American Minute with Bill Federer
South of the Border - Mexico's Revolutions
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Beginning with the
French Revolution, Napoleon
rose to power in Europe.
His soldiers invaded Italy and
defeated the Pope's papal troops
in 1796.
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In 1798,
Napoleon's
army captured
Rome.
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He took
Pope Pius VI
prisoner, carrying him away to France, where he died in captivity.
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The new Pope,
Pius VII,
attended
Napoleon's
coronation in Notre Dame Cathedral, December 2, 1804.
In an unprecedented snub, instead of letting the
Pope
place the crown on his head,
Napoleon
took the crown off the altar and placed it on his own head.
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In 1808,
Napoleon's
army again occupied
Rome,
and annexed many
Papal States.
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In 1809, he imprisoned
Pope Pius VII,
who soon became very ill.
Napoleon
then clandestinely brought him captive to Fontainebleau, France, traveling at night.
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The
Pope
responded by excommunicating
Napoleon.
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In the midst of all this, in 1808,
Napoleon
invaded
Catholic Spain
in the
Peninsular War.
He forced
the
Spanish King Fernando VII
to
abdicate the throne
and kept him under guard for six years.
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Napoleon
then put his brother
Joseph Bonaparte
on the
Spanish throne,
to rule an empire which included
New Spain - Central America
and
parts of North and South America.
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New Spain
had been
Catholic
for nearly 300 years, since the initial conquest of the Aztecs by
Cortés
in 1521.
With
Joseph Bonaparte
as the ruler of Spain, many in
New Spain
questioned their allegiance to this
secular
French king
on the
Spanish throne,
put there by his
excommunicated brother Napoleon.
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In 1808,
Simon Bolivar
began a revolution against
Spain,
which led to the
independence
of:
- Venezuela,
- Colombia (which included Panama),
- Ecuador,
- Peru,
- Bolivia,
- northern Peru,
- western Guyana, and
- northwest Brazil.
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Mexico's independence
from
Spain
began in 1810, when a priest named
Miguel Hidalgo
gave a speech, "The Cry of Dolores (Sorrows)," to protest
Napoleon
holding captive
Spain's King Fernando VII.
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Hidalgo
put the image of the
Virgin of Guadalupe
on a banner and rallied
90,000 poor peasant farmers
to revolt against the Spanish Viceroy.
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Hidalgo's
ill-equipped troops inscribed slogans on their flags:
"Long live religion! Long live our most Holy Mother of Guadalupe! Long live America and death to bad government!"
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Hidalgo
was captured and executed.
He is considered the
"Father of the Nation of Mexico"
as the movement he began eventually led to
Mexico's independence.
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From 1821 to 1857,
fifty different governments ruled Mexico.
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Revolts
and
revolution
s in
Mexico
usually began with
class-warfare,
where the
poor were organized to overthrow the rich,
but
ended up with the revolutionary leaders
themselves grabbing power and becoming
new dictators.
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George Orwell
commented on this
cyclical trend
where, unless citizens have been trained in morals, virtue and self-control, the
revolutions
against dictators
usually end up with
new dictators:
"One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes a revolution in order to establish a dictatorship ...
... Every generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it."
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From 1810 to 1820,
General Agustín de Iturbide
fought for the
Spanish Monarchy against Hidalgo's revolutionaries
. but then he
switched sides
to
fight against Spain
in 1821.
On September 27 1821,
Mexico
became officially
independent of Spain.
Instead of setting up a constitutional republic,
Iturbide
made himself
Emperor of Mexico,
placing the crown upon his own head in 1822, similar to
Napoleon
placing the Emperor's crown on his own head in 1804.
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Antonio López de Santa Anna, Vicente Guerrero
and others conspired against
Iturbie
and he fled to Britain.
Upon his return,
Iturbide
was captured and executed.
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For a brief time,
Mexico
was then ruled by a
Supreme Executive Power
, followed in 1824 by its
first President,
Guadalupe Victoria.
He was the
only Mexican president
for the
next 30 years
who would
complete his full term in office.
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Manuel Gómez Pedraza
won Mexico's second election, but
Vicente Guerrero
and
Antonio López de Santa Anna
staged a coup d'état by bombarding the palace.
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Vicente Guerrero
became next President in 1829, but was
deposed and executed
by his
Vice-President Bustamante.
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President Bustamante
was
deposed twice
and
exiled to Europe.
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Between 1833 and 1855, the
Mexican presidency changed hands at least 36 times,
with
Antonio López de Santa Anna
ruling 11 of those.
Antonio López de Santa Anna,
styling himself after
Napoleon,
finally laid aside Mexico's Constitution
in 1835,
dissolved the Congress,
and
declared himself dictator.
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He had previously told the U.S. Minister to Mexico, Joel R. Poinsett, 1824:
"I threw up my cap for liberty with great ardor...but very soon found the folly of it. A hundred years to come my people will not be fit for liberty.
They do not know what it is, unenlightened as they are ... A despotism is the proper government for them."
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Due Mexico's continual upheaval,
others areas of
Latin America
declared themselves not only
independent
of
Spain, but also independent from Mexico.
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After innumerable battles, there areas became the countries of:
- Guatemala,
- El Salvador,
- Costa Rica,
- Honduras, and
- Nicaragua.
European powers, such as England, France, Belgium, and Germany endeavored to intervene in the unstable conditions of Central America and the Caribbean.
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Texas
also wanted to break away from Mexico.
Santa Anna
decided to brutally crush these sentiments.
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Major conflicts included:
- Battle of Velasco, Jun. 26, 1832;
- Battle of Gonzales, Oct. 2, 1835;
- Battle of Goliad, Oct. 9, 1835;
- Battle of Concepcion, Oct. 28, 1835;
- Siege of Béxar ends, Dec. 11, 1835;
- Battle of the Alamo, Feb. 23-Mar. 6, 1836;
- Texas Declaration of Independence, Mar. 2, 1836;
- Goliad Massacre, Mar. 27, 1836;
- Battle of San Jacinto, Apr. 21, 1836.
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In 1836,
Texas
became
independent from Mexico,
similar to the
countries of Central America.
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Texas
decided to join the Union, becoming the
28th U.S. State
in 1845.
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The
Mexican-American War
began in April 25, 1846.
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It ended on FEBRUARY 2, 1848, with the
Treaty of Guadalupe,
signed at the altar of the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Villa Hidalgo, in present day Mexico City.
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For $15 million dollars, coincidentally the same amount paid to France for the Louisiana Purchase, the
United States purchased from Mexico 525,000 square miles -- the third largest land purchase in history.
The
largest land purchase was the Louisiana Purchase
of 828,000 square miles from France, and the
second largest land purchase was
the 586,412 square miles of
Alaska
from Russia after it lost the Crimean War to Britain.
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The land acquired by the
Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo
became the U.S. States of:
- California,
- Nevada,
- Utah,
and
parts of:
- Arizona,
- Texas,
- Kansas ,
- Oklahoma,
- New Mexico,
- Colorado, and
- Wyoming.
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The
Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo
began:
"In the Name of Almighty God -- the United States and the United Mexican States animated by a sincere desire to put an end to the calamities of the war ...
have, under the protection of Almighty God, the Author of Peace, arranged, agreed upon, and signed the following Treaty of Peace ..."
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In contrast to Mexico's many secular governments, the
Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo
guaranteed:
"If ... God forbid ... war should unhappily break out ... they ... solemnly pledge ... the following rules ...
All churches, hospitals, schools, colleges, libraries, and other establishments for charitable and beneficent purposes, shall be respected,
and all persons connected with the same protected in the discharge of their duties, and the pursuit of their vocations ...
Done at the city of
Guadalupe Hidalgo,
the 2ND DAY OF FEBRUARY, in the year of the Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight."
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After the Mexican-America War ended with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo,
Santa Anna
consolidated power to ensure his continued rule, but this led to resistance led by
Benito Juárez.
In 1853,
Juárez
had to flee in exile to New Orleans, where he worked in a cigar factory.
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In 1854,
Benito Juárez
plotted the
Revolution of Ayutla
to oust
Santa Anna
from being dictator,
forcing him to resign
in 1855.
This resulted in a power vacuum, and the Catholic Church was caught in the middle.
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Beginning in 1521, the
Catholic Church
in
Mexico
acted as a conscience of the nation, influencing the elite to be considerate of the poor.
The Church, though, did not actively attempt to change the political structure.
This was the accepted Christian attitude that existed from the times of the Romans to the missionaries sent to Japan and China, for if the Church had a reputation of fomenting popular rebellion against rulers, it would not have been allowed entrance into these empires.
As a result,
Mexico's
political revolutionaries blamed the Church for somehow helping to perpetuate the status quo of class inequality.
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In 1856, a
War of Reform
broke out, which ended with significant limitations placed on the Church.
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After political maneuvering,
Benito Juárez
became President in 1858.
As a Free Mason, he founded the Rito Nacional Mexicano Lodge.
Juárez
stopped
Mexico's
repayment of loans borrowed from
Spain, Britain and France,
thus instigating European intervention.
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Many in
Mexico
opposed
Juárez.
In 1861, a delegation of
Mexican leaders
traveled to Europe and asked
Maximillian I,
the younger brother of the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph I,
to come to Mexico to restore order.
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Meanwhile, in order to get repayment of debts, the
French forces of Napoleon III invaded Mexico,
suffering a minor unexpected setback at the
Battle of Puebla
on May 5 --
Cinco de Mayo
-- 1862.
The
French
quickly recovered and
took control of Mexico.
In the United States, the
Civil War
was taking place during this time.
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In 1864,
Maximillian I
finally agreed to the invitation to rule Mexico,
arriving with the blessing of Pope Pius IX
in 1864, being greeted by
an enthusiastic reception.
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Maximillian,
and his wife,
Carlota,
proceeded to enact many
civil reforms to help the poor.
After the Civil War, the
United States Government
invoked the
Monroe Doctrine,
and insisted no
European power
intervene in the
western hemisphere.
The United States pressured Napoleon III to abandon support of Maximillian,
which he did by withdrawing all
French
troops from
Mexico.
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In 1866, the U.S. began secretly supplying some 30,000 "decommissioned" Civil War rifles to arm Mexican gangs near El Paso del Norte, across the Rio Grande from the
Mexican Juarista garrison.
Democrat President Andrew Johnson
allegedly had the Army
"lose"
ammunition,
as
U.S. General Philip Sheridan
recounted in his memoirs, that he supplied arms to
Juárez's forces:
"... which we left at convenient places on our side of the river to fall into their hands."
This caused domestic violence and insurrection, which
undermined Maximillian's government.
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A more recent example occurred during the 44th President's Administration,
"Operation Fast and Furious,"
reported by
Reuters,
June 15, 2011:
"Agents told lawmakers ... they were instructed to only watch as hundreds of guns were ... sent to Mexico ...
'We monitored as they purchased handguns, AK-47 variants and .50 caliber rifles, almost daily at times,' John Dodson, an ATF special agent in Phoenix, told the committee ... The agents complained they were ordered to break off surveillance of the firearms."
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With the threat of the U.S. clandestinely backing
Benito Juárez,
many of
Maximilian's
supporters abandoned him, and he was captured.
European leaders pleaded for
Maximillian's
life to be spared, with even French author Victor Hugo sending a telegram.
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Benito Juárez
refused international pleas and, without a trial, mercilessly had
Maximillian
shot on June 19, 1867, even displaying his corpse afterwards.
Juárez
became Mexico's 26th President.
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Following the example of previous Mexican leaders,
Benito Juárez
consolidated power to ensure his re-election.
This let to a revolt led by
Porfirio Diaz
in 1871.
Juárez
brutally put down the revolt, but died of a heart attack shortly thereafter, being succeeded by
Lerdo de Tejada,
Mexico's 27th President.
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Lerdo de Tejada
was overthrown by
Porfirio Diaz.
Diaz
was Mexico's 29th President, for most of the time from 1876 to 1911.
Following the example of previous Mexican leaders,
Porfirio Diaz
consolidated power to ensure his re-elections.
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This let to a revolt led by
Francisco Madero
in 1911, who was Mexico's 33rd President.
In the next decade of fighting, millions died as the
secular Mexican government
attempted to
crush the church
and
silence political dissent.
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In 1913,
Francisco Madero
was murdered in a coup d'etat planned by
Victoriano Huerta,
who was supported by U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, Henry Lane Wilson.
Huerta
became Mexico's 35th President, running the country as a military dictatorship.
A civil war soon followed.
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Huerta
arranged for
Germany
to ship him arms and munitions on the steamer
SS Ypiranga,
but it was intercepted on April 24, 1914, by a U.S. arms embargo, put in place by
President Woodrow Wilson.
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Just prior to the start of World War I,
Pancho Villa, Emiliano Zapata
and
Álvaro Obregón
supported
Venustiano Carranza
in a campaign to overthrow
Huerta.
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In 1914, Hollywood sent a crew to film the silent movie
"The Life of General Villa,"
starring
Pancho Villa,
as he fought from Durango to Mexico City.
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Antonio Banderas
was cast as
Pancho Villa
in the 2003 film
"And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself."
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Marlon Brando
played
Emiliano Zapata
in the 1952 movie
"Viva Zapata!"
Villa, Zapata, Obregón,
and
Carranza
forced
Huerta
to resign.
There was a German-infiltrated plan to restore
Huerta
to power, but it was thwarted. He was arrested and put into a U.S. prison, where he died, possibly from poisoning.
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Carranza
became
Mexico's
37th President.
Soon,
Zapata
and
Villa
turned against
Carranza.
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President Woodrow Wilson
at first backed
Pancho Villa,
but after his raid on
Columbus, New Mexico
in 1916,
Wilson
switched to backing
Carranza.
Wilson
needed
Mexican oil
for fighting Germany during World War I.
Wilson
lifted the arms embargo on
Mexico
in order to supply arms to
Carranza.
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Carranza
decimated
Pancho Villa's
troops at the
Battle of Celaya,
April 1915.
Villa
lost an estimated 4,000 men and 6,000 captured, because
Carranza
was using advanced World War I barbed wire and machine guns.
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Carranza
took control of
Mexico
and had a new constitution written in 1917. He then arranged for the assassination of
Zapata.
Carranza,
himself, was assassinated in 1920.
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He was succeeded by Mexico's 38th President,
Adolfo de la Huerta,
not to be confused with Victoriano Huerta.
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He was defeated in the next election by
Álvaro Obregón
, in 1920, who became Mexico's 39th President.
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Obregón
reportedly ordered the death
Pancho Villa.
A revolt against
Obregón
was started by
Adolfo de la Huerta,
but it was crushed and Huerta fled in exile.
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In 1924,
Obregón
was succeeded by the aggressively anti-christian freemason,
Plutarco Elías Calles,
Mexico's 40th President.
He violently closed and confiscated churches, schools, convents, hospitals, seminaries, missions and monasteries.
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Calles
imposed radical atheist
"Calles Laws."
which made it illegal for clerical garb to be worn outside a church, imposed a 5-year prison sentence on pastors who criticized the government, and limited the number of clergy per state.
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This began another war, as portrayed in the movie,
For Greater Glory: Viva Crista Rey
(2012), starring Andy Garcia, Eva Longoria, Oscar Isaac, Bruce Greenwood, Rubén Blades, and Peter O'Toole.
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This resulted in the
Cristero War,
1926-29, where over 90,000 were killed.
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Mexico's priests, ministers, and faithful laity were harassed, arrested and murdered. Catholic women and girls were assaulted and raped.
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Obregón
was re-elected in 1928, but at a banquet in his honor he was assassinated, allowing
Calles
to return to power.
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Calles
was nicknamed
"Grand Turk"
and
"Jefe Máximo"
(political chieftain).
He promoted revolutionary socialism, and had
Mexico
host the
Soviet Union's first embassy in any country.
Calles
started
Mexico's PNR
party, the predecessor to the PRI party.
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President Portes Gil,
Mexico's 41st President, agreed not to enforce the
"Calles Laws"
but left them on the books.
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In 1936, Mexico's 44th President,
Lázaro Cárdenas,
deported
Calles
and
repealed the "Calles Laws,"
thereby restoring a degree of freedom of religion.
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Commenting on why revolutions in other countries are so different from America's,
Californian Ronald Reagan
stated of America in 1961:
"In this country of ours, took place the greatest revolution that has ever taken place in world's history. The only true revolution.
Every other revolution simply exchanged one set of rulers for another."
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President Millard Fillmore
stated, December 6, 1852:
"Our own free institutions were not the offspring of our Revolution. They existed before.
They were planted in the free charters of self-government under which the English colonies grew up, and our Revolution only freed us from the dominion of a foreign power whose government was at variance with those institutions ...
(Other) nations have had no such training for self-government, and every effort to establish it by bloody revolutions has been, and must without that preparation continue to be, a failure."
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Since
America became independent of Britain
and
Mexico became independent of Spain,
there have been stark contrasts in the health, safety and economic status north and south of the border.
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This is most obvious when comparing border cities:
- Brownsville -- Matamoros;
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During the same period of time,
Mexico
has had
dozen of different governments,
while the
United States,
other than the Civil War, has had
only one.
As both sides of the border have
similar climate, geography, plants, and in many cases cultural-racial makeup,
reasons for the disparity must lie deeper.
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One issue is that
Mexico
has been subjected to foreign entanglements from countries like
Spain, France, Germany, and the United States.
Treaties like GATT and NAFTA led to a devaluing of the Mexican currency which favored multi-national corporations and globalist financial interests at the expense of bankrupting small Mexican farmers and displacing rural populations.
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Another issue was highlighted June 27, 2012, when U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder was held in contempt of Congress for his role in supplying guns to Mexican drug gangs through "Operation Fast and Furious."
It was later discovered that some of these guns were used to kill Americans. Holder later resigned.
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Another issue developing is how fundamentalist Muslims infiltrate drug gangs.
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Growing numbers of those entering America across the southern border are OTMs (Other Than Mexicans).
Many come from Islamic countries such as:
- Afghanistan,
- Iran,
- Iraq,
- Egypt,
- Pakistan,
- Yemen,
- Qatar,
- Algeria,
- Somalia,
- Malaysia,
- Libya,
- Eritrea,
- Indonesia, and
- Lebanon.
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Among the political differences north and south of the border is America's view of the purpose of government.
The Declaration of Independence explained that
government
was not to dominate, but to
secure to each person their Creator-given rights:
"All men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights ... That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men."
America's impartial system of rule of law was meant to guarantee there would never be rule by the whims and caprices of a dictator.
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President Millard Fillmore
stated December 6, 1852:
"Liberty unregulated by law degenerates into anarchy, which soon becomes the most horrid of all despotisms ...
We owe these blessings, under Heaven, to the happy Constitution and Government which were bequeathed to us by our fathers, and which it is our sacred duty to transmit in all their integrity to our children."
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President Ronald Reagan,
who had been California's 33rd Governor, stated in 1983:
"Of the many influences that have shaped the United States of America into a distinctive nation and people, none may be said to be more fundamental and enduring than the Bible ...
The Bible and its teaching helped form the basis for the founding fathers' abiding belief in the inalienable rights of the individual, rights which they found implicit in the Bible's teachings of the inherent worth and dignity of each individual."
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American Minute is a registered trademark of William J. Federer. Permission is granted to forward, reprint, or duplicate, with acknowledgment.
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Schedule Bill Federer for informative interviews & captivating PowerPoint presentations: 314-502-8924
wjfederer@gmail.com
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