Mexican nationals in our country, illegally. There is virtually no one who does not see this as a problem: Even if their being here is of benefit to the economy, it most certainly is a bad thing for the rule of law and is terribly unfair to those foreigners who play by the rules and jump through the FedGov’s numerous hoops to get her legally (my Japanese wife, for example).
My position is that these people are here for a reason: They add something to the economy that’s necessary, and instead of sucking that up, the US is in bestowing on them a de facto sub-guest-worker status, using their illegal status as leverage to exploit them even further.
A successful polity, like a successful psyche, depends on the explicitness of its aims. If we want to have a policy of exploiting guest works a la Saudi Arabia, then we should make a law to that effect, as Bush is proposing (horrible and unjust idea, btw). If we don’t want illegal workers in this country, then we should toss them out.
But we do want the Mexicans here, so the US policy is schizoid, bad for us, and bad for the Mexicans who come here.
But the other villain is Mexico, and it is more to blame than the US. Blessed with natural resources, oil, and people who want to work (as evidenced by their coming here), it is a country that simply hasn’t managed to get its act together socially or politically.
The world’s 9th largest economy and 66th in per capita income (about $10k, not really too bad), it is still known for its poverty because of the stunning gap between rich and poor. According to this chart, it is the 15th most economically unequal country in the world. With its resources and significant industrial infrastructure, Mexico has really no one to blame for itself for its current state.
It has, however, a special kind of safety valve for its problems: the territory of its northern neighbor. Mexico, in effect, exports its poverty to our country. Its citizens contribute cheap labor and then export capital back home. If it were not for the complicity of the US itself, it were no exaggeration to call this economic warfare.
My solution is simple and counter-intuitive: erase the border. Nix it. Make it disappear. Give Mexicans not guest worker status, but full citizenship in the US.
It’s worked in the past. Where would Texas, California, Arizona, and New Mexico be if they were still part of Mexico?
How to do it without making the US the “bad guy”? I don’t have a good answer, so let’s come back to that. I feel I can answer with confidence, however, any objection as to whether a peaceful and nonviolent annexation would be a good thing in the long run:
All those impoverished Mexicans coming here would bankrupt the US!
As stated above, Mexico is the world’s 9th largest economy and has much in the way of natural resources, including oil. It also has a large tourism industry. But the country’s assets are currently mismanaged. Better management of those assets could raise standards of living in Mexico in the short term and–if we have any confidence in our economic model–raise them to US standards in the long term.
But that’s only half the story. Once the border is gone, all of Mexico would be open for unrestricted development by US firms. “They” wouldn’t just come here, “we” would also go there.
Making 106M Mexicans citizens would destroy Anglo-American culture!
Again, the population would flow both ways: English speakers would also go into Mexico and spread English there.
I too think English is something worth preserving on the North American continent, but I’m more worried about what will happen if we don’t merge with Mexico. Texas and California became predominantly English speaking because we injected “our” culture there in the 19th century. Since then, populations on both sides of the border have grown, the one becoming English-speaking and the other Spanish-speaking. If a merger is effected now instead of later, there is a good chance that the culture of the larger population will predominate in the long run. If it is not effected now, the population of Mexico could continue to grow while that of the US shrinks (due to demographic trends), there could be continued “poverty leakage” from Mexico into the US, and eventually Mexico could overwhelm the US.
Think it can’t happen? Look at the cultural suicide taking place in Europe by means of importing large numbers of Muslims and failing to integrate them while dropping one’s own birth rates.
(Before some numbskull accuses me of racism, let me point that I am talking about integrating the two countries. What I want to avoid is a failed polity like Mexico eventually overwhelming the US through sheer demographic force and the exporting of its population through illegal immigration. What I want to protect is English-speaking culture and our political values; it does not follow, however, that I want to eliminate Spanish-speaking culture. Thanks in advance for responding accurately to my position.)
The annexation would cause complete political chaos in the US–a Mexican might become president!
All of Mexico would start off as a territory with its citizens lacking voting rights in national elections. States would be formed out of these territories, and constitutional conventions convened. This would take several years, and US-style rule of law would be swiftly but effectively inculcated. In the meanwhile, you would have population shifts in both directions.
I am sanguine about how it would work out. I think you’d have a newly empowered and energized population in the former Mexico combined with pride in the north over our new 15 or so states. Indeed, a Mexican might become president after awhile, but I don’t see that as a bad thing if that person embodies our political values.
Back to the part about how such an annexation could occur without the US being the bad guy. It’s probably politically impossible. Even though the Mexican government represents its own ruling class and not the overal population, of course it’s going to piss and moan and call the US imperialist or whatever. But an annexation would be the best thing that ever happened to Mexican citizens.
Then it would be on to Canada. Please comment, thanks!
), how are you going to convince the folks here in the US its a good idea? What makes you think it would be a slam dunk that the US WOULD annex Mexico…even if they begged us too (which isn’t likely to happen btw…sorry to burst your bubble).