John the Demagogue Jr.

Forcing municipal secretaries to dress up as street cleaners to clean Praça 14 Bis at six in the morning on the first day of his term is just the first of many demagogic measures that the new mayor of São Paulo has in store for the population of the country's largest city. It is nothing more than demagoguery, being neither more nor less than an action "to demonstrate good feelings (humility, honesty, kindness, etc.), with ulterior motives," which is how dictionaries define "demagoguery."

What characterizes a demagogue, in short, is saying one thing and doing another: Jânio Quadros was a staunch defender of the family and even forbade beauty pageant contestants from wearing swimsuits (only skirts), but in real life, he behaved like a compulsive womanizer, even embarrassing certain reporters with his libertine behavior. He christened his campaigns "a penny against a million" and the symbol was a broom "to sweep away the thievery." But, in his 1985 campaign for mayor of São Paulo, he himself received campaign contributions and even indulged in tearing up checks he considered too small. His famous Swiss bank account generated many legends, including the one that he died without revealing the number, not even to his own daughter.

Another demagogue of the same ilk, Paulo Maluf, spent his entire life claiming to be honest and not having accounts abroad, a claim recently contradicted by banks that paid millions in fines to the São Paulo city hall for handling the former mayor's funds without proof of origin. Another demagogue who reached the Planalto Palace was Fernando Collor. The motto of his campaign was the moralization of the country; he was transformed into the "hunter of maharajas," but in less than two years of government, the country discovered that he was the maharaja. And, well, he continues to be in the headlines, involved in various situations and accused of various illegal acts.

That's what demagogues are like. Charming, convincing, good-looking, funny, witty, articulate, good orators, but not at all committed to the truth. But not only that. They put the democratic regime at risk. In the book "Politics," Aristotle points to demagoguery as the corruption of democracy, just as tyranny is the corruption of monarchy.

It is no coincidence that Jânio's government led to a dictatorship and Collor's did not reach its end.