If you had asked me 10 or 15 years ago about Aztlán and reconquista, I would have dismissed the notion as fanciful. But today, it must be taken seriously. While we have been busy with other things, Mexico has been promoting an invasion of the Southwestern United States. They come individually or as families. They come every possible way, but they come, by the thousands.

Anglos here call them illegal aliens. They consider themselves immigrants. They tell themselves they own this land and so do not need permission to enter it. Of course the United States denies this. We rely on the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the Gadsden Purchase which together settled the boundary between the United States and Mexico. But Mexicans were never satisfied with that. No one ever is satisfied by boundary revisions occasioned by war. The Russians want Alaska but the U.S. has no plans to give that back, either. The causes and conduct of the Mexican-American War are well documented and do not bear repetition here.

Recently Mexicans have been making a more concerted effort to recover the lands in question. They are doing this by entering the United States, often surreptitiously and without documentation. They usually come because they believe they can earn a better life here and remit some of their earnings to their families in Mexico. Some are not so beneficent. Some join gangs and engage in criminal activities.

Print this story Email this story Post a Comment ADVERTISEMENT

Organizations have given them a cause beyond themselves in reconquista. They rationalize that they are entitled to this land and they come to take it back. Obviously, this war will not be fought militarily. It is a contest of will, and, as usual of late, the United States is found wanting.

Politicians who do not live on or near the border appear not to take the threat very seriously. They make half-hearted attempts to enforce the border, but it’s well-known that it is extremely porous. So they come, overwhelming social supports and requiring service we had reserved for our poor.

They see the standard of living in the U.S. and they aspire to it. But they prefer not to spend the generations it takes to achieve it. They think by recovering the land of the rich, they will, miraculously become rich, too. But this is a mistake.

The land in the U.S. Southwest is not appreciably different than the land in Mexico, if anything, it is less fertile. What makes land under the U.S. flag worth so much more than the land under the Mexican flag cannot be duplicated without adopting the American way of life.

Look at aerial photos of border cities and you will see the Mexican side built-up right to the international boundary. On the U.S. side, border cities are smaller and much of the land is sparsely settled with cattle ranches and desert preserves. There is no benefit for Americans to build right up to the border.

The very things that make America wealthy, are the very things they will not have in Aztlán. They include the United States’ Constitution, our country’s history of living under English Common Law, the Magna Carta, Declaration of Independence, the concept of individual sovereignty, the presumption of innocence, the rule of law, the dignity of the individual. These concepts simply do not exist under Mexican law which is based on Continental Code law.

Mexicans cannot and will not re-create the conditions here that have guaranteed our freedom and allow us to be as productive as we can be.

You can’t fully appreciate the traditions of the United States that have allowed us to create the most extraordinary country ever. It’s not the land. Land is land. You can grow lettuce almost anywhere. But to live free to be your own person, to pursue your best efforts without government interference – well, that is the foundation of America. And even though we have strayed far from that ideal. It remains the foundation of our republic.

To fully appreciate it, it helps to have lived here all your life and been educated here. That’s why no matter who owns the land, no Mexican, no Kenyan, will ever be able to fully appreciate our way of life or reproduce it under a different flag.

If the Mexican people want to participate in the American dream, they must become Americans: learn the language, learn the way of life, learn the traditions. Become an American. It’s not the land, it’s the people. The promise of Aztlán is a hollow one. They will not reproduce American prosperity in the reconquista, they will only extend Mexican poverty to it.

Contact Lionel Waxman at territorial@waxmanmedia.com or visit his website: www.newflashpoint.com.