Mexican pride?

This a subject that crossed my mind one day when I watched Mexican president Vicente Fox implore the U.S. to ignore the border and let his people come willy-nilly into the country. I remember thinking "Shouldn't Fox be humiliated?" Barry Farber explored that topic, and in a much more eloquent manner than I could convey. Excerpts of the column follow:

We come now to the degrading, disgraceful and disgusting spectacle of uncounted Mexicans surging across America's southern border looking for a better life.

Where is Mexico's pride? If I were president of a country whose underclasses had to leave to find life-sustaining work, I'd be too ashamed to beg a neighboring country's leadership to "Let My People In." I'd be too warped with humiliation to print little "matricula" cards to spray some kind of "status" over my fleeing hordes and run ads in the host country's newspapers pleading for wider and safer holes in their border and their policies.

If I were President Vicente Fox, I'd address my Mexican countrymen and remind them of their Latino value of "macho," which, contrary to widespread misinterpretation, does NOT mean being rough with women and wearing gold chains over hairy chests. Macho is a multifaceted set of virtues, among which is the determination to suck it up and thrust your nose right into adversity's face.

I'd tell them, "What's so different north of the Rio Grande from here in Mexico? Is the United States of America kissed by tongues of Godly flame that make crops grow better and children learn better and the economy perform better and politicians behave better? Of course not! We can abandon our slovenly habits and embrace better ones. Just as America is waging a War on Terror, we Mexicans can wage a war on bribery, corruption, drug trafficking, human smuggling, illiteracy, poverty and all our other blights that make Mexico a failure.

We can turn Mexico into a place no Mexican will ever want to leave. Eventually, our Mexico can become a place others would like to sneak into! (Hundreds of poor people from Guatemala and Belize do try to sneak across Mexico's southern border for a better life. They're treated harshly and sent back. Among Mexico's new wars might therefore be a war against Mexican hypocrisy.)

"Don't INVADE America," I'd urge my Mexican brothers. "COPY America!"

Isn't humiliation supposed to be a big deal? It is whenever America can be accused of visiting humiliation upon others. Maybe if you voluntarily choose a humiliating solution to your problems, it's OK.

Must the Mexican message remain "Sorry, America, but you're a success and Mexico is a shame and since we're so close we feel it's OK for us to come on in and make ourselves at home"?

If I were Vicente Fox, I'd climax my exhortation by saying, "Look, nobody leaves, OK? Nobody abandons us in our war for a better Mexico. Whosoever heads for America is a deserter of our people in time of war. You will not be stopped by our police. You will not be stopped by any Mexican iron curtain.

"You will be stopped by a force much more powerful – MEXICAN PRIDE!"

I have a theory, and it's only that...a theory, i.e. I have no proof. Anwho, my theory is that since Mexico is so drenched in poverty, the government is incredibly burdened with trying to provide services to the citizens caught in poverty. Rather than undertake the incredibly tough burden of wholesale reform in Mexico, the government swallows its Mexican pride and encourages emigration into the United States in order to alleivate itself of the toll that its poorest citizens take on the Mexican government. Getting rid of the poor people in Mexico is a hell of a lot easier than actually changing Mexico itself.

That's my guess. Your thoughts, regardless of your ideology, are welcome. Unless you're a moonbat, in which case I don't really give a damn what your opinion is, since moonbattery is a mental disorder and not an ideology! :-D