He Was a Goatherd. Now He’ll Lead Mexico’s Top Court.

He Was a Goatherd as a Boy. Now He’ll Lead Mexico’s Top Court.

"Hugo Aguilar Ortiz grew up in a remote Mixtec-speaking village. He is now one of the most powerful lawyers in Mexico."

This is an article from The New York Times about the newly elected chief justice of Mexico’s Supreme Court. In my opinion, the article seems to strike a nuanced balance between Mr. Ortiz's ambitions and his ideals. I don't pretend to understand Mexico's political establishment. When the topic comes up in conversation among my Mexican friends, I keep my big mouth shut and just do my best to listen and comprehend what is said. Any insights from those more informed would be very much appreciated.

Note: Link to article is good for 30 days from date of post.

The country music artists “Brooks & Dunn” sang,

Only in America
Dreamin' in red, white, and blue
Only in America
Where we dream as big as we want to
We all get a chance
Everybody gets to dance
Only in America

Hugo Aguilar Ortiz seems to demonstrate that is true in Mexico as well.

AMLO (Andrés Manuel López Obrador) attended the only elementary school in Tepetitán, a small village in the municipio of Macuspana, the Marcos E. Becerra school, managed by the Seventh-day Adventist Church and named after the Mexican poet of the same name. During afternoons, he helped his parents at the La Posadita store. López Obrador began middle school in Macuspana but finished it in the state capital of Villahermosa, where his family moved in the mid-1960s and opened a clothes and shoe store called Novedades Andrés.

Of course, AMLO went on to become President.

Maybe a bit anachronistic. Doesn't France score higher than the USA in social mobility nowadays?

According to the Global Social Mobility Index

Denmark is #1
Canada is #14
USA is #27
Mexico #58

Pardon my ignorance, but what is social mobility?

According to the Global Social Mobility Index

Denmark is #1
Canada is #14
USA is #27
Mexico #58

I think France is 12th. So social stratification is more rigid nowadays in the States than Europe. Troubling. Think I'll set up my hot dog stand in Denmark and dream of a Wiener Empire.
"Social mobility" refers to the movement of individuals, families, or groups within or between social strata in a society.

Briefly, social mobility is the movement of individuals between economic strata in a society.

Low social mobility indicates that a child is likely to become an adult in the same economic circumstances as their parents. High social mobility indicates that a child is more likely to become an adult in a different economic circumstance than their parents.

My father completed schooling at grade six and never earned more than minimum wage. He expected that my outcome would be better. He was correct; I have three university degrees and own homes in two countries.

In contrast, a friend said that when he was a child in England, working-class children expected to die as working-class adults. It never entered his mind that he could become affluent. (As it turns out, he moved to Canada and is better off than me.)

In the 18th century and most of the 19th centuries, American Blacks had zero social mobility. They were born in slavery and died in slavery.

Social mobility doesn’t always mean moving up. It just means moving to a different strata. From my limited understanding, I believe that much of the social and political foment in the USA is related to non-college educated White males experiencing downward social mobility and often attributing that to the upward social mobility of people if color and women.

I would only add that social mobility indicates a society that values education and equality for all, cornerstones for social mobility but four-letter words in Trump's America.

Since wieners are from Wien i.e. Vienna, you might consider moving to Austria; a very nice country.

Open a wiener stand in the namesake of the wiener? Wouldn’t that be a bit like “taking coals to Newcastle”?

Interestingly, the “Vienna sausage” is known in Vienna as the “ Frankfurter Würstl”, after Frankfurt, Germany.

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