Letter to Senator John Kennedy re. stupid comments about Mexico

As an American, I like and appreciate Senator John Kennedy. As a Louisiana native, I have always been proud to have him occupy a legislative seat in the nations's capitol.

That sentiment has shifted a bit of late, though, due to some really stupid comments that he made recently regarding Mexico. Many here know that I reside in Mexico. I love Mexico, and at this juncture in history I see a somewhat brighter future for Mexico than I see for the USA. Granted at, as we share a very long and active border, our fates are somewhat intertwined, but we really are two very different countries with two very different - if connected - destinies.

Both here on ATS and in general, I see so much ignorant stupidity spewed regarding Mexico, and most of it reeks of a deep lack of self-awareness on the part of many US citizens.

You can see Kennedy's stupid comment here. I'm not even willing to embed it due to its profound stupidity.

I don't often write politicians because I think that most of them don't give a rat's a$$ what any of us think. I hope that John Kennedy is different, but = as we say down south of the border - quien sabe.

Anyway, this is the letter (a bit redacted for semi-personal information) that I sent to him.

Senator Kennedy,

You are one of the very few people in Congress for whom I have any respect and whom I consider to possibly still have some amount of personal integrity. Your homespun wisdom is so often what Washington, DC and the country need to hear. As a Louisiana resident ... I have voted for you in the past. Before today, I would not have wavered from a committment to vote for you again, but now that could change If the right person ran against you. You have substantially lowered yourself in my estimation. I will explain.

You recent comments regarding Mexico have knocked my opinion of you down a few notches. I ... currently reside in Mexico for work reasons, but also by personal choice. Your comments denude a deep ignorance of Mexico and of several important issues surrounding the matters you were discussing.

First, Mexicans would NOT be "eating cat food" if it were not for the United States. Mexico has an amazing culinary culture and what we consume here is not American food. On the contrary, those of us who eat locally here eat more healthy than the typical American who consumes the mass-produced swill that passes for food north of the border. To say that Mexicans would be eating cat food if it were for the United States makes me, frankly, embarrased to be a United States citizen and to be a citizen of the state you represent in Congress!

You really need to retract those ignorant (I want to say "stupid") comments and apologize to the Mexican people for them. And you need to do it post haste.

Mexico has a rich culture and amazing economic potential. It would be so much more productive to work WITH Mexico and Mexicans in a mutually productive and respectful relationship instead of spewing such ignorance, the kind of vitriol that burns bridges and turns potential allies into enemies.

Second, the biggest part of the problem regarding drug traffic is NOT Mexico. As long as there is a demand for a product, somebody will find a way to supply that demand. If the supply from Mexico were shut down tomorrow, somebody from somewhere would step in to fill the demand as there is just too much money to be made. Instead of attacking Mexico for the destructive trafficking in fentanyl and other illicit drugs, it would make so much more sense to address the issue internallly first, where the demand exists.

Perhaps you and your colleagues in Congress understand this, but realize that that challenge would be so great and so against the cultural staus quo in the US that you just don't want to go down that path. That is the only reason that I can imagine you and your buddies in DC avoiding the REAL and ACTUAL root of the problem.

Third, I would think that, of all people, you would realize that the current state of political affairs in the US is no better in terms of corruption, grafting, and outright dishonesty than it is in Mexico. As I often say to my friends here, people in the US government are just better liars and make it look good. The throwing of shade on Mexico by US government officials is one of the highest forms of hypocrisy that I have ever seen, or perhaps denudes an incredible lack of self-awareness.

In short , Senator Kennedy, you have lost a fair amount of credit in my eyes with those comments. You need to make it right, and you and the rest of the crowd this is so often (and wrongfully, IMO) referred to as "our leaders" need to start actually addressing the problem where the root exists.

Stop avoiding responsibility and projecting blame!

I say these things with utmost respect and hope that you might make things right. I don't write many letters to politicians because, frankly, I think that as a whole they are all as full of crap as a ten-pound robin, and that anything we plebes say means nothing to them. I hope that you are cut from a different cloth. We'll see...

In closing, I live ... in a lovely small town in the mountains. I extend to you a warm-hearted invitation to come and visit us here and learn what Mexico is really about, to educate yourself so that you might not make such ignorant, embarrassing statements in the future. I am sincere in this, not that I think you'd take me up on it; the invitation remains open, however.

We would love for you to learn how wonderful this much and ignorantly maligned country and its people are!

Sincerely,
"incoserv"

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a reply to: incoserv

I really am appaled not only by his stupid comment about Mexicans eating cat food. (Most US citizens wish they could eat as well as we do here.) The way that US officials keep blaming Mexico for the drug traffic is laughable.

As I pointed out in the letter, if there weren't a market - a demand - the supply line would not exist. If all Mexican cartels were wiped out in one fell swoop tomorrow but the demand continued, somebody else would meet it. It'd be like the old Whack-A-Mole game.

But, as I said in the letter, running after a fantasmic boogey-man and blaming the Mexicans is easier than addressing the root of the problem internally.

Lazy damn politicians.

ETA: The US gov't fighting drug traffic looks like the woman at the begnning of this video:


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a reply to: incoserv

I'm curious. Why do you think so many people from your country want to come to the United States?

Sincere question.

First off glad you like it there. Second, its a damn cesspool. Guess you overlook the cartels, etc, just good Mexican food. You're right, the stupid hurts.

originally posted by: Klassified
a reply to: incoserv

I'm curious. Why do you think so many people from your country want to come to the United States?

Sincere question.

Used to be because there was so much opportunity there for people willing to work. I worked in a warehouse in Texas for several years where we sold matieral for roofing and raising metal buildings. Many of our clients were Mexicans (both legal and, I'd imagine, some illegal immigrants). They worked their asses off, were honest and provided solid services. I respected them. Of course, I'd have preferred that the illegals went through the proper channels - as did the legal immigrants.

Net migration from Mexico had actually, a couple of years back, fallen to negative numbers. I'm not sure where that stands now, but most of the illegals invading the border now are not Mexicans. Among the people I know here, the general sense is that it's no longer worth the bother to go north. I've spoken to many who chased that dream only to find out that it wasn't all they thought it would be.

My mother lives in a small city that was, 20 years ago, a redneck enclave but now is overrun by hispanics. Most of them are from Central America, not Mexico.

There are opportunities here for anyone willing to work, but things can be difficult. The economy an be hard on families; I'll grant that, but Kennedy's comments were, notwithstanding, uncalled for at best.

originally posted by: boredhere74
First off glad you like it there. Second, its a damn cesspool. Guess you overlook the cartels, etc, just good Mexican food. You're right, the stupid hurts.

And how much time have you spent down here south of the border?

The violence is no worse here that it is in the US. It's concentrated to certain areas, mostly municipalities, just like in the US.

Would you spend the weekend walking the streets of Chicago or Philadelphia or Protland or Los Angeles or San Fancisco or New Orleans?

Hell, the zipcode that I grew up in is now one of the highest crime areas in the US. Back in the day, it was a wonderful place to raise a family. Now, I won't even drive through it in the daytime.

You consume mass media crap. Bad news sells and you buy.

For every horrible news article about Mexico published in the US propaganda outlets, I could give you one hundred reports of wonderful things happening down here; good people doing good things in their communities and neighborhoods, honest, caring, loving people who take care of one another.

But, hey, you'd know better than me, right? Why don't you go spend a week walking the streets of San Francisco and let me know how it goes for you.

Yeah, the stupid hurts. Sorry you had to remind me of the fact.
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a reply to: incoserv
Oh no, you're saying 2 years ago there were NO mexicans crossing the border?? You seriously believe that? So all the hype of REDUCING the amount of crossing is just fluff and bs? I want some of whatever you're smoking or drinking. Kindly show me those figures if you please? I'm sure I'm not the only one that needs to see this.

originally posted by: boredhere74
a reply to: incoserv
Oh no, you're saying 2 years ago there were NO mexicans crossing the border?? You seriously believe that? So all the hype of REDUCING the amount of crossing is just fluff and bs? I want some of whatever you're smoking or drinking. Kindly show me those figures if you please? I'm sure I'm not the only one that needs to see this.

I didn't say that. And it has nothing to do with my OP. You're just blowing butt-hurt smoke for nothing because you have nothing of value to add to the conversation.

This is essentially what you are doing ...

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a reply to: incoserv

Net migration from Mexico had actually, a couple of years back, fallen to negative numbers. So you didnt type this? I'm no troll, just hate the bs you're spewing for no reason. So what you yourself typed has no meaning then? I ask you a question and want proof of what you stated and now I'm a troll? Yeah whatever enjoy your thread.

a reply to: incoserv


Kennedy thinks he can win elections on the rightwing contempt for Hispanics. I too love Mexico and wish I could spend more time at the condo in Sayulita.

Cuidate...

originally posted by: boredhere74
a reply to: incoserv

Net migration from Mexico had actually, a couple of years back, fallen to negative numbers. So you didnt type this? I'm no troll, just hate the bs you're spewing for no reason. So what you yourself typed has no meaning then? I ask you a question and want proof of what you stated and now I'm a troll? Yeah whatever enjoy your thread.

What does any of that have to do wiht my OP?

Again, you're spewing butt-hurt foolishness for some reason. Maybe a Mexican kid picked on you when you were in school? Maybe your daddy was Mexican and he abandoned you when you were little? Maybe you got a really bad case of diarrhea once after eating at Taco Bell or Pancho's Mexican Buffett. I dunno. But chill, dude! Really, it's all ok.

I have no idea where the vitriol comes from. But, again, nothing you are saying has anything to do with my OP or my letter to Senator Kennedy.

You know what? Just sit back and enjoy:


Seriously, how can you not like that?

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well he did emphasize "figuratively speaking" "would be" not "are" 😁

a reply to: boredhere74

Or maybe this is more your style ...

a reply to: incoserv

Well, I asked for those numbers, but wait! Here's a video. Dear God. SMH. That has SO much to do with your post since you love saying that. SO basically you admit you just pulled those negative numbers out of your *ss. Point made.

a reply to: boredhere74

Here's what my OP addressed...

1. Kennedy said that Mexicans would be eating cat food from a can if it weren't for the US. You belive that's true? It's stupidity. Mexicans do just fine feeding themselves and we eat well down here. That was an ugly, perjorative statement that had no place in civil discourse and it was unbecomming to a US statesman. Period.

2. Kennedy said that the fentanyl crisis is Mexico's fault. If there were no market for drugs, there would not be a supply. If drugs stopped moving across the US-Mexico border today, there'd still be a demand so somebody from somewhere would move in to fill it. The US gov't policy is to throw shade at other countries while refusing to address the root of the problem, run amuck drug consumption in the US due to the fact that US society is in collapse.

Those were the points that I addressed. Nothing you have brought up has anything to do with anything I addressed in my OP. You are trolling.
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originally posted by: boredhere74
a reply to: incoserv

Well, I asked for those numbers, but wait! Here's a video. Dear God. SMH. That has SO much to do with your post since you love saying that. SO basically you admit you just pulled those negative numbers out of your *ss. Point made.

Has nothing to do with my OP.

Was it the Taco Bell? I bet it was the Taco Bell. You should know that that's not really Mexican cusine.
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a reply to: incoserv

Good numbers are hard to get, but it is my understanding from reading and talking to locals here from Mexico, both legal and illegal, that while the numbers from other countries have certainly increased, all of them said Mexicans far outnumbered the others who crossed with them. Could be they were from areas that aren't doing as well as the area you live.

I'm not going to excuse the Senators remarks. They were harsh, but America has spent nearly $600 million dollars south of the border since around 2018. Add to that the lack of interest by the Mexican government in working with the U.S. to hit the cartels where it hurts the most, and I understand why he's upset about it. Some folks are vested in the flow of money those cartels bring into the country.

As to "curbing the demand", Prohibition in the 20's and early 30's proved that does not work. You have to go to the source, which in this case is the cartels.

Kennedy's distain for Hispanics won't play well with US Hispanics if he does seek the nomination. It's hard if not impossible to win elections without Hispanic Support.

www.pewresearch.org...