TIME FOR WASHINGTON TO GET SERIOUS ABOUT MEXICO

BIG BEND, Texas -- Hundreds of miles from the nearest big town, on a
sandstone cliff by the Rio Grande, Mexican hands have left a few small
trinkets for sale and glass jars for money. Unattended, the items are
like offerings. There are no people in sight anywhere, on this rocky
side of the border or in the tall reeds of the other.

The items for sale are souvenirs from the harsh desert sold from a
Mexican to an American, paid for entirely on the honor system. The
shallow, muddy river is not so much a border between two countries as
it is a place where the United States fades into the blue desert
mountains of Mexico.

Illegal immigration from Mexico flared as a political issue in the
Arizona desert but quickly turned into a prairie brush fire that
spread across the country. But if understood correctly, Americans
generally are just as concerned by the security of our southern border
as they are by the people who cross it. And they should be.

Violence in Mexico is a real strategic concern, even though violence
in U.S. border cities has been down, not up, according to the FBI.
Mexico and America have always had a complex relationship. But they
are allies and partners. And whoever wins this election season in this
country would do well to invest in the relationship with Mexico, too
long neglected in Washington.

First, a look at U.S. public sentiment through the lens of various
polls - CBS, Quinnipiac and Gallup - reveals more subtlety and
perspective than that of the politicians who have taken to mere
immigrant bashing. On the whole, about 65 percent of voters believe
that illegal immigration is a serious problem - but that's only a few
percentage points more than people thought four years ago. Only half -
in many cases within the margin of error - believe an Arizona-style
law is the answer. And according to one survey, fewer than one-quarter
think such a law would curb illegal immigration, let alone lower crime.

But the most important reflection of public opinion comes when
Americans are asked to rank the issues that the country needs to deal
with. After all, there are limited political resources - not to
mention attention spans - in Washington. People rank creating jobs and
lessening unemployment first, according to Gallup. They rank securing
the borders and controlling illegal immigration second, followed by
focusing on the country and its people's problems instead of political
posturing. Balancing the federal budget and bringing our troops home
come next - but only by half as much.

In Texas, for example, the economy still outranks immigration on the
list of concerns for voters, according to a recent Lyceum Poll. Only a
little more than half those polled thought an Arizona-style law was a
good idea. To many observers, that rather slim margin came as a
surprise in a border states. Yet even Republican Gov. Rick Perry has
concluded than an Arizona-style law is not the right answer in Texas.

Securing the border from violence is and should be a major priority,
although the border has always been, and will always be, a rough,
dangerous place. But there are no simple fixes. A thousand National
Guard troops, armed or unarmed, will not make a whit of difference.
Militarizing the border is a ridiculous use of resources given the
pressing national security concerns we have all around the world.

But if you want to make sure the U.S. stays safe from the drug war in
Mexico then you have to do the strategic heavy lifting - on both sides
of the border. Much has been made of the Mexicans killed by drug
violence. In September a leaked Mexican government report put that
ghastly figure at more than 22,000. And in the exact same month the
U.S. government reported that illegal drug use in this country is at
its highest in a decade, with more than 21.8 million Americans using.
That unpleasant fact didn't get quite as much fanfare.

So, here's another one: the blood of those Mexicans isn't just on the
cartels. It is also on the hands of those 21.8 million Americans. Drug
cartels aren't stupid. The U.S. drug market is expanding. Colombian
cartels have outsourced or lost business to Mexican cartels that want
to control trade - not just supply, but distribution - as far away as
Chicago and New York, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.
And legalizing marijuana only makes matters worse.

On the other side of the Rio Grande, the United States needs to invest
in its relationship with Mexico. Fresh from the Cold and the Gulf
Wars, former Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton made Mexico
a top foreign policy priority. Doing so helped the United States open
the global trading system that is secured through American power. It
helped Mexico become a key player in global trade, as well as an
important U.S. ally after decades of strained relations.

Mexico needs more than a little military help. It needs the
wherewithal - and frankly, the prodding - to strengthen a weak
democracy and clean up corrupt institutions. Before anybody says it's
not our business, it is. We do it all around the world with our allies
and our adversaries. We even have a name for it: foreign policy. And
it is decidedly in our enlightened, national self-interest. America
intervened militarily during the Mexican Revolution for the same
reasons we are concerned about drug wars today. We don't want those
bullets and that trouble spilling onto our streets.

On the 200th anniversary of its independence and the 100th anniversary
of its bloody, landmark revolution, Mexico is intertwined with America
by geography and humanity; 70 million Americans now reside in states
along the Southwest border, just as much of Mexico's population has
moved to its northern border. Immigration will never end; it merely
ebbs and flows. And 30,000 foreign troops serve in our military today,
the greatest number of them having come from, yes, Mexico.

Washington is a long way from here - everything is. But the next
Congress and the current president would do well to get serious about
Mexico instead of alternately grandstanding or ignoring it. Out here,
after all, one country just fades indistinguishably into the blue
desert mountains of the other.

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ABOUT THE WRITERS

Richard Parker is a former Knight Ridder national correspondent,
former associate publisher of The New Republic and has twice been the
visiting professional in journalism at the University of Texas at
Austin. Journalist Cate Smithson contributed to this article.

This essay is available to McClatchy-Tribune News Service subscribers.
McClatchy-Tribune did not subsidize the writing of this column; the
opinions are those of the writers and do not necessarily represent the
views of McClatchy-Tribune or its editors.