Often times you need to known something so you ask somebody to advice. A lot of the time people ask the wrong person through. For instance if you’re one of the freest countries in the world asking the president of a economically depressed, crime ridden, Hell hole run almost entirely by drug gangs probably isn’t going to net you good advice. Let’s just hope our government doesn’t listen to the President of Mexico’s advice:
On Thursday, Felipe Calderon, the president of Mexico, where prohibitive gun laws prevent good people from having firearms for protection against criminals and governments of dubious legitimacy (historically the norm in Mexico), encouraged Congress to reinstate the federal “assault weapon” ban.
Why the Hell would he care what we do in this country?
Calderon also misinformed Congress, claiming that violence in Mexico rose significantly after the U.S. ban expired in 2004.
Surprisingly enough the president of a corrupt country lied:
In fact, Mexico’s murder rate has been stable since 2003 and remains well below rates recorded previously
Why did we even invite him into the country?
Well you are a little bit mistaken here. As someone from MN who spends a lot of time in Mexico (I live in Texas now and my wife is a Mexican National), the situation isn’t as bad as you say. It is not a hell hole and they actually have more small business activity and entrepreneur activity than in the US due to the lack of regulations. (IE a lot of street market economic activity, small food businesses, etc.) That being said the violence (especially near the border (where I don’t go)) is getting really bad at this point. The only thing we could do in the US to decrease the crime in Mexico would be to legalize drugs. If we take the profits away from the cartels that would end a lot of the violence as they would have to find some other way to make money.
I just comment as your comments sound like someone who clearly hasn’t spent much time in Mexico and I have spent a lot of time in the area. In Central Mexico I have always felt safe (that wouldn’t be true in the border area). And I have spent most of my time in Mexico in non-tourist destinations.
I can understand being upset about his factually incorrect comments and his idiotic solution that won’t help the problem, but I think it makes you sound bad to dish on the country…
Actually my opinion of Mexico is entirely formed on information I have been fed by others. I admit that I’ve never traveled there and have relied entirely on news reports and second hand accounts of the country. From that information I have developed the opinion that the tourist areas are the only place in that country that are really decent.
Thank you for posting an opposing viewpoint. In fact I wouldn’t mind actually hearing from somebody who isn’t so jaded on the conditions and setup of that country. For instance I’ve never actually heard that the business is strong deregulated, I’ve always been told the government have heavy control over industry (interesting to learn it very well could be the opposite).
I also do want to state I’d love to see the legalization of drugs in this country. I don’t use them but am of the opinion what a person puts in his or her body is their own business. If that additional freedom would also wipe out the drug cartel’s power (as I’ve been stating myself) that’s just bonus points.
Anyways thanks for calling me out as an asshole on this post. I’ll do better to research into Mexico in the future. If you have any recommended sources of information I’d love to known them.
I am not sure a good source, but I am basing it on my travels. You description probably has merit with regard to the border towns, but the whole country isn’t like that. I really like interior non touristy Mexico. That being said we avoid the borders (don’t want to be caught in crossfire over drug turf), and we don’t go to popular American locations very often either as they just feel like US cities.
I think there is a crazy amount of government involvement in the big corporations as well as say oil which is controlled by a state monopoly. The labor laws are pretty ridiculous down there which is part of the reason for lack of prosperity. But the hope is the small individual people that are all out working hard and making money, the people that fly below the radar and run small 1-2 person venture things. Some of them are insane. Truck’s that setup on the street and sell tacos. Those guys make a ton of money all below the radar and untaxed. That is where I see the real hope for the country all the individuals that are willing to work hard to start a small venture and prosper. On the other hand my brother-in-law who has a bigger debt servicing company down there sees some of the problems with a bigger company, employees always looking to screw you over, and some other problems as you grow. So I think the more attention you attract to yourself the bigger issues you have with people trying to get a cut of what is yours. Anyway I thought Calderon was a jackass, I just didn’t want to see the whole country trashed when it sounded uninformed.