The Workers' Party (PT), won in the elections for 187 mayors and 2,485 city councilors throughout Brazil. This is not just a victory. It is, above all, a responsibility. The results confirmed the positive valuation, on the part of the voters, of the PT way of governing, which was established in municipalities like Porto Alegre, Ribeirao Preto, and Santo Andre. It was an ethical rebellion of the voters. The immunity and impunity of so many corrupt politicians, added to the misappropriation of public funds, pushed part of the electorate to demonstrate its disapproval of the politicians. The deception grew with the government of Fernando Henrique Cardoso. Not even the opposition expected that, in the Presidency, the sociologist would take a knife in hand to relentlessly slash the social budget. Aquiles, after all, did not lose his heel because he had an invulnerable body. The new administrations need to do justice to the ethical rebellion, avoiding the slightest indication of nepotism, favoritism, or under-the-table agreements. One sensitive point of Brazilian politics which demands to be attacked by the PT: campaign funding. Many politicians and policies are hostage to banks, businesses, and contractors. Even in the PT the Robin Hood syndrome has limits. In general the financiers take the best, which subjects democracy to economic power. Electoral legislation needs to be reformed in order to assure that the campaign's fairness is controlled and transparent. If in the next two years, the new administrations do not demonstrate coherency in fulfilling their promises, they will give their adversaries the triumph of an incompetence capable of assuring the continuance of this mistaken economic policy, which benefits the international creditors and promotes internal exclusion. Only the endeavor to achieve tax reform can reverse the aberration of this model, which concentrates income in the hands of the federal government and decentralizes services to the municipalities. New mayors mean a new governing team, above all in vital functions. It could be ingenuous to retain in positions of trust those who do not feel a kinship with the new project. In this sense, the tradition of the Dominican Order has been an example of democracy for 800 years: when the mandate of a superior ends, everyone who was appointed by him is peremptorily dismissed. The best criticism of the neoliberal policy adopted by the federal government - via irresponsible privatizations that now penalize the population, such as telecommunications - is to offer efficient services. Good intentions don't mean much if the town council is incapable of improving the performance and quality of health and sanitation services, of fixing potholes in the streets, or assuring places in school and transport for those without. It is not enough for the media to function as ombudsmen for the municipal government. Generally, whoever is in power only has ears for praise, and any criticism sounds like an opposition plot. It would be a good idea to have a team of ombudsmen, from political analysts to popular leaders, to open the eyes and pierce the ears of anyone who runs the risk of turning politics into a narcissistic game. The PT introduced innovations into public administration by implementing programs like the participatory budget, school scholarships, the people's bank, family doctors, minimum income, etc. But it runs the risk of paternalism or exclusion towards popular movements, turning them into transmission belts, or empty shells. A project born to "organize the working class" must now respect the autonomy and stimulate the growth of organizations of the excluded, like the MST (Landless Workers' Movement). If it does not want to repeat the example of the old leftist parties in Europe, associated with social democracy, the PT cannot deny its origins or forget what it has said and written. It has no other reason for being than its commitment to those who started and supported it: the poor. For them, who in Brazil are a multitude, there will only be a future beyond premature death if the goods of the earth and the fruits of human labor are shared. Martha Suplicy (the winning mayoral candidate in Sao Paulo) did well to reaffirm modern socialism in her victory speech. Without this point of orientation the PT will lose its direction and perspective. The PT's chances of becoming a government alternative in 2002 depend on its programmatic and ideological cohesion, based in ethical coherence. Brazil deserves to lose its title of world champion in social inequality.