Looks like voters aren’t very happy on either side of the U.S.-Mexico border lately.  Citizens in Mexico are worried that the nation is on the verge of losing control of the nation as violence escalates without any sort of serious or strong government response.  Here’s a sample of today’s report from the Associate Press (emphasis added):

Police enraged by the kidnapping of six officers club unarmed detainees. A bloody battle between steelworkers and police leaves two miners dead. Drug lords post the heads of decapitated police on a fence to show who’s in charge.

Less than two months before Mexicans elect their next president, many fear the country is teetering on the edge of chaos - a perception that could hurt the ruling National Action Party’s chances of keeping the presidency and benefit Mexico’s once-powerful Institutional Revolutionary Party, whose candidate has been trailing badly.

Some blame President Vicente Fox for a weak government. Others say rivals are instigating the violence to create that impression, hoping to hurt National Action candidate Felipe Calderon, who has a slight lead in recent polls.

A poll published Friday in Excelsior newspaper found 50 percent of respondents feared the government was on the brink of losing control. The polling company Parametria conducted face-to-face interviews at 1,000 homes across Mexico. The poll had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

…

Gerardo Aranda, a tourism guide in Mexico City, said he won’t go back to the PRI, but he doesn’t know who he will vote for.

"No one really knows now what could happen next," he said. "All the candidates are bad. … There is so much anger toward the government, everyone is against everything."

Nothing is new under the sun, that’s for sure.  That sounds like a lot of people up here in the U.S. recently, and of course the charge of "they’re all crooks" or "they’re all bums" has a long historic pedigree.  Looks like we may have a Summer of Discontent in much of North America this election season.  It also puts into stark relief the reason the many Latinos come north to escape such corruption and dysfunctional government while seeking a better life.  I’m not saying I support illegal immigration but I do understand it.