Hedonic adaptation suggests that man eventually gets used to the extraordinary. Every wonder and every misfortune eventually wears out until it is considered everyday normality.
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For example, someone who wins the lottery experiences excessive euphoria at first; however, as the months pass, that wealth becomes normal. The analogous happens in reverse: someone who loses their sight suffers a deep fall; over time, they will return to normal levels of happiness. Fortune and tragedy will again be a starting point.
In politics, few illustrate this phenomenon like Marcelo Ebrard Casaubón. The comforts he has been granted due to his permanence in the high spheres of power —which at first must have seemed exceptional to him— have ended up becoming a habit. The normal. Thus, what he once would have judged as excess today seems to him a natural extension of the position. Perks of the job.
Only from this hedonic blindness can his recent statements at the morning conference about his son’s stay in the United Kingdom between 2021 and 2022 be understood. In politics, the past never stands still.
The case boils down to Ebrard’s son —there’s no need to mention his name—, inhabiting the official residence of the embassy in London. A quick internet search is enough to find the white mansion at 16 St. George Street, intended for the ambassador and high-ranking government visitors, where Ebrard’s son had a room with a fireplace and four people at his service. Normal, he must have thought.
The episode of a few days ago is not a blind spot for analyzing Marcelo. On the contrary, it is the clearest lens to examine the subtle distortion of ethics that can operate in prolonged power.
Faced with this evident abuse of a diplomatic headquarters for personal —or, even worse, family— purposes, the former foreign minister’s response was presented as a small manual on how not to face a crisis that occurred five years ago: “I see no abuse on my part, we did not use any resources improperly.” Blindness ahead.
What for the general public appears as a diversion of institutional resources, for Marcelo was a simple cultural exchange program protected by the professional relationship he maintained with the ambassador.
Marcelo is blind to privilege because it has become his natural habitat. In his logic, what from the outside is interpreted as a violation of spheres —the abuse of public resources for personal benefit— is the human and inevitable consequence of being a good father.
Worse still, Ebrard tries to use his political achievements as bargaining chips. To turn the time dedicated to managing the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines to Mexico into his son’s right to reside in a diplomatic headquarters. Good public service as a moral attenuating factor.
And a bunch of petty people —that’s the noun he used— who dare to boo him.
In a logic shaped by long permanence in power, Marcelo believes that dedication to state tasks gives him the right to take what he wants. However, this type of conduct violates the most basic administrative norms: the prohibition of using human resources for family matters, the refusal to use real estate for purposes unrelated to public service, the obligation not to take advantage of the position, the prohibition of using employment to obtain privileges, the regulations regarding conflict of interest.
Ebrard has used this self-justification mechanism before (though technically it was after). Let’s not forget that, after his defeat in Morena’s internal contest against Claudia Sheinbaum, he issued particularly strong statements. He threatened to break unity, criticized the party leadership, and distanced himself from the grassroots.
Over time, the conflict was re-channeled by Sheinbaum, who forgave the affront in exchange for him performing a new service to the country. Tariffs and the renegotiation of the T-MEC were the price of reconciliation.
He who emerged unscathed from stating that he would not submit to Sheinbaum in exchange for dealing with Trump, and whose son enjoyed exceptional conditions due to the merit of his vaccine management, has taught us a lesson.
The danger inherent in prolonged power. The danger of the politician convinced that his services to the country are heroic deeds that justify everything. The danger of privilege and hedonic adaptation. That he who is not innocent is shameless.
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