Is the Legislature really the problem?

I saw a column in this week's edition of El Expresso, penned by Adolfo Méndez Ríos - a veteran communications consultant - which I felt unfairly questioned the quality of today's lawmakers in Puerto Rico. While it is a certainty that today's Legislature is - at best - mediocre, I do not believe it is completely to blame for all of Puerto Rico's problems.

Puerto Rico is currently in the middle of a "perfect storm" in which both our political and private sector leaders have combined in a series of tactical blunders which have led to downward spiral - with eerie similarity to a toilet flushing - at both the economic and social levels. It is unfair to pin it all on the Legislature. Here are some of the reasons, I see. Can you think of other reasons?

PARTISAN POLITICS

The political leadership's inability to forge a consensus strategy to get Congress off its ass and resolve Puerto Rico's 111-year-old status quagmire certainly weighs heavy on the island's demise. Since the creation of the New Progressive Party in 1967, which marks the era of Puerto Rico's modern political age, partisan politics has raised its head in every attempt to decide once and for all what Puerto Rico really is to derail, contaminate or kill the process.

Puerto Rico's inability to steer its own ship has successfully kept it from being competitive regionally, paving the way for developing economies such as the Dominican Republic and even Jamaica to surpass it in key industries - such as manufacturing and tourism. What I find absolutely pathetic about this particular problem is that the pro-commonwealth Popular Democratic Party recognizes that the status quo is obsolete, yet it insists on torpedoing every attempt to move the congressional wheels.

BREAKDOWN IN EDUCATION

I think we can stipulate that Puerto Rico's public education system is broken beyond repair, yet don't you find it completely offensive that government continues to put patches instead of doing something coherent to rebuild it?

For decades now we have been hearing about the breakdown of the Department of Education and the governmental monster that it has become, yet the problem is getting worse (a painful reminder was the beginning of the current school year... remember?)

THE PRESS

As a former member of Puerto Rico's press corps, it is particularly painful to see how Puerto Rico's journalists have allowed themselves to be sold so short. Barring a few exceptions, investigative journalism has become non-existent in Puerto Rico. Media coverage is particularly driven by gossip, shallow coverage of events. Journalists often fail in asking questions, digging deeper and understanding what it is they're covering.

Granted, this does not all fall on the lap of the journalists. Publishers are even guiltier of selling out. The economic crunch has forced newspapers to ask the government for money in other to keep publishing and some owners wish to pursue their own interests instead of the interests of the greater good - which, at least in my book, should be the mission of all journalists.