By trying to force the issue into one involving a so-called “right of migration” Mexico and the Catholic Church are doing essentially the same thing as a rapist who blames the victim.
It should have been easy to come to this conclusion, but for some reason it wasn’t. After all, we have seen another attempt at migration during the Cold War years; in Eastern Europe many people were attempting to leave for the West. They were entering illegally, but as refugees from political oppression, as well as the economic tyranny of the Communist Bloc so we let them in. Today, we see people fleeing Mexico for the US, partly because of the poor economic conditions there, but also because of the political conditions that keep the economic problems in place.
Mexico appears, on the surface, to be a democratically run nation. Under the surface the truth is different. Mexico is an aristocracy masquerading as a democracy, and the people in charge aren’t going to change the situation because they do not want to lose the power, social standing and other perks of their positions. So, they are doing the logical thing. They are getting rid of the problem by telling their to move north into the United States. The only difference between the Iron Curtain countries and Mexico is that Mexico, aside from lacking an outright authoritarian system, isn’t trying to keep people in; it is encouraging them to leave.
By trying to force the issue into one involving a so-called “right of migration” Mexico and the Catholic Church are doing essentially the same thing as a rapist who blames the victim. Mexico protects its borders in the south, and prohibits non-citizens from owning land. Pretending that the regions north of the Rio Grande are stolen Mexican territory is dead wrong. If we invoke historic rights, it belongs to the “Native Americans” who lived there before the Europeans came in and not to Mexico at all. Besides which, shouldn’t Mexican be going after Spain for conquering the land of the Aztecs, et al., who ruled before Cortez came and messed things up for them.
If Mexico wants to solve the migration problem, it is simple to do. It has to stop blaming other people, open up its economy, allow a viable broad based middle class to evolve in the nation as a whole, and dissolve the aristocratic tradition that has a strangle hold on political power. Instead it has decided to blame someone else for the nation’s problems. Spain is too far away, so America is blamed instead. Mexico couldn’t hang on to the Southwest that it claimed when other people migrated into the region. So, blame the nation that own the area now. Of course, there was more to it than that. Just ask any Texan about how the Lone Star Republic came into being. It wasn’t a part of the USA. It was it’s own nation before joining the Union. As for the Catholic Church, for an entity, which is so concerned over civil rights and the wellbeing of people world wide, it may be time to step in and call the Mexican government to the issue. The Vatican is one of the wealthiest entities on the face of the earth, and could be of valuable help to the people of Mexico by putting some of that immense wealth to work in assisting in economic development. If Pope Benedict offered such help to Vincente Fox on the condition that the economy is opened up, you can be sure that Fox would turn it down. The reason being that a sufficient amount of that money wasn’t going into his personal bank account. Still it would be worth a try. Does anyone remember Anthony Quinn in The Shoes of the Fisherman?
On the other hand, let’s assume, that the Mexican migrants get their way. They cross over into the US, take over, and Mexico becomes the ruler of the 48 contiguous states. Washington DC goes out the door and there is no more USA. What happens next? Simply, if Mexico doesn’t change its political and economic structure, everything will still be in a shambles. Not being able to blame the USA for the problem any more, Mexico would have to turn elsewhere. The logical answer would be … Canada! After all, the small nations of Central American wouldn’t do. But Canada is big, and has lots more gringos to blame for the continuing situation.
Seriously, Mexico wouldn’t have much choice but blame the USA, or Canada if it continues with the same old policies. Economies flourish best when there is more individual freedom, more personal responsibility, and more open opportunity for everyone. That is part of what is dragging America down today. We have cut off a lot of the personal freedom and opportunity. Just look at France for the eventual outcome. American must insist that Mexico handle the situation. Enforcing its border is a national right which must be respected, wartime or not. For Mexico to solve the problem it must imitate the America of about 100 years ago, allow the people to succeed, and in the end will have a better nation to govern, along with better relations with the USA. Doing otherwise is foolish, but who said that it takes brains to do a bad job of governing.
slaib@intellectualconservative.com
http://intellectualconservative.com
Read more articles by Steven D. Laib
This like Selwyn Duke's article hits the key issue. I believe it is only a fringe of those who are
affiliated with the Catholic Church, as well as radical Illegal groups who believe access should be given to all Illegals to the benefits of being an American and less punishment for those who break our laws by sneaking into America. The future of our families are riding on the outcome of what we allow our employees, the politicians in Washington, to do with the issue of illegal immigration.
Comment by David B. McDonagh | April 1, 2006
Who Owns The Property?: Or, why El Presidente Fox's people are voting with their feet.
Mexico and Mexicans make a big deal about who owned the Southwest first. But no one asks who owns Mexico NOW.
"The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else", by Hernando De Soto, states that world-wide there are millions and millions of people squatting on billions of dollars worth of their government’s land. He traces the history of squatting early in US history, and shows that America went through a similar phase, and the government solved the problem by letting the settlers work the land and then own it. The US also developed a system of keeping track of who owned what piece of property. Why is this important other than establishing legal ownership? If a person has legal title to property, he can borrow on that property, in essence tap its capital, and use the proceeds expand business. Underdeveloped countries do not have such a system. In fact, in one country in Southeast Asia, the dogs know who owns what property better than the government. He was hired by that country to find out, and as he walked along the roads from farm to farm, a dog would bark until he reached the next farm, and then the next farmer’s dog would begin to bark.
His thesis also explains that, while anyone in an underdeveloped country like Mexico can theoretically acquire property, because of the "red tape," only a few, the insiders, can do it legally in a reasonable amount of time. As an example, he tests the "red tape" of the administration system in his native Lima, Peru by applying for a permit to set up a two-sewing machine garment factory in a Lima shantytown. "Timing the process revealed it took more than 300 days (to get the permit), working six hours a day, plus 32 times the monthly minimum wage."
He performed a similar experiment to find out what it took for a person (squatter) living in an extralegal housing settlement "whose permanence the government had already acknowledged, to acquire legal title to a home: To receive approval from only the municipality of Lima — just ONE of the ELEVEN agencies involved — took 728 bureaucratic steps."
According to De Soto’s research, capitalism in these countries (like Mexico) works for the connected few, but the masses are kept bureaucratically from acquiring legal title to property and thus lack the ability to convert assets to capital. The entrenched oligarchy is thus protected from any competition.
Until Mexico, et al, make the necessary changes, all the economic aid in the world will never help them, and there will never be a middle class.
I am Catholic and agree with the author in this respect: the Church SHOULD put pressure on the government of Mexico, as well as other underdeveloped countries, to bring social justice there.
Comment by G of Sedona | April 2, 2006
[…] Over at the Intellectual Conservative there is a column up on how to solve the immigration problem. Unfortunately, it is unlikely to bear fruit since it requires Dubya's aristocratic friends to voluntarily give up power and institute reforms. Here is a taste from the article: If Mexico wants to solve the migration problem, it is simple to do. It has to stop blaming other people, open up its economy, allow a viable broad based middle class to evolve in the nation as a whole, and dissolve the aristocratic tradition that has a strangle hold on political power. PermaLink | | Trackback/Pingback (0) […]
Pingback by Southern Appeal » What Mexico could do to solve our immigration problem | April 5, 2006
The truth is the Mexican generals couldn't wait until California became a state. They saw how Texas improved after the war. Why aren't Mexican flooding back into their country if it was better? No one is stopping compassion to Mexicans. My family helps to build houses, improve orphanages and support local agriculture projects in Mexico. If you help the lawbreakers to immigrate ahead of the lawabiders you get more people who do not respect laws than people who do, hence a big percentage of immigrant criminal in prison or out on the streets burning american flags.
Comment by parsimonious mom | April 6, 2006
amen parsimonious mom
The Catholic Church's motives are completely selfish, they have NOTHING to do with compassion. These illegal immigrants are mainly Catholic and that is what this is about. The church wants more Catholic voters in this country to influence policy. Shame on them!!
If these illegal immigrants want a better life why don't they improve Mexico?? What they REALLY want is to come here and LEECH off a successful society.
Comment by smarts | April 6, 2006