Adult Supervision In The Desert

I’m just sick about it.

Last week, I had to cancel my vacation plans after the Virginia governor proclaimed the virtues of the confederacy. To me, if we can’t reconcile with the mistakes that were made in the 1800’s, there’s no point in expecting much in the way of enlightenment from my neighbors in the south.

As it turns out, I would have been too upset to enjoy myself anyway, after reading about the 19TH century legislating that’s going on in the desert. No, this has nothing to do with Afghanistan. I’m referring to Arizona – our newest national embarrassment.

Let’s begin with what we know.

There are millions of undocumented immigrants residing in the United States. Yes, undocumented – not illegal.

A person may perform an illegal act, but that does not make the person illegal.

The words that we choose to use do matter.

We know that they make a net positive contribution to the economy, as recent studies have shown. The generally accepted perception is exactly the opposite, and this is part of the problem.

Undocumented immigrants are easy to find.

Just look for them in their usual scapegoat position for just about anything that ills this nation:

• Unemployment – They’re taking our jobs;
• High Crime – They are all criminals;
• Health Care – They’re uninsured, so we pay for their emergency room treatment.

In fact, I have never met anyone who has been denied a job in favor of an undocumented immigrant. The general belief is that they do the necessary, low-pay, low-reward jobs that Americans do not want to do. If every undocumented immigrant were to be deported today, we would still be the world leader in incarceration rates. We have plenty of U.S. natural born criminals to fill that need. Yes, under the new health care plan, we’ve decided to prevent undocumented immigrants from buying into the plan. How’s that for progressive thinking?

The IRS is way ahead of other government agencies in terms of instituting immigration reform.

They are not foolish enough to prevent the undocumented from reporting their income. No Social Security number, no problem – use a taxpayer ID number. Problem solved. Many of the undocumented do file their tax returns in this way which debunks another of the “evil undocumented immigrant” myths that obscure the facts to keep people at odds with one another.

The Arizona legislature became a primary topic of my “no hablo” series of recent tweets:

• Arizona “papers please” has surpassed Virginia “hooray for slavery” in the GOP race to oblivion.
• Hey, Arizona Legislature: “No hablo profiling.”
• Hey, did Arizona outlaw taking pictures of the side of your face yet? They’re running out of things to profile, you know.
• Trying to remain hopeful for humanity, but those knuckleheads in Arizona are really ticking me off. No hablo racism.
• Arizona lost the SB in the 80′s for saying no to MLK day. What will they lose for profiling? No hablo “suspicious characters”.
• John McCain says that Arizona’s immigration bill is a “good tool”. I say, “John McCain is a TOOL.” No hablo maverick.

What’s happening in Arizona illustrates the best argument that anyone could ever make against states rights.

Arizona is in obvious need of adult supervision.

If you thought that the division between those for and against healthcare reform was fractious, just wait until the immigration reform debate begins in earnest.

Fear mongers will be predicting “the end of life as we know it” all over again.

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Where do you stand on this issue?

a) deport all 12 million of these people

b) reform with a path toward citizenship

c) continue current policy

d) don’t know

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Tagged as: adult supervision in the desert, arizona needs adult supervision, confederacy, gop, immigration reform, john mccain, no hablo, profiling, racism, ray colon, raycolon, states rights, undocumented immigrants, virginia