PrintJuly 3, 2010
If You Want to Immigrate Here
My grandparents all came to the United States from foreign countries in search of a better life. So what's the difference between them and those poor, downtrodden souls who are now hiding amongst us because they are illegal entrants, illegal residents, or both?
Assimilation is the difference. Webster's defines assimilation as "Sociocultural fusion wherein individuals and groups of differing ethnic heritage acquire the basic habits, attitudes, and mode of life of an embracing national culture."
What the politicians can't seem to grasp is that the majority of Americans believe in legal immigration because that is what has made this nation great. Those who came here to become Americans became part of our national culture, regardless of what other culture may still be part of their DNA. If you come here to assimilate, you will learn to speak English, to pledge allegiance to our flag, to serve in our military if necessary -- to do what natural-born citizens do, because it is our obligation.
If you're not willing to be an American, then go back to where you came from. We owe you nothing. And that goes for those who were born here and believe that our government owes them a free income and free benefits. Government is a group of people who have political authority. That authority does not empower them to anything other than the province of steering our ship of state.
Unlike a real business, the government does not manufacture, grow, or assemble anything. Its sole source of revenue is from the pockets of its citizens. What has happened in recent decades has been abdication by the taxpayers, who leave everything up to the government.
That might be beneficial if we hadn't simultaneously created a subculture of elected leaches who stay in power by holding down the people who they have caused to be down in the first place. What happened when Arizona said to the U.S. Government, "Enough is enough"? A federal representative from Arizona called for a boycott against the citizens who elected him and pay his salary.
Then an appointed Attorney General and the president whom he advises, neither of whom had read the law, said that the nation might have to sue the sovereign state. While they were mulling this over, the appointed Secretary of State went to a foreign country to declare that America would be suing Arizona. Next came Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, who proclaimed that she was looking out for the rights of illegal entrants. How about the rights of American citizens?
What part of "70% of Arizonans approve of the law" is a foreign language to these women?
I'm not picking on the Democratic Party; the vast majority of elected officials eventually lose sight of the fact that they are elected to govern, not to rule. Before my conservative friends get their drawers in a bunch, let me remind them that right after Newt Gingrich's "Contract with America" swept the Republican Party into power, they began shooting themselves in the foot. And who can forget Watergate?
We as a nation have created this monster, beginning at the local level and continuing all the way to Washington, D.C. "Let someone else do the work; I'm busy making a living" has become a de facto national motto. The Obama administration's rush to such things as an unpopular national health care plan and to denounce a very popular Arizona law are merely symptoms, not causes. They somehow have come to believe that redistribution of wealth is a solution. But that does not hold true for those who have earned even a minimal degree of wealth.
Because ours is an enduring democracy, there is light at the end of the tunnel. While the ultra-liberals work to fulfill their own futures by appealing to the emotions of those who figure they are entitled to a free living, those who the liberals swear need protection are standing up to be counted. And while the loyal opposition is busy playing obstructionist, their popularity is plummeting.
A prime example of how a significant segment of "Americans" think is Mexico-born Tucsonan Gabriela Saucedo Marquez, who came to the United States legally in 1986, became a citizen five years later, and prizes the day that she took her citizenship oath. On April 27, 2010, she voluntarily addressed the Tucson City Council in support of SB 1070, which requires Arizona police to check immigration status of those detained for other violations of Arizona law. She endorsed the new law and denounced Congressman Raúl Grijalva for his call to boycott Arizona. Saucedo Marquez also denounced City Councilwoman Regina Romero for calling a special meeting to promote a City of Tucson lawsuit against the State of Arizona.
Tucson reporter Leo W. Banks comments in the 6/22/2010 Daily Caller: "Saucedo Mercer gave voice to a largely unheard segment of the Hispanic population -- those who treasure the law and understand the danger our open border represents to national security, public safety and the very concepts of sovereignty and citizenship."
There is no one more zealous than a convert, and there is no convert more devout than a naturalized citizen who has forsaken his or her homeland in favor of becoming an American -- one who has assimilated.
Before I offend those who are put off by hyphenated nomenclature, let me confirm that I am an American of Mexican descent (at least on my mom's side). Arizona's only Hispanic Governor, Raúl H. Castro, in his inspirational biography Adversity is my Angel (TCU Press, Ft. Worth, TX), uses the term "Mexican American," without a hyphen. I guess the hyphen is what offends. But I digress.
Opponents of SB 1070, ignoring the fact that virtually identical laws have existed for at least the past three years elsewhere, claim that without cheap illegal labor, we would be paying $10 for a hamburger. When you add the cost of public schooling, medical care, and lost taxes to the equation, we are already paying around $25 for a burger.
They also say that Americans are too lazy to do manual labor. Tell that to the 10% of Arizonans who are about to run out of unemployment benefits.
We may be seeing the effects of a serious effort to implement the Richard Cloward-Francis Fox Piven political strategy that would disrupt our society into a socio-Marxist existence. For those who never heard of this strategy, please google Cloward-Piven. It is a great way for the Pigs to be More Equal!
In closing, I have to note with chagrin and a smile that welfare recipients in California have been using their state-issued welfare cards in California casinos. The machines can't tell the difference. Upon learning of this travesty, the Governator issued a proclamation that all welfare recipients must take an oath to use the welfare cards as intended. Aren't politicians wonderful?
