Let there be hypocrisy.

There are several words and expressions that can accurately convey what is happening in Brasília's political scene today. Corruption is perhaps the first that comes to mind, it comes automatically. Crisis is another. Or fiscal adjustment, political reform, lowering the age of criminal responsibility, fiscal irresponsibility, primary surplus. But there is one word that best reflects what is happening in Brasília today: hypocrisy.

Because hypocrisy is rampant in political circles. There are many examples. One of them is trying to pinpoint corruption to a specific party, a government, and a state-owned company. Everyone knows that corruption in state-owned companies is an old problem, dating back to many previous governments. And that parties and politicians who now pose as paragons of virtue enriched themselves lavishly when they were in federal and state governments, and continue to do so wherever they remain.

These hypocrites point the finger as if nothing had been discovered or is still being covered up against them – largely due to the self-serving omission of segments of the Public Prosecutor's Office and the Judiciary. They pose as good guys, as if their governments had been examples of austerity with public money and the fight against corruption. They weren't and they aren't.

And, in yet another blatant act of hypocrisy, those who talk so much about corruption and the embezzlement of money from state-owned companies vehemently defend the continued financing of election campaigns by companies. They know that this, although not exclusively, is the source of a large part of the overpricing in public works and services and the misappropriation of public funds. But since it benefits them, as they fund their campaigns and enrich themselves with the "leftovers," they want the source of corruption to remain.

Another hypocrisy: neoliberal and conservative parties fight against the fiscal adjustment measures proposed by the government and approve measures that they have always called populist, demagogic, or irresponsible. To weaken the government and gain favor with the dissatisfied population, they approve what they would never approve if they were in power. To hell with scruples, as the minister of the dictatorship said when signing AI-5.

There are many other manifestations of hypocrisy in political circles. Can the Chamber of Deputies speak of morality when its president is Eduardo Cunha? Can deputies and senators interested in the continuity of their mandates and with an eye on the next elections approve a real political reform? The Chamber of Deputies, the Senate, the state legislative assemblies, the city councils, and the astonishing Legislative Chamber of Brasília continue what they have been for many years: business counters disguised as legislative bodies. The "political reform" is so that they continue as they are, and that those who are currently congressmen can continue to be so and aim higher, in search of better deals.

Unfortunately, that's how it is: a lot of hypocrisy. And there are still many cases to recount, in the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches. Not to mention the Federal Court of Accounts, where politicians and their protégés go, pretending to judge others' accounts rigorously and impartially while they spend public money recklessly. Hypocrisy, of course.