He entered political life through his work on the Mexico City-Veracruz railway line when he met liberal Veracruz politician Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada.
He was a full supporter of liberal ideology which in Mexico sought to curtail the political and economic power of the Roman Catholic Church.
He explained the natives' weakness, using the recently developed science of nutrition, by dividing mankind into three races: the people of corn, wheat, and rice.
After some dubious calculations of the nutritional value of staple grains, he concluded that “the race of wheat is the only truly progressive one,” and that “maize has been the eternal pacifier of America's indigenous races and the foundation of their refusal to become civilized.” Bulnes attacked the reputation of the late president Benito Juárez, describing him "as an insignificant provincial lawyer with no clear ideology until he met Ocampo in New Orleans.
[7] As a staunch defender of the Díaz regime and one who espoused politically charged opinions on a variety of topics, Bulnes's reputation in Mexico has suffered.