I've had a lot of dealings in Mexico in the last 50 years including legally flying seafood out of there and have had a lot of contact with the ruling class (pure blood spanish) and the americans concept of what goes on in Mexico and how it is run is 180 degrees from the truth.
Mexico is a communist country without the offical title.
Yes, too many Americans who have a little exposure to Mexico City do have a wrong impression. I've had the opportunity, through business, to travel to the tiny towns of Mexico (usually ruled by one Spanish or even Irish/Spanish or German/Spanish family) and outlying medium-to-small cities of Mexico, and they are nothing like the "public face" of Mexico City. A simple superficial look at the Mestizo faces of "mainstream" Mexico City and then a look at the either Indian or Spanish and very few if any Mestizo faces in the other towns/cities tells you all you need to know, and that's before doing any business.