[wardaddy]

How did they manage to form a liberal constitutional republic

Shared culture and heritage and a love of ideas from the European Enlightenment philosphers along with a tradition of old English common law that began even before Magna Carta and which by the death of Charles II had pretty much neutered the Brit monarchy. Mexico lacks that tradition and their citizens swarming here en masse lack that commonality with this nations founders who did the wonderful things you admire.

So, you think turning a Euro-descended nation into an "other"-descended nation is all hunky dory? even in light of hyphenated Americans? If so, why? Do you have something against Caucasians?

BTW...great bean.

[Alter Kaker]

Shared culture and heritage and a love of ideas from the European Enlightenment philosphers

So many Norwegian farmers reading works of European enlightment philosophers? You are very funny.

[Cronos]

which by the death of Charles II had pretty much neutered the Brit monarchy.

Sorry about this, it's not relevant to the entire topic, but the British democratic process really came into being a little later than James IInd's rule -- specifically when they decided to choose the Georges from Hanover (German speakers who in the case of George I and II never learnt English and spent most of their time in Hanover) as their king

[garbanzo]

Mexico lacks that tradition and their citizens swarming here en masse lack that commonality with this nations founders who did the wonderful things you admire.

Pat seems to suggest that such an issue is biological one rather than a cultural one. For example, Italians didn't have the Magna Carta as a heritage, but we don't worry about Italian-Americans and their descendants turning America into a papal state if they became too numerous. Same with the Irish and the Eastern Europeans. With Pat, it only seems to be the brown-skinned folk who can't handle democracy now or even generations hence.