Earlier this week, I referenced an article by Thomas Friedman to make some comments on NAFTA and our relationship with Mexico.

We now have some additional comments on this subject by Conrad for your reading pleasure.

"Hmm.

You know, I'm not sure that Mexico actually belongs in a "North American community" that includes only it, the US, and Canada. It would be like one of those "which one doesn't fit" puzzles.

I'll admit freely that I'm not basing this on a deep, educated understanding of economics or foreign policy... just sort of a notion, and I'd be interested in seeing someone else logically defeat my argument here. Or to back me up using actual facts as opposed to broad generalizations.

But, Mexico has very little in common with the US and Canada, while the latter two have much in common with each other.

1. Culture. Although Canada and the US are very diverse countries, the mainstream culture is Anglo. That's why in geography we call them Anglo America as differentiated from Latin Aerica. I'm not saying that Canada and the US are culturally identical; just that when compared to each other they are much more similar than when compared to Mexico.

2. Economics. Canada and the US are rich. Mexico is poor. Easy one.

3. Political Stability. The US and Canada are, and they have been consistently for a long time. Mexico is less so.

I'm sure there are other reasons. I just can't imagine any kind of "community" involving just those three countries that involves an equal relationship of any kind. On the other hand, I can imagine many kinds of "communities" in which Mexico gets exploited.

This whole thing seems like a jealous, keep-up-with-the-joneses kind of reaction to the EU. HYowever, it seems to me like European countries, their individual senses of national and cultural identity notwithstanding, really are mostly very similar to each other, or at least taken together they form some kind of continuous cultural/political/economic spectrum.

Mexico is just so jarringly different from the US and Canada and so much more like the rest of Latin America. It seems like all we really have in common with Mexico is that we're on the same continent and we border each
other.