Though I was bust today, I thought often of this article and increasingly realize how remarkable the journalism is. A stunning article that should be considered from our congress to of course Mexico's.
13
Prohibitionists in the USA created the Mexican drug wars. Created the cartels, Created the El Chapo's.
All those bodies, All that corruption due to prohibition laws.
There would have been No AL Capone's, No El Chapo's if the prohibitionists had not infested our government and started their ignorant moralizing.
They have filled prisons, ruined countless lives, caused countless deaths, exported their prohibitionism around the globe, thus poisoning other countries with their laws.
13
Taking a momentary aside from the deadly serious issues raised in this piece, Avocado Militia would be an outstanding band name.
14
Legalize it! If more drugs were legal, we could make 'em right here in the good old US of A. Brand new opportunity for business and tax revenues galore. When we take our own locally-sourced drugs, the cartels will have no customer base. Hence no revenue. Therefore no dinero with which to bribe the government. You're welcome.
12
Legal marijuana is working just fine in Washington and Colorado.
4
"Countries like the United States, he said, “have this structure that we don’t have. That’s what’s so dangerous.”"
The next time Grover Norquist or Paul Ryan declare that they want to drown our government in a bathtub, think of this quote. A weak, limited government doesn't mean unfettered freedom. It means control by a gang, a despot, a corporation, a group of plutocrats who answer to no one.
30
Why not just give them all temporary protective status?
Problem solved!
1
Oof. What precarious existence. But this can a lesson the United States, which is dismantling its own institutions under this administration. We don't want to start looking like Mexico, we?
5
One does not have to travel to Mexico to find corruption.
Our nation is quickly becoming what many immigrants come here to escape.
Yes, the US has entered Third World status. Look around.
8
And none of this of course has anything to do with the gargantuan and ever-growing US appetite for drugs, illegal and otherwise.
The growers of Tancitaro are fortunate indeed that avocados are still legal in all fifty states and so far (Peace, Jeff Sessions!), guacomole has not yet been classified at as a Schedule 1 drug.
Poor Mexico--so close to Estados Unidos, so far from God.
6
With the Mexican government basking in the glories of corruption, nothing will change. Drug cartels are padding the pockets of politicians and enforcement agencies. It's to the government's advantage to turn a blind eye and let the cartels run the country behind the curtains of deceit and violence. And Ii's a pipe dream to expect a Mexican government be held accountable for the violence and illicit drug trade rocking that country today. It will not happen. There's too much tainted money at stake here. Not to mention the lavish lifestyles of authorizes, compliments of the cartel payroll, would have to be sacrificed. When I think of the Mexican government today, it always brings me back to the iconic comedic TV series "Hogan's Heroes". In the series was a buffoon of a Nazi guard named Sgt. Shultz who, bribed by the prisoners of war, frequently claimed: "I know nothing" when confront by his commanding officer over apparent shady operatives carried out by POW Hogan and his band of merry prisoners. It's often said "ignorance is bliss." But the current Mexican government is anything but "ignorant". yet it embraces the bliss afforded to them by the cartels. It's a long-held tradition in that country where tainted money rules the roost.
5
It's not very unique to Mexico or some Latin American countries. It's an inevitable future for any country as the state and democracy fails in any part of the world. Take the example of Indian subcontinent as a whole or India in particular.
A large section of India also has the same issues, probably in more intensity, as income and social inequality is at its worst in its history and far worse than Mexico. India is facing the same fate, mostly hidden from international press- as it does not matter much to outside world, it does have any powerful neighbor like USA with vast business interest there. Ultimately, a large part of the burden will be passed to other more civilized and law abiding countries in the world. European refugee crisis, illegal immigration in USA and many other countries are good indicators what we can expect in increasing intensity in coming days.
Western democracies must act and help building institutions in those countries and stop patronizing and appeasing the socio-political elites from such developing countries, who actually destroy those countries and like to export the same menace where they get their foothold in large number.
1
Correction: .... world, it does NOT have any powerful neighbor like USA....
It's not very unique to Mexico or some Latin American countries. It's an inevitable future for any country as the state and democracy fails in any part of the world. Take the example of Indian subcontinent as a whole or India in particular.
A large section of India also has the same issues, probably in more intensity, as income and social inequality is at its lowest in its history, and far worse than Mexico. India is facing the same fate, mostly hidden from international press, as it does not matter much to outside world, it does not have any powerful neighbor like USA with vast business interest there. Now Indians, in general, are more desperate to leave India than ever before, have very less hope for a better future, with growing far right "Hindutva" political ideology and militant patriotism.
Ultimately, a large part of the burden will be passed to other more civilized and law abiding countries in the world. European refugee crisis, illegal immigration issue in USA and many other countries are good indicators what we can expect in increasing intensity in coming days.
Western democracies must act and help building institutions in those countries and stop patronizing and appeasing the socio-political elites from such developing countries, who actually destroy those countries and like to export the same menace wherever they get their foothold in large number.
6
Unfortunately, western democracies have their own problems with the spirit of party at this point.
1
With the spirit of two parties.
"Mexico’s establishment parties are more than parties. They are the state. Loyalists, not civil servants, run institutions."
Coming soon to the USA. This is quite literally what the present-day Trumpified GOP is doing to our public institutions.
36
Says the party that actually accepted and adopted the naming of their healthcare policy after the President that passed it into law, and passed a law affecting 1/6 of the American economy without a single voice of support from the opposing party.
I remeber something about a pot, a kettle, and something about one calling the other something ironic.
2
Give an example.
Not really. It was obama that wrote copious memos which usurped rule of laws that he didn't care for. What is absolutely reprehensible is the one-sided thinking from too many readers here who support the notion of ends justifying the means. Why do you think we have Trump today? It's not the Russians
In México the people knows who are the Kidnappers, drug dealers and killers, but people doesn’t speak by fear , because the criminals are protected by authorities, working together, That is the big bussines by gobernors.(the new repot is exactly). I ran out for my life, afther been kidnapped
And when I went to denunce, I was Kadnapped by authorities, tortured and kill threated.
Denounce is the worst, the authorities killer the Journalist. 124 since 2000 and severals desapears. Before I ran for my life I made self investigation and colected proofs and witnesses. Everything documentation. I sert to CIDH petition, and I am making public denunce in Facebook, and the bog. https://sabado22de.blogspot.com
24
Most violent period in Mexican history? Puh-leeze.
The Mexican Revolution of 1910-1920 ... "Out of Mexico's population of 15 million, the losses were high, but numerical estimates vary a great deal. Perhaps 1.5 million people died..."
10
The main takeaway from this, is that every individual is most fundamentally responsible for solving the problems they see around them, and that involvement in local government is infinitely more important to our own daily lives than what happens in Washington at any given time.
Donald Trump does not pay my bills. Neither did Obama or Bush before him, or any of my senators or my congressmen. Having Hillary as POTUS would have changed nothing about that dynamic.
The people of these Mexican towns have done nothing special above and beyond simply relying upon themselves for the advancement of their own well being. The lesson they teach all of us, is if you're waiting around for someone else to come and provide for your happiness, you're doing it wrong.
As Americans, we simply need to stop trying to stand in one another's way arguing over who gets to use which bathrooms, or over which narrowly defined, mischaracterized, stereotyped "identity group" is either the cause of all the world's problems, or the biggest victim of society's conspiracy against them, and work to solve problems on a local, personal, and individual level without trying to impose our own values or judgements on one another over petty disagreements. Those petty disagreements are what keep too distracted and weak to unite against bigger problems.
Solving problems is not a team sport.
6
Actually, solving problems is very much a “team sport”, as you put it. The idea that a society (a single entity) of atomized individuals (a disaggregated entity) can solve its problems by leaving it up to each man or woman to decide for him or herself what must be done is not an idea that’s been very well thought through.
Even the concept of a “citizen” implies membership in a body politic that functions by means of its members acting in concert. Our American “rugged individualism” has never been more than a mythologized fantasy for anyone other than a tiny handful of outliers (early 19th century mountain men, for example). The rest of us need to grow up and recognize the need to work together with those whom we may not resemble or, more to the point, don’t resemble us.
The choice is essentially between something that looks like the Mexico of this article, on the one hand, or something that looks more like Denmark or Norway, on the other. Does anyone reading this have any doubt as to which is the more pleasant alternative?
4
Privatizing public safety? Sounds like a Republican solution. Sounds like it works every bit as reliably as other Republican “solutions”.
6
Terrible what corruption does.
1
Mexico is one of the world's most dangerous countries for journalists. Thank you to the NYT for frequent reporting on issues I hope Mexico is paying attention to.
12
Corruption kills civil society. Corrupt politicians and business leaders need money laundering to be able to use of the drug money, money stolen from the public tax coffers and money extorted from legitimate business people. All we need to do is follow the money, yet governments are loathe to do that since it would implicate a lot of supporters in the 1%. Trump fears review of his tax returns since he has a lot to hide. Where is Trump's war on corruption?
7
While Americans will read this and think poorly of Mexicans, the functioning evil here is capitalism. It is the profit motive stimulated by US illegal drug consumption that floats the various Mexican mafioso. Money can drive any evil no matter how black.
Conversely there are only a couple institutionalized evils more damaging to our people than drug abuse. I have my favorite targets that may not agree with yours, but we'd both agree that if hard drugs from Mexico did not exist America would be propelled forward from the release of that social anchor alone.
And so; if you were to make the uncontroversial presumption that our government exists to project what national resources it legally controls at our most serious problems you suffer severe cognitive dissonance contemplating that we just spent $11 billion on freshening up Camp Humphreys in South Korea with new streets and bowling alleys, while this crime circle of drugs for us and death for them spins like a top on our very border. That of course is one meager example of the literally hundreds of spots around the world that will never have a thing to do with American life, but that obtain billions of our tax dollars for their support and service.
I understand certain press would have a fit over this, but these US assets belong right on our Southern border, absolutely walling out drugs including finding every tunnel and checking every truck. And hey those troops would be home spending those paychecks here.
2
Capitalism is an economic system defined by market choice and competition. Applying the worst qualities of every failed economic system and calling those failures "Capitalism" is what creates the disconnect between the positive part of your policy message, and economic conservatives that value the concept of private ownership of the means of production and control over the resources of society.
What you're referring to in your criticism is a state more closely resembling The concept of economic fascism, where the government props up the hegemony of a small group of monopolistic corporations in a feedback loop of control and corruption that destroys the economic and political power of the individual in society.
This condition can arise from any market based economy in which the government does not fulfil it's defined role of protecting informed consumer choice and enforcing competition between suppliers in a market economy. Neither market socialism nor market Capitalism is immune from this outcome, so naming it solely as a symptom of end-stage capitalism is not only distracting, but patently incorrect.
What we should be doing as activists for positive change, is talking about the things that are needed to keep market economies stable and uncorrupted as a conduit for the economic power of the individual in society. Government's role is to protect choice and enforce conpetition, while resisting the influence of moneyed special interests. The "ism" employed is irrelevant there
6
Walling out drugs could start nicely, if Americans used them less. Novel idea, I m sure.
Most problems in Mexico and Third World countries arise from the inability of feudal structures to adapt to the modern civilization. Nepotism, corruption, handing plum jobs to friends, releasing relatives from jail inevitably sap the life out of society and undermine the rule of law.
What massive immigration means is importation of the cultural model in which family and tribal connections overshadow the rule of law.
5
We already have the cultural model of family and tribal connections, don't you think? Except it's rich white people who do it.
12
Brilliantly (and graphically) dramatized by Don Winslow in his masterful books "The Power of the Dog" and "The Cartel".
3
We are next. If we cannot take back our government from our corrupt officials and corporate billionaires we will face this danger ourselves. The border will become more unstable and violent if Mexicans believe their government has abandoned them. But we are beginning to feel that way as well. Talk about being in uncharted waters. Yet we have laws and people who can fight them in court. We have yet to get to this stage and hopefully we won't. Are we there yet?
11
Exactly whom are you calling corrupt?
Sounds quite feudalistic doesn’t it?
8
Not really. Feudalism was propped up by an unlimited central government in the form of a monarch, that used the feudal lords that aligned themselves with him to secure power by dividing the people against themselves while securing hegemony over the means of production.
If you wanted to apply a perjorative, tribalism would be closer. But of coirse, tribalism is driven by familial ties more than simple geography or shared industry, so that falls flat as well.
The closest thing you could accurately apply is the concept of guilds in the ancient context.
5
I am native to the state of Tamaulipas and I can tell you that cartels control the entire state. The area is running as a failed state where there is no law. Cartel members ask for "fees" to allow merchants and business men to work. The grocery stores, meat markets, taco stands, you name it. They all have to pay a fee or they will not be allowed to do business.
I wish someone from the NYT would visit San Fernando, Tamaulipas and drive at night to meet with these lords who own the city. There is no police and the military will not do anything about it.
If the USA legalized pot at all 50 states, it would take 80% of the revenue from the cartels. It would definitely make Mexico a lot safer for its citizens.
63
I agree with this completely. That, along with common sense legislation to improve immigration laws, to secure the border against smuggling while providing better handling of legitimate travel and immigration for things like migrant farm work, would destroy the profitability of the cartel's business models by killing demand for their most popular product, and making it harder for the coyotes to recruit "workers" for their smuggling operations by turning the illegals they smuggle into drug mules.
9
While I don't disagree with decriminalizing pot, that will not make Mexico safer. Will the cartels just shrug and say, "oh well, shucks, we lost that income, so we'll just go get a job at the mercado"? No, they will shift to new revenue streams: more kidnapping, prostitution, human trafficking, harder drugs, etc., which, in many ways are actually more immediately dangerous to the citizens.
This is not an easy-to-solve problem, just waiting for a simple, silver bullet solution.
3
The failure of any government to provide for basic public safety, education and welfare is nothing less than the failure of government. So, hat's off to the Mexican people who stepped up where their government failed them.
Let's hope we don't have to follow their example any time soon, but make no mistake, it could happen here, too.
13
Move to the USVI and experience the systemic governmental corruption, cronyism, police negligence and whispered-about-complicity with criminals, incompetence in every public sphere, and general citizen apathy without the trouble of leaving the United States.
8
So law abiding Mexicans, without benefit of a 2nd amendment, are in fact exercising their god given right to defend themselves with ARMS. Not only arms, but the seated elder at the towns entry is holding what California has deemed, gasp, an assault weapon. OMG, semi automatic, large capacity detachable magazine. Wonder if he had to submit to a background check from the Mexican Government? Wonder if he needed a background check to buy ammo or pay a heft tax on each bullet? The right to KEEP AND BEAR ARMS reigns supreme.
6
Actually, many of the guns used by criminals in Mexico come from the U.S. We Mexicans can very well blame our own violence on your stupid Second Amendment, which makes it easy for criminals to buy guns on the open market and then ship them to our country.
30
In case you didn't notice, we aren't like Mexico. More like Great Britain.
2
It’s so easy to be a victim.
1
As this article pointed out, these are basically just cartels of another sort. Instead of being funded by illegal narcotics they are funded by avocados.
2
By your logic, every town is just a cartel that's funded by whatever industry happens to operate in that town.
1
I guess its all wash then.
Crime against grammar:
But militia rule has accustomed many to the idea that power belongs to whomever has the guns.
should be:
But militia rule has accustomed many to the idea that power belongs to whoever has guns.
That vigilante justice is becoming normalized and increasing in parts of Mexico only serves to undermine what is left of the rule of law there.
Indeed, the culprit IS their corrupt government, headed by a weak, underperforming president whose approval rating, according to the latest PEW report, is even lower than Trump’s (28%), and who is more reviled in Mexico than Trump.
Mexicans are not only forced to deal with crooked local and federal police departments. Now autonomous, business funded militias are the latest menace to follow in the footsteps of two of the most powerful, dueling, rogue forces in Mexico - the cartels and the military.
The Mexican armed forces, invited to participate in the war against the cartels in 2006, are a growing threat. (Mexican Marines, in particular, are noted for their exceptional skills as killers.) “Disappearances” and unresolved murders continue to occur daily.
Here at home, our own democracy is under assault by cash-fat corporations and wealthy donors who have purchased our politicians. And now we are having to contend with the Russians, who changed the outcome of our national election through false propaganda and a willing, treasonous, hand-picked lackey in the White House.
17
It's not accurate to report that Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl's PRD allegiance puts it entirely out of the political system in Mexico. PRD has mainly been an opposition party on the national level for most of it's existence, but locally both the government's of Mexico City and the State in which both cities reside has been largely been controlled by the PRD for the last two decades. This misinformation seems to be utilized in the article to support implicitly the right wing premise that all government and parties are by definition corrupt and that the only solution to Mexico's problem is to found outside any of the current social and political movements in the country. On the contrary, the lesson of Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl is not that Mexico needs less governing, but rather less governing by the PRI and PAN, respectively the parties of the institutionalized state bureaucracy and the extreme religious right. The cataclysmic violence of the last two decades has been under the watch of both the PRI and PAN and both parties have clearly demonstrated that they are not up to the task of dealing with the deep social issues and profound economic inequality that gave rise to the cartels. What the very hopeful section of the article reporting on Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl really teaches is that Mexico needs more electoral success by the PRD and its many allies on the left including Greens, Socialists, and other alternative parties.
15
"Mexico’s weak institutions, he added, make any local fix subject to the whims of political leaders. Countries like the United States, he said, “have this structure that we don’t have. That’s what’s so dangerous.”
This is so close to what is happening to the US now. Our "structure" is being removed in favor of loyalty to the ruler.
This article is needed, but we mustn't sit back and rest in our feeling of superiority to our neighbor. We are unfortunately headed down that same slippery slope.
35
The US structure has mot been removed. But there is the risk down the road and that started with Obama and his executive memos where he made himself king. Don't like trump, but he's not done anything close to date.
Thank you for bringing this remarkable story to light. Prejudiced as it might be, my education constantly stressed the moral inadequacies of the Mexican people as a cultural/ genetic norm. This article introduces another aspect of Mexican culture in a powerful way. I hope that continuing articles follow up on progress, or lack thereof.
1
What kind of "education" did you receive? If follow your logic, then Mexico has no right to exist and should be taken over by people who are "morally inadequate" and who have a "better cultural/genetic norm". I wonder who that is? If Mexico and Mexicans were so bad, there would not be a million retired Americans living there, plus thousands of Canadians and Europeans. Today, tens of thousands of other Latin Americans- Venezuelans, Argentinians, Colombians- have settled in Mexico where they work and make a living. Illegal immigration of Mexicans to the US. is as low as is has been in decades. Forty seven percent of Mexicans are middle-class today. So economically speaking things are much better than the were decades ago. If we are going make such racist statements, then what your "education" taught you applies to many countries, including the US. Some people are prejudiced and rejoice when the press reinforces those prejudices.
1
Is the US next, with California, Oregon and Washington declaring that an oil-soaked race to climate destruction isn't in their best interest?
Will the divide between the richest and everybody else so intensify with this corrupt tax scheme that we'll be left to police ourselves, heal ourselves, defend our land against corrupt corporate grabs, repair our own once-federal infrastructure?
My old, dusty .22 is no stand-in for a robust defense of the common good, but with a flame-thrower in the Whitehouse, and a civil system left reeling from crisis after crisis, I'm wondering what's left to count on....
5
Whenever I read stories about the corrupt Mexican state and drug cartels I feel a deep despair and sadness for Mexico.
This story about three different municipalities taking authority into their own hands fills me with hope for the country.
The extent to which select areas have fallen to cartel violence reveals the impotence of the central state, and this ‘failed-ness’ reveals that the state itself has become a cause of much of the violence: the corrupt state is the problem, not the solution.
When power is devolved into local institutions then it becomes more difficult for an external force to coopt and take over the reigns of power.
In all three of these situations, a power elite remains. The mayor of Neza offers the most benign method for correcting the power imbalance: good old fashioned operant conditioning of the police force to encourage the cops to act out of humanitarian and civic duty and not for personal gain.
To cement these gains, and continue to move toward peaceful communities that can prosper and offer a future, the leaders need to institutionalize civic channels for the people to express their desires and needs for a safe society. And, the leadership needs to respect the people. Finally, the need for a military answer (honest police force) to corruption and criminality cannot be underestimated.
16
So centralized power has failed the Mexican people and the remedy is local solutions to local problems. Interesting, sounds like the 10th amendment saving the day. perhaps we should take heed, and not only when the opposition party is in power.
4
The Tenth Amendment is a threat to all of the progress the left has made on abortion, gay marriage, expulsion of religious references from the public square, and all the other battles they have won in the culture war through the force of a federal mandate. The identity politics of the left is completely incompatible with the Tenth Amendment, because it would force the left to acknowledge that disagreeing with their positions on the issues and choosing an alternative approach is an unalienable right.
What's funny, is that progressives want to limit what the federal government can do in providing for the common defense vis a vis securing our borders against illegal immigration, but they want an unlimited federal government to enforce the progressive agenda against anyone who doesn't agree with the left's approach.
It has nothing to do with Constitutionality or states rights. It's about their ability to control and force an agenda.
Too bad Republicans aren't any better, because they are happy to push things like DOMA when it comes their turn to hold the power to make laws. But as long as Americans are too busy arguing over who gets to use which bathrooms, we will never be able to stand together and demand better from our leadership.
2
The "remedy" looks a lot like feudalism if you ask me. Under that regime if you're not an aristocrat you're a serf. I'm not interested in serfdom so I will take my chances with a democratically elected government.
3
Governance in Tancítaro consists of vigilantism, banishment, and summary execution. Monterey's wealthiest and most powerful business leaders absorbed the state's law enforcement apparatus into their own companies (in America, we call this graft). Neza's police force is answerable only to the charismatic leader of a political party. I find it alarming that any American citizen, much less a so-called conservative wielding the Bill of Rights as a prop, would find anything worthy of emulation in this story.
4
"... establishment parties are more than parties. They are the state. Loyalists, not civil servants, run institutions. Officials have little freedom to stretch and little incentive to investigate corruption that might implicate fellow party members. Most are shuffled between offices every few years, cutting any successes short."
Sounds sadly familiar. This article stresses the importance of strong (and uncorrupted) institutions to maintain peace, prosperity, and rule of law. Are we ready to heed the lessons?
30
No. We are too busy arguing over who gets to use which bathrooms, and which identity group is responsible for all the world's problems, to stand together and demand better from both parties in our government, or see that nothing about our own chosen party makes it deserving of our patronage and loyalty, because they are both playing us all off against one another while they cooperate to sell out the political and economic power of the individual in society to the special interests that own them behind the scenes.
3
Whenever I ponder the extraordinarily high salaries of our police officers (6 figures is not at all uncommon anymore. full benefits, early and generous retirement available, ... far better than most private sector jobs) I think of countries like Mexico where the police are so poorly paid they have no incentive to not supplement their income with illegal or extra legal means.
In the US, police risk much for little gain (fixing a ticket say, or looking the other way, or ...) by not sticking to the rules.
Whereas police in Mexico MUST supplement their incomes if they are to survive decently in today's world. Could Mexico afford to pay their police (all of them) enough to stay straight? It would be difficult to impossible financially to say nothing politically.
11
And people think they have it bad here, when the only thing they have to do is complain about the president, the government, and how horrible it is for Hollywood actresses while they are out to lunch in the safest and most prosperous country in the world. I can't blame folks in these Mexican towns wanting to be secure in their homes and using the only means available to them. It's sad, but the brutality of the drug cartels is legendary, so they had to do something. Not ideal, but if these militias work to keep them safe, then more power to them!
17
Good comment, Rich, but FYI, the US is neither the most prosperous nor the safest country in the world. In terms of safety, we're not even close. Better than Mexico, though.
2
Working to keep the local press free and encouraged to report on the subject would seem like a worthy goal to include for maintaining honesty and integrity in the other local governmental systems. Inviting outsiders to come in, observed, and be observed might also help. And having privacy decline with increase of private wealth might be something helpful in both Latin and North America.
1
Read about the Committee to Protect Journalists in Mexico. VERY high mortality rate for those brave journalists. They have been "working to keep the local press free and encouraged to report on the subject" for many, many years.
4
Depends in the individuals you invite in to advise. Are you inviting real political scientists and sociology and industry experts to consult, or are you bringing in political operatives who wear those titles as sheep's clothing?
"Mexico’s crisis manifests as violence, but it is rooted in the corruption and weakness of the state."
I would say its root cause is corruption, but certainly NOT weakness of the state. Quite the opposite.
1
goes back to the old saying, a government with the power to give you everything is the government with the power to take everything away.
3
And beyond the statue is Tancítaro, an island of safety and stability amid the most violent period in Mexico’s history....
[ Excellent, necessary reporting. That the violence besetting Mexico is disturbing means this must be a Mexican government focus and this reporting is essential for making it so. ]
13
I hope the remarkable Neza community talks to their contiguous neighbor.
9
This is what happens when a thoroughly corrupt government pockets all of its revenues and looks the other way as its benefactors actually run things. Sound familiar? It's only a matter of time until the American people realize that our own government is also illegitimate, and take matters into their own hands. Any insurrection will be called anarchy, or radical, and a threat to national security, but the reality is, our nation is under direct threat right now, from a government that is being openly bribed by corporations. Similar to Brazil, Mexico, and many other Latin American countries. I only hope our national security agencies come to recognize this fact, and rather than quelling the coming uprising, utilize their resources to restore control of our republic to the people, where it rightfully belongs, and to assist the people in any way possible accomplishing this.
Gob Bless America.
61
Not even close. The problem in Mexico is collusion between government law enforcement and drug cartels. Our government is not illegitimate. Its just you don't accept the election. If the government is changed by any way other than an election, then it WILL be illegitimate. If that happens, it will tear our country apart.
18
I don't think I agree completely, not just yet, but we are on the way.
5
gdpbull: the reason many do not accept the 2016 American election is because the Russians hacked at least 39 states' voter systems, the slave-era outdated Electoral College. and because the loser garnered 3 million more votes than the winner. PS: our country is already torn apart due to cheating, propaganda and corporations calling the shots.
9