Opinion Archive

What to Make of Our Differences

April 9, 2008

This column has repeatedly argued that, despite the large gap in economic and social development, the United States and Mexico, as two Western democracies with Christian majorities and open economies, share many of the same values.  That despite the divisive rhetoric in the media, each is lucky to have the other as its neighbor and that both countries could do a lot worse. Nevertheless, there are differences in the way we interpret race, history, and certain basic concepts, such as freedom and the Rule of Law. As both countries become more and more intertwined demographically and economically, it becomes increasingly important to analyze why we often don’t understand each other.

History is relative

The concept of history differs depending on which side of the border you are on. Americans see history as a linear succession based on the progress of universal ideas culminating in a happy ending (today).  Heroes are fixed. Mexicans see history as a cross that they must bear.  Our list of heroes depends on whom you ask and when you’re asking. Thus, attitudes towards change are different. For Americans, change brings opportunity. For Mexicans it brings loss.

Each territory was colonized differently. Spaniards and Britons encountered very different groups of Native Americans. In New England, there were few tribes; and those that did exist were nomadic.  The colonists saw natives as external to their vision of an ideal society, which was to be a “city on a hill”. Families arrived looking to settle.

Fewer, male, adventurers arrived in New Spain, finding many (up to 20 million, according to some estimates) often urbanized natives. Thanks to the surprisingly enlightened official view of the Catholic Church (which stipulated that Amerindians were simply wayward children of God), the Spaniards interbred with those they converted. But, as revolutionary as the Spanish were in their liberal attitudes towards mixed marriages, it was the Puritan Americans who were revolutionary in their nation building, leaving Mexico to stagnate in its colonial period and convulse in its independence.

Badges? We don’t need no stinking badges.

All of these differences affect ideas regarding government, which Americans consider essential. Control is exercised from within, according to a system of checks and balances.  Authority is necessary for the greater good, which is the Rule of Law. It is rarely questioned because it is paramount.

Mexicans gave up on government a long time ago. They see it as a necessary evil and, given that it won’t provide honest leadership, it should give as much as possible to the poor.  Authority is questioned ad nauseam and the Rule of Law is irrelevant because of a nagging sense of perpetual victimhood.

Freedom, as has been noted in a previous column, is also defined differently. Americans have many of their freedoms curtailed, but except when they feel they are directly threatened (as has been the case lately), they are adamant about defending the freedoms they consider basic. Institutions guard these zealously. In Mexico, freedom means absence of authority, which comes from weak institutions.

Both peoples see democracy as the best system of government. But, for Americans, democracy grants absolute legitimacy and authority to the winners of electoral contests.  Voting is based on trust. For Mexicans, democracy is a novelty. It confers some legitimacy and some authority on the winners of electoral contests, sometimes.  But it is often seen as a “free-for-all”, so elections are constantly questioned.

Economic freedom is the foundation of both economies, but Americans believe in capitalism on principle. Seeing themselves as victims, Mexicans grudgingly accept capitalism, although with a heavy dollop of “social justice”. Hence, meritocracy in the US is an organizing principle. In Mexico, the mistrust that underlies social mechanisms of reward and punishment often trumps merit.

You just don’t understand

Americans think their country is the best on Earth, ever. For them, it is the ideal to which the world aspires and the bearer of a manifest destiny to propagate its ideals. For Mexicans, the US is an awkward, self-serving giant; it is where cousin Jesús moved to and the place where he made enough to buy his shiny new pick-up.

For Americans, Mexico is a poor country full of “Mexicans” which, for them, is a racial, not a national, designation. Mexico provides workers who have the annoying habit of overstaying their welcome. Drugs come from there, as do vacations in Cancún. Both countries are profoundly ignorant of each other.

But the United States and Mexico are undergoing a long process of de facto economic and demographic integration. The 21st century will be one in which tens of millions of our citizens will decide to move between the two countries. It behooves us to spend a little time making sure our nuanced differences don’t overcome our blatant common interests.

For the latest thought-provoking article by Agustin Barrios Gomez please go to our Opinion Column page

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