Mark Cooper-Basset on Mexican Independence Celebrations

About the Author:
Mark Cooper-Basset is a freelance writer based in Orange County, CA.

As I struggled with heavier than normal traffic into Downtown Los Angeles over the last three days, I soon realized that the cause for the gridlock was the closure of several major arteries into the civic center for the Mexican Independence Day celebrations. While it is problematic enough to observe a foreign POLITICAL holiday on American soil, it is doubly injurious to discover that major streets were to be closed for three days in order to put on celebratory festivities. I realize that the new mayor, Tony Villa (aka "Antonio Villaraigosa"), is an avowed reconquistador, but this apostasy of American sovereignty, however symbolic, is "over the top."

But let me not digress any further and go to my thesis. What is there to celebrate and to show for in the 195 years since Mexico separated from Spain? Very little. The overwhelming majority of Mexico's hard-working people remains poor while a small cadre of predominantly white elites enjoys enviable wealth and high-living. Over the last few decades, Mexico has successfully pursued an unwritten (and shameful) policy of social dumping against the United States, to the point of exporting 25 million of its poorest, 20 million of whom are in the United States illegally. Much of the country's wealth, particularly from petroleum and agriculture, has been siphoned off to secret overseas bank accounts.

Contrast Mexico's 195 years of independence to that of the United States. When the United States celebrated its 195th year of independence from Great Britain in 1971, it had become a global economic, military and technological superpower.

Contrast Mexico with the "Asian Tiger" countries, which had only begun to industrialize after World War II. And the contrasts are revealing. Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, and now China and India have all come from lower socio-economic baselines than the Mexican Republic, and in mere decades, each of the above-mentioned country has surpassed Mexico in almost all major economic and social indicators.

For a country endowed with so much natural resources and sources of wealth, Mexico should rank as one of the top economies of the world. Yet, it languishes in Third World status and will continue so for many years to come.

And yet, this is the country that Mayor Villa of Los Angeles and his band of reconquistadores want to emulate. Go figure!