Mi Casa Is Su Casa - Victor Davis Hanson on Mexico's arrogance

vdh ^ | December 30, 2005 | Victor Davis Hanson

[dennisw]

“Shameful," screams Mexico's President Vicente Fox, about the proposed extension of a security fence along the southern border of the U.S. "Stupid! Underhanded! Xenophobic!" bellowed his Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez, warning: "Mexico is not going to bear, it is not going to permit, and it will not allow a stupid thing like this wall."

The allusions to the Berlin Wall made by aggrieved Mexican politicians miss the irony: The communists tried to keep their own people in, not illegal aliens out. More embarrassing still, the comparison boomerangs on Mexico, since it, and not the U.S., most resembles East Germany in alienating its own citizens to the point that they flee at any cost. If anything might be termed stupid, underhanded or xenophobic in the illegal immigration debacle, it's the conduct of the Mexican government:

"Stupid" characterizes a government that sits atop vast mineral and petroleum reserves, enjoys a long coastline, temperate climate, rich agricultural plains — and either cannot or will not make the necessary political and economic reforms to feed and house its own people. The election of Vicente Fox, NAFTA and cosmetic changes in banking and jurisprudence have not stopped the corruption or stemmed the exodus of millions of Mexicans.

Indeed, such cynicism directly protects the status quo in three critical ways. The flight of the poor is Mexico's aberrant version of Fredrick Jackson Turner's safety-valve theory of the frontier: But instead of homesteaders heading west, the impoverished go northward, preferring simply to leave rather than change their government.

Mexico receives between $10 and $15 billion in annual remittances from illegal aliens in the U.S., a subsidy that not only masks political failure at home, but comes at great cost to its expatriates abroad. After all, such massive transfers of capital must be made up from somewhere........

[burzum]

"Mexico is not going to bear, it is not going to permit, and it will not allow a stupid thing like this wall."

Mexico can always invade. *cough* I mean in a more direct way.

[Beckwith]

Mi Casa Is Su Casa.

Don't the Mexicans think it's, "Su casa is mi casa"?

[Cuttnhorse]

Another great article by Hanson:

Nor is the evolving debate framed so much any more as left-versus-right, but as the more privileged at odds with the middle and lower classes. On one side are the elite print media, the courts and a few politicians fronting for employer and ethnic interests; on the other are the far more numerous, and raucous, talk-radio listeners, bloggers and cable news watchers, the ballot propositions, and populist state legislators who better reflect the angry pulse of the country.

Did Hanson just describe President Bush in the bold part of the above paragraph???

[Cuttnhorse]

This is the heart of the debate, IMO;
Sheer numbers has evolved the debate far beyond the old, "We need labor" and "They have workers," to something like, "Can the U.S. remain a sovereign nation with borders at all?"

[Recon Dad]

We have the right to say who we permit to enter our country or not to enter, nothing more or less.

[hershey]

Unions are already wooing illegals. Sigh. Also heard on talkradio yesterday, that the Bush admin. has paid Mexico $50 million to help police the border. Money out of our pockets, thank you, and wasted. The Mexican army makes regular incursions into the US to protect drug smugglers and we're paying for bullets they're shooting at our border agents,.

[tropical]

Thanks for finding and posting a fantastic article. Hanson sums up the situation clearly and concisely.

[SquirrelKing]

We are Mexico's safety valve. Their politicos biggest fear:

Wall = Revolution

[stocksthatgoup]

Mexico: "Su Casa is Mi Casa"

[starbase]

Wall = Revolution

Viva La Revolution!!!!

[dagnabbit]

Mi Presidente es su Presidente.

[tropical]

I didn't know! LOL

[rodguy911]

Don Vicente, the unacknowledged Mexicon drug
cartel leader, is afraid it will get
tougher to get his "products" (drugs
and dissident capitalist Mexicon illegals)
into the US so he is pissed.
Third worlder leaders know how to
protect their swiss accounts at any cost.

[sgtyork]

I really never got that. Union membership has been the most affected. All those solid union construction jobs. I dislike unions intensely, but this has to be the most extreme example of union leadership working in opposition to the best interests of their members. Payoffs all around.

[Max in Utah]

Wall = Revolution

Viva la Revolucion! Arriba! Yehaa!

/Speedy Gonzales

[SuzyQue]

One of the spanish-language radio stations down here is called "la invasora". It's almost funny to see so many cars go by announcing "the invasion".

[SandRat]

This describes most of the OBLs

[Loud Mime]

Here in Southern California we had something das war sehr interessant.

[Loud Mime]

Indeed, such cynicism directly protects the status quo in three critical ways. The flight of the poor is Mexico's aberrant version of Fredrick Jackson Turner's safety-valve theory of the frontier: But instead of homesteaders heading west, the impoverished go northward, preferring simply to leave rather than change their government.

This is why Mexico allows, and wants, the border crossings. Those in power don't want changes.