Posted on 07/26/2009 7:40:35 AM PDT by SwinneySwitch
Mexicans should heed the words of Benjamin Franklin. They're so rattled by drug violence that has caused the deaths of nearly 13,000 people that they're willing to trade freedom for security. So, Franklin would say, they don't deserve either.
And, frankly, it looks like they're no more deserving of democracy. The Mexican people have entered into a Faustian bargain with the disgraced Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which scored big victories in this month's midterm elections. The PRI promised "peace" and "security." Those are code words for stopping the drug war started by President Felipe Calderón, who carries the banner of the rival National Action Party (PAN).
Mexico's voters embraced the PRI's message. The party captured a plurality in the 500-member Chamber of Deputies and won five of six governorships by earning 36.7 percent of the vote. The PAN, which had controlled the legislative branch for nearly a decade, suffered heavy losses across the board with only 28 percent of the vote.
There were other factors. It didn't help the PAN's chances that the Mexican economy went sour or that fewer people are leaving for the United States and thus putting a greater strain on Mexico's job market. A recent study by the Pew Hispanic Center found that the number of immigrants entering the United States from Mexico fell by 249,000 from March 2008 to March 2009, down nearly 60 percent from the previous year.
Still, polls show, the drug war was a big issue for voters. Now, halfway through a six-year term, Calderón must work with a hostile legislature that wants to cut funding for the crackdown. If that occurs, it will be even more essential that the United States stand by its commitments to Mexico. Through the Merida Initiative, Congress has pledged $1.4 billion to help Calderón fight...
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
U.S. President Obama doesn't.
Ignorant people vote liberal... Mexico is full of them
Ping!
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This is really not good for Mexico or us. The PRI are communists. They ruled Mexico for 70 years. Back before the fall of soviet russia, the second largest KGB base was in Mexico City. Not good at all.
PRI isnt communist, its nothing but old school oligarchy. Their *only* political philosophy is holding power and personal wealth. And Navarette is a little over the top here. The party in power is presiding over a full-on narco insurgency. 13,000 dead, shoot outs in the streets, RPGs, entire cities lost to open warfare?
Anywhere that happens, the government who promises the hard edge crackdown will unseat the ones who arent stopping it.
But Navarette talks about Mexico making a Faustian deal. Thats just silly, neither of Mexico’s choices believes in anything other than their personal power and enrichment. (say,,,, thats kinda like here,,,)
In that it is like the old Democrat Party. However, it's always been much more socialist. They took over the oil companies, and even the shrimp fleet (that they sold back to the individual boat and small fleet owners, when they figured out they couldn't run it) while PAN has been more free enterprise oriented.
Besides, PRI will not deal with the Narco terrorists any more effectively than PAN has, if anything they are more "integrated" with tham than the PANistas.
Belated ping!
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