For a long time I have been very sympathetic towards immigrants, even the illegal ones, here in America. As an immigrant myself, and as the daughter of immigrants, suffice it to say, "I understand". Or at least I did. Today, I still just have two words for them, but now those words are, "SHUT UP!"
I have paid my dues and I have paid my fees. I have stood in lines, been fingerprinted and background-checked, answered questions and opened up and said "Ahhhh." Had the lines been longer, I would have still waited in them, had the fees been higher, I would have still paid them. My sentiment was always "I understand", because although I was born in a country that many people in the world consider a promised land, Canada, I was still as desperate as anyone could be to be an American.
Which is why I am out of my mind over the teeming, screaming, demanding masses taking to the streets. You're here and you're not daily kissing the ground? You're here and you're not doing everything you can to repay the gift? You're here and you're not weeping to the strains of the Star Spangled Banner? Good grief, are you really still hoisting a buzzard over your head? (My favorite protest sign has been the "We're not criminals!" one. Uh, well, yes, frankly, you are. Shut up. Go back to the job you've been blessed to be given. Be happy you're not back in some unpronounceable province grinding corn.)
And now, frankly, the situation is getting out of hand, as every two-bit, shade-of-red organization is hijacking the march. That's just fabulous. We have Senators tripping over themselves to harvest the illusion of potential voters and meanwhile the 'world worker parties' are already signing them up. This is because they are completely aware of the real battle they're trying to get us to lose, and the rest of us, and especially those we have elected, have got to remember what's really at stake. It's what I wish these immigrants would get a grip on. We are at war.
[I]n the free world, the competition of ideas and parties flourishes, and allegiances are often based on a single common principle or purpose that struggles against a competing point of view.
Though generally healthy for a society, this competition can be quite dangerous if we lose sight of the fact that there is a far greater divide between the world of freedom and the world of fear than there is between the competing factions within a free society. If we fail to realize this, we lose moral clarity. The legitimate differences among us, the shades of gray in a free society, will be wrongly perceived as black and white. Then, the real black-and-white line that divides free societies from fear societies, the real line that divides good from evil, will no longer be distinguishable.
A lack of moral clarity is why... people living in free societies cannot distinguish between religious fundamentalists in democratic states and religious terrorists in fundamentalist states. It is why people living in free societies can come to see their fellow citizens as their enemies, and foreign dictators as their friends.
Natan Sharansky, The Case For Democracy
Why does this conjure up visions of Belafonte and Castro, Sheehan and Chavez, Penn and Hussein? And whose side in this illegal-immigration battle do you believe they will, by default, fall upon?
Because, meanwhile, there's a new psycho in town, name's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad which, for easy enunciation and moral clarity purposes, we'll pronounce as Ahmonajihad. He's a playful guy, as has been witnessed by his schoolyard wipe-out-the-little-guy taunts and the displaying of all his new toys, like rockets, missiles, and flying boats. This may make some of us giggle (even I've posted the picture of the two guys in the desert with the missile strapped to the donkey), but it shouldn't.
I'm not that interested in whether all these newly loud immigrants think that they should pay for their healthcare or if the government should. I'm not that interested in whether they believe they should have proper working papers or be given their walking papers. I only care that they remember what it is that made them leave their native lands for this one and upon what philosophy this great Republic was built. Clichéd or not, are they with us or against us? Are they going to follow those who wish to destroy us? Because if we don't win, if we don't survive, ain't nobody going to be buying their tacos, not unless they whip up the halal version.
I posted this for commentary purposes on FR, here.
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