re: What do liberals consider the reason south of border nations are failed states

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Why were we able to do that?

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Well one reason is that the US had few rivals near its borders save for various indigenous groups. The Louisiana Purchase in 1803, when the country was young, ensured that that the country could expand westward with no state impeding it. Another reason is that the British colonial system was superior to the Iberian versions in Central and South America.

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why did they start out basically equal to us and then fall so far behind that we could do this?

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Many of them did not start out equal to the US.