Adam's Apple
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- Apr 25, 2004
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When Voting Crosses International Borders
By Ruben Navarrette, Jr., San Diego Union-Tribune
January 29, 2006
I've had Mexicans tell me that they really don't understand Mexican-Americans. For one thing, they can't figure out how it is that a group of people who think and behave like any other group of Americans still consider themselves Mexican.
Well, we're even. As a Mexican-American, I don't understand Mexicans especially when it comes to la política (politics).
I mean, if you're going to create political reform then, by all means, go ahead and create political reform. More power to you. But don't pretend to create reform while under the table you're doing everything you can to preserve the status quo and your place in it.
Take, for instance, all the hoopla about how the Mexican Congress has passed a law allowing Mexican expatriates in the United States to vote in the Mexican presidential election in July without the inconvenience of first having to return home.
This is a good thing. The migrants have earned the right to cast ballots, having sent home more than $16 billion in remittances last year alone. That sum is the country's largest source of foreign income, surpassing the take from an industry near and dear to Mexico's heart: petroleum.
It's also a step in the right direction. For decades, when a migrant left Mexico, the rule was: out of sight, out of mind. The thinking was, if you were going to insult Mother Mexico by fleeing to the United States, you were on your own. Increasingly, that's no longer the case. Now the Mother expresses concern for her lost children and tries to protect them from afar.
for full article:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/op-ed/navarrette/20060129-9999-mz1e29navarr.html
By Ruben Navarrette, Jr., San Diego Union-Tribune
January 29, 2006
I've had Mexicans tell me that they really don't understand Mexican-Americans. For one thing, they can't figure out how it is that a group of people who think and behave like any other group of Americans still consider themselves Mexican.
Well, we're even. As a Mexican-American, I don't understand Mexicans especially when it comes to la política (politics).
I mean, if you're going to create political reform then, by all means, go ahead and create political reform. More power to you. But don't pretend to create reform while under the table you're doing everything you can to preserve the status quo and your place in it.
Take, for instance, all the hoopla about how the Mexican Congress has passed a law allowing Mexican expatriates in the United States to vote in the Mexican presidential election in July without the inconvenience of first having to return home.
This is a good thing. The migrants have earned the right to cast ballots, having sent home more than $16 billion in remittances last year alone. That sum is the country's largest source of foreign income, surpassing the take from an industry near and dear to Mexico's heart: petroleum.
It's also a step in the right direction. For decades, when a migrant left Mexico, the rule was: out of sight, out of mind. The thinking was, if you were going to insult Mother Mexico by fleeing to the United States, you were on your own. Increasingly, that's no longer the case. Now the Mother expresses concern for her lost children and tries to protect them from afar.
for full article:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/op-ed/navarrette/20060129-9999-mz1e29navarr.html
