Certainly getting involved in politics in Brazil is admirable, as is
writing about it, but there's nothing admirable about making an alliance
with the most conservative elements of society (Antonio Carlos
Malgalhaes, Roseane Sarney, for example) to dismantle the minimal safety
net erected over the past fifty years. FHC's victory, in my view,
prevented any major improvement in the quality of life for most
Brazilians. Land reform, though it is no longer the fashion in the
Brazilian academy, is still central to real development, and FHC is doing
all he can to insure it does not happen.
Michael Shellenberger