Mexico and the Failed State Revisited

The author lost me quickly though by simply echoing the new, trendy "root cause" of Mexico's problems. No, it's not America's drug appetite. A little too convenient, and recent, to be a root cause.

The questions should be: why has Mexico _always_ been a failed state? They've never been able to erect a functional and thriving economy. With all their natural resources, why have they been so mismanaged and squandered? Why have their citizens, for decades now, sought the U.S. for livelihood and opportunity? Show me the list of technological, medical, agricultural -- any invention or advancement that has come from Mexico. Anyone? Tell me then, why is this list so empty?

If anyone thinks that Mexico's problems are recent, and/or caused solely via the drug trade -- they have not been observing and analyzing. Go back 40 years...no drug problem to point to then, yet these same facts held true then, just like they do now.

I don't know the answers to the above questions. They have bothered me for years, for I don't believe there is anything inherently wrong with the Mexican people. They've been led poorly, and governed poorly, for sure. It's just painfully clear that their problems are not as recent as the Drug Years of the past 2-3 decades.