Most of the worlds population are held back by corupt governments. Given a chance to they well rise above and make a better life for themselfs.
I agree with your assessment. We certainly are not going to invade Mexico, but if the U.S. would close the valve on the pressure cooker and turn up the heat, the Mexican people might actually do something. I find it hard to understand after so many have been to America to work and see how a True Republic is suppose to work, sewers, hospitals, schools etc etc, why don't they do something to change Mexico?
The ag collectives known as "ejidos" are being converted into private property, displacing many.
Your article brought up some good points, and sealing the borders and deporting illegals would work,but don't hold your breath.There's just too much incentive($$$) to maintain the status quo on both sides of the border. The losers as usual are the little people(working class) in Mexico + the US.
Well, fixing Mexico seems to be something we should think about. The border 'problem' is beyond belief and we can't ignore it. Happily, it's become a US political problem, so something will finally be done.
You are correct. The problem is corruption. The corruption has its foundation in the belief system. That is the absolute truth historically and now. Cannot post any more about the belief system or the post will be pulled.
So those who are crossing illegally into the US, violating our labor laws, refusing to become part of our culture except the part that knows how to loot the welfare system are government and those "high up"?
I submit that the Latin American culture in general is corrupt. I remember a long time ago in school where we had to take these "situational ethics" sessions where questions were raised like "If you and your family were hungry would you steal for food?" I suppose the percentage of people saying "No" today would be probably lower than the church going community I was living in then, but even our bums ask for money rather than assuming that they are entitled to it and just take it like the growing welfare and criminal class in the US today does.
Instead of overthrowing the looters the Mexican people had an out...,
That "out" is called an election. Just like we have here in the US. We The People could have elected a Pemex officer like JOhn F'ing Kerry, but we chose a lesser of two evils and have this administration.
...they had no weapons
Yeah, but we have weapons and machinery and chemicals to improvise much more, it doesn't mean that gunning down your elected official is going to get you anywhere except a long prison sentence.
In fact, just cruise around FreeRepublic and note the direction most if not all of Latin America is heading when they do have the opportunity to vote - they are deliberately adding to their problems by voting in hard core Marxists and Socialists. According to reports, the Mexican citizens are going to keep this pattern of electing public officials and their party of corrupt thieves into power. We thought that our president was Vicente's bitch, just wait until the scum of the earth regain power in the US.
and they could cross into America and have a much safer life.
And that crap needs to stop too. As long as the peoples of the South have an escape valve, they will continue their stupid, selfish, and corrupt politics and just "cross into America" and bring their loathsome ways with them when their own decisions mature into a horrific nightmare. What I am afraid of is that our government is filled with the same kind of seditionists that inhabit the legislatures of Europe that think it is a great idea to flood the culture with people who hate our culture, want to keep their own destructive ways but want to do it on our dime and our infrastructure that we have taken decades if not centuries to put together. They have no "flesh in the game". Why get educated, raise honest children and work hard, passing on a strong positive ethic to the next generation of Producers when you can slip into a wealthy country in the middle of the night and just loot it? At least people used to resist the Vikings.
As you have pointed out "they had no weapons". We do, and unless our own government figures out that most of the US is against this invasion of Takers who only know how to attach themselves to the Producers via the powers of the Police State (you did read "Atlas Shrugged", right) and ironically by simultaneously violating the inconvenient laws of that same State, a segment of the US population may find a "new" use for those sporting goods What good is that escape valve then when the mortality rate rises?
About what year was that? Didn’t pesos get replaced with “new pesos” about 15 years ago. Are those now devalued as well.
There was a kind of frontier rawness to Mexico that I liked when traveling by motorcycle, but also a sense of fascism and danger that detracts.
Mexicans rebelled against their corrupt, dictatorial government in 1910, led by idealistic reformers. The result was the Mexican Revolution, the bloodiest war ever fought in North America. Well over 1 million died and I've read estimates as high as 3 million. The reformers won and the current corrupt mess is the result. I have no confidence that a new revolution will be any less bloody or pointless. This may be as good as it gets.
I also agree that they would have to solve the problems amongst themselves (ie. 'pressure cooker'). There is a strong Nationalist bent amongst all Mexicans and, like Iraq, any US involvement would galvanize many to fight the gringos no matter how well intentioned we are in getting involved in their affairs.
However, the problem with your scenario is that things COULD get worse with a real Socialist, ala Fidel, getting into power down there (IMHO). Any unstable or outwardly belligerent neighbor would not be to our advantage. Nonetheless, maybe the situation could be 'steered'? The problem here though is who would do the 'steering'. (Another CIA-engineered coup to stoke the conspiracy-buffs?)
In the end, I have no good answer to this problem.
"1,000 pesos which was worth about $80 now will not buy a coke."
I think you may need to check your math or your year. The exchange rate is now about 11.3 pesos to the dollar; which means, 1,000 pesos is worth $88 Dollars. It will not buy what it used to in Mexico and it certainly will not buy more than it used to - as your thoughts suggest.
I agree with you that the the Mexican working class are excellent people. The growth of their middle class at home is what is going to keep more people at home. That is the reason we do not have an immigration problem with Canada.
The election of Fox was an action by the Mexican people to create a fairer, more prosporus society. It is working and yes, it will still take some time.
A native Californian agrees. I grew up with Mexican AMERICANS. There were also those that hated us gringos, even then (1950's).
I'm not saying that all of the new breed are evil. I'm just saying that there are more illegals taking advantage of our "free" system, and sending money home to their relatives in Mexico. And, many are taught to fear and hate, and cheat, us gringos that are giving them a better life.
The only chance I see to help America and Mexico is to seal the border, deport the people who are not here legaly. We also need to arm the Mexican people so they can have a chance against the looters with their armies."
Bo, you're saying there is no chance?
People get the government they deserve
However, they have put up with the kleptocracy for far too long. Like much of the 3rd world, they view corruption as just a normal part of life. Until this worldview can be changed, there is really no hope that the country can live up to its ultimate potential. Also, when they immigrate to this country (both legally and illegally), they bring this worldview with them. Visit some of the border regions in Texas and California. You'll see it.
A great many of the Mexicans who come to the US are the motivated ones....the ones who would get fed up and revolt against the Mexican government if there were no place to escape to like the US.
I think there's only two practical ways to deal with Mexico: either open the borders and hope the concept of relatively honest government seeps into the Mexican culture over a period of 50 years or so, or clamp down on the border and hope it leads to a revolution in the next 5 or 10 years.
Either way, a lot of people are going to suffer.
Some of the biggest oil looters were former presidents of Mexico who made off with billions of US $ in oil money and were never called on to return even a small percentage of their loot. Until the people of Mexico prosecute these high level thieves, we will continue to see wet backs by the hundreds of thousands invading us every year.
^