Mexico only has about 40 percent of the population of the United States, so keep that in mind when you look at the following statistics:

On Sunday, the largest elections in the history of México will be held. But this electoral process has been tainted by the murder of at least 91 politicians — 36 of them candidates and aspiring candidates — from different parties, taking place since campaigning began in September 2020.

If this happened at the same ratio in America, we’d have more than double this number of political assassinations. Imagine if 200 American politicians were killed in one midterm election cycle, including more than eighty of the candidates. What would that do to our country?

First, it’s amazing that anyone agrees to run for office in Mexico, as it appears to be the most dangerous job on Earth. I don’t think you can really call these elections in the traditional sense of measuring the will of the people. And who can put their hope or aspirations behind a political leader when they’re likely to be gunned down before Election Day?

Power is obtained through violence in this system, and the public has no real options.

Experts on Mexican society put much of the blame on drug cartels, but not all of it.

For political scientist and journalist Karina Aguilar, columnist and reporter for the daily newspaper 24 Horas, this is due to the polarization that exists in the country, product of the policies enacted by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

“The polarization that exists in the country is tremendous. It is the side for López Obrador and the side against López Obrador — and neither accepts half measures. That has made this process different from other elections,” Aguilar said.

Even if we remain focused on the illegal drug industry, it’s a weak state that allows gangsters to rule the roost, and that follows from a breakdown in the rule of law.

The warning for America is clear. We have the same polarization problem that Mexico is experiencing, but for now we have enough law and order that our political system still functions, however crippled it may be by historic standards.

I think Joe Manchin is keenly concerned about the threat we’re facing, but he’s too focused on the polarization and not enough focused on the rule of law. He doesn’t correctly identify the gangsters in this analogy. The gangsters are the folks who are pushing The Big Lie, excusing a coup attempt, and passing state laws that destroy people’s right to vote. If we don’t have the will to stop them, the result will not be less polarization, but polarization without law and order.

Mexico is a wonderful country in many respects, but there is absolutely nothing about their political situation that we should want to emulate. As a politician, Manchin should be more attuned to this than the average American, but he appears to be oblivious.