“Hypocrisy is the homage(敬意) that vice pays to virtue,” wrote François de la Rochefoucauld, a French moralist. This is especially true in politics. Autocrats usually put on a big show of(大张旗鼓地做) holding elections. These may be phoney(虚假的), as in Russia or Iran, but they allow rulers to claim to govern by popular consent, which lends them at least the appearance of legitimacy(合法性) at home and abroad.
“虚伪是恶行对美德表达的敬意，”法国道德家拉罗什富科写道。这在政治中尤其如此。独裁者通常大张旗鼓地举行选举。这些选举可能是虚假的，就像在俄罗斯或伊朗那样，但它们让统治者得以声称自己是基于民众同意而执政，这至少在国内和国外赋予他们表面上的合法性。
So it is highly unusual for the leader of a country that holds elections to say: no more.(因此，一个举行选举的国家的领导人说出“不再有选举”这样的话，是极不寻常的。) Yet that is what Daniel Ortega, Nicaragua’s co-president(联合总统), did on July 19th. “There will never be elections here again,” he announced, while the world’s attention was on the football World Cup final. He complained that opposition parties wanted to use elections “to seize power(夺取权力)”. That is indeed what elections are for.
因此，一个举行选举的国家的领导人说出“不再有选举”这样的话，是极不寻常的。然而，这正是尼加拉瓜联合总统丹尼尔·奥尔特加在7月19日所做的。“这里再也不会有选举了，”他在全世界的注意力都集中在足球世界杯决赛上时宣布。他抱怨反对党想利用选举“夺取权力”。而这正是选举的目的所在。
Nicaragua is a small country, but this rhetorical rubicon matters. Globally, democracy has been in retreat for two decades or so. The worst deterioration(恶化) has been in places that were free or partly free and have gradually become less so, as power-hungry(渴望权力的) leaders have squeezed(挤压，施压) the media, nobbled(干预，使丧失公正) the courts and persecuted the opposition. According to Freedom House, an American watchdog, Nicaragua is the second-worst backslider(倒退者) of the past 20 years, after Mali. Mr Ortega was freely elected in 2006, but then set about(开始做) dismantling(拆除，瓦解) every institution that could challenge him. He locked up and sometimes tortured(折磨) his rivals. He forced the media to praise the awful poetry of his wife and co-president, Rosario Murillo. Roughly a tenth of(十分之一) the population fled.
尼加拉瓜是个小国，但这个修辞上的“卢比孔河”至关重要。全球范围内，民主已倒退约二十年。最严重的恶化发生在那些曾经自由或部分自由、然后逐渐变得不那么自由的地方，因为渴望权力的领导人挤压媒体、干预法院、迫害反对派。根据美国监督机构“自由之家”的数据，尼加拉瓜是过去20年中民主倒退第二严重的国家，仅次于马里。奥尔特加在2006年自由当选，但随后开始拆除每一个可能挑战他的机构。他监禁甚至有时折磨对手。他强迫媒体赞美他妻子兼联合总统罗萨里奥·穆里略的糟糕诗歌。大约十分之一的人口逃离了国家。
For Daniel, the lyin’s done
对丹尼尔来说，谎言结束了