Double Barreled Opinions

A Day without Immigrants, Let's Make it Longer

May 1st came and went. Depending on who you are and where you live, the impact of the "Day without Immigrants" varied from something in the news, to noticeable, to a major event.

From my office windows, I could see a buildup starting around the Court House late in the afternoon. By the time I left work, there was a pretty good sized crowd. I found it puzzling that they chanted in Spanish... from what I've read, this was not the case everywhere... if they wanted me to listen, they should have chanted in English. Walking to the parking lot to go home, listening to the chants in the background, passing Hispanic people walking towards the demonstration, all wearing white shirts, and watching car after car of them looking for parking spaces, I had a sickly feeling in the pit of my stomach. It stayed with me for the drive home and into the evening.

We're being invaded and most people didn't and still don't realize it. I'd like to think that the protests of May 1st made a lot more Americans aware of the issue. Like being in a big pot of water that's slowly getting warmer and warmer, you don't realize you're being cooked alive until it's too late.

Each morning on my way to work, I pass an office building under construction as well as another building being built, and a large tract of land that's being raped, err... cleared, to make way for yet another "upper scale" shopping district. On May 1st, there were no workers at all at the office building, a small handful of obviously American workers at the other building; I couldn't really tell about the workers clearing the land, their presence seems to vary day to day anyway. On the way home, the scene was exactly the same. I sat there at the stop sign at the corner where the office building is being built and really thought about what it meant that no one, not one worker, was there. I thought back to the townhouse I used to live in, and how, after I moved in and started observing the other units being built, that none of the workers spoke English, only the foreman.

The next morning and afternoon, I made a point to drive very slowly by the construction site and see if the workers were Hispanic. They were: every last one of them.

Surely there are people in this country that want to work. Even if the work is hard and the pay is low, surely they'd rather work than take public assistance or live on the street. Am I mistaken? I guess I am. Too many people in this county simply don't care about anything or anyone other than themselves. I don't think we'll be able to change that either. We are constantly looking for the short-term gain or quick return and seem to forget about tomorrow. Just look at the fiasco in New Orleans before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina. Government systems failed at multiple levels to be sure. I watched clip after clip of stranded residents on the news shouting things like "Somebody better come feed us, there's nothing to eat and no water to drink". Wake up people - America is a self-serve country; at least it was supposed to be. Yes, the government(s) involved should have been better prepared and should have executed their plans better (or had better plans) but the fact is that you are responsible for yourself and your family. You may think I've digressed and you may be asking yourself what does this have to do with the immigration rallies and the immigration issues. Well here's the answer: if companies hiring illegal aliens were prosecuted and fined and then shut-down for repeated violations, and, if Americans that could work would work, the impetus and incentive for an illegal worker to come into the country would be greatly reduced. They're not going to come here if they don't find work here. If you're an American that can work, you shouldn't be able to get public assistance. What we saw in New Orleans was the result of government supported apathy - the same thing that has allowed so many illegal immigrants to enter, work, and live in this county.

Hopefully the rallies were a wake up call to a lot of us. Take action. Write your elected officials and ask them to support strengthening and enforcing immigration laws. I did. Go here to find your elected officials: http://www.firstgov.org/Contact/Elected.shtml

Yes, Latinos feed this country, they pick the food, they mop the floors, and they build the buildings, etc. And, no one, for the most part, thanks them for it. I guess we think the problem doesn't exist if we ignore it and don't talk about it. But now the problem is raising up its head and demanding to be seen and saying things like "We work here, we are Americans", or my favorite, from an illegal alien wanting amnesty, "I don't want my children to think I'm a criminal". Well, DUH, you're here illegally, YOU'RE A CRIMINAL. I guess somewhere, someplace, there's a sign that we haven't converted to Spanish, that's still in English only, that says "Illegal activity = criminal". I'm even seeing signs now that are just in Spanish, no English, just Spanish - but that's food for another article.

The easy way out, like most politicians as usual will want to take, is to give them what they want. Please don't let this happen. The only way to stop this is to take action: Write your elected officials and ask them to support strengthening and enforcing immigration laws. I did. Go here to find your elected officials: http://www.firstgov.org/Contact/Elected.shtml

It only takes a few minutes to crank out emails to the President, the Vice-President, your congressmen and your representatives. Do it. It's a lot easier than fighting a war, getting shot at, getting killed or killing someone else. This is what our forefathers did to provide us with the freedom that we have. When you're tired and ready to go to bed and want to put off taking action until tomorrow, think about laying in mud and blood, and getting shot at and shooting at someone. Think about our men and women in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other parts of the world and what they have to go through everyday. Now write the freaking letters. It will make a difference.

Go here to find your elected officials: http://www.firstgov.org/Contact/Elected.shtml

Here's a good article about Cesar Chavez, who's being held up as an icon by a lot of the supporters of weakening the immigration laws. They need to read their history better! http://www.tucsonweekly.com/gbase/Opinion/Content?oid=oid:81802

Until next time...
Recoil