of business you can work or not?
What sense does it make for you as an individual to vote for an outsider to manage your money and decide your family’s future? We should if we can’t trust politicians, how is it then that we will want to leave in their hands the management of our entire economy and the education of our children?
The truth is that history has shown time and again that central planners only serve to please the whims of power and crush dissent, all the most successful societies -past, present and I assure you, future- have been those where individual rights are respected and private property is absolutely sacred; without those basic and elementary requirements, perdition, misery, censorship, and abuse is the only possible outcome.
As a citizen, you don’t have the power to vote every day, but when you are going to do it again, think very well about all this, are politicians supreme beings that have the power and capacity to manage your life better than yourself? Why would you want to give more power to someone powerful and be left without tools to face a possible outrage?
When a government or political party owns the means of production, of the channels of information and communication, of the monopoly of force, of health, and of education, you cease to be a citizen and immediately become a pawn of the ruling class; you produce by and for the power, you work, study, play, eat, live or die if the Government allows it, not if you want to, for you are no longer a free man.
The basis of socialism is the concentration of all power in the hands of politicians, and if you do not trust politicians, why give more them more power?
Emmanuel Rincón is a lawyer, writer, novelist and essayist. He has won several international literary awards. He is Editor-at-large at El American // Emmanuel Rincón es abogado, escritor, novelista y ensayista. Ganador de diversos premios literarios internacionales. Es editor-at-large en El American