Waving the Bloody Shirt

[SoCalDem]

I wrote this last June, but it's more appropraite now than ever.. so I reposted it



SoCalDem (1000+ posts) Fri Jun-03-05 10:21 AM
Original message

We caught the bloody shirt, and are now waving it wildly.


The republicans cannot get a toehold in our ranks with issues that are ingrained in the party. Things like unions, equality, education and environmental issue, among others, are so much a part of us, that we do not splinter because of those issues....BUT

they have found one that DOES work. RACISM against immigration.

Each one of us has a responsibility to acknowledge their plan, and vow to resist it.

In times of plenty..plenty of jobs..plenty of educational opportunities...plenty of money...plenty of options, immigration goes pretty much unnoticed, and actually welcomed.

After a few years of republican rule, jobs just "magically disappear", and the Darwinist Racism bubbles to the surface:

"MY financial situation is bad because of....."
"I cannot find a job because of...."
"MY kid's classroom is crowded because of...."
"Gasoline costs so much because of....."

The 'fill in the blanks' part of those issues, and many others, has been occupied by many disparate groups. At times it's been the Irish, the Italians, the Blacks, the Mexicans,the Haitians,the Chinese, the Laotians, the Vietnamese, the Cambodians..etc etc etc..

The biggest nastiest ploy they are using now is the one where they seek out 'democrats' willing to go on the record supporting draconian measures against immigration (from Mexico mostly).

The approaches they use are varied in their range of subtlety, and range from the 'in-your-face' Minutemen camped on the border with coolers, sunglasses, beach umbrellas and guns...to the silver-tongued so-called statesmen who blame every community issue on 'illegal immigrants'.

It's called scapegoating, and it's been around for a LONG time.

The Mexican children are NOT causing your schools to suddenly disintegrate....republican oversight of education is what's wrong with it.

The Mexican workers are not driving wages down... the republican bosses, and the lax enforcement of labor laws are doing it.

The Mexicans are not driving the cost of housing up..if ANYTHING, their slave-wages are keeping the costs artificially LOWER than they might be.

The Mexicans are not a Homeland Security threat..in fact they are conned into JOINING our military as a citizenship-for-blood scheme..our recruiting numbers would be even WORSE without their participation.

Perhaps that fantastic $6 an hour job you always wanted, DID go to an undocumented worker, so in the next "immigrant sweep" , that job trimming palm trees or plucking chickens might once again become available..

Immigration is the issue the republicans have chosen to infiltrate our ranks.. Be vigilant and don't fall for it.

They know they cannot divide us on religion, choice, civil rights, job creation issues & unions, environment and others, but they are chipping away with immigration, because down deep, ALL people are scared when they think their livelihoods are challenged.

No one wants to lose their job, their homes or their chance at education.

Republicans are always trotting out real people like "Ann Ecdotal" and her friends to make their point that if only we would 'get tough on illegal immigration', all our problems would be solved..

Think back about ...oh....FORTY YEARS...Remember when the 'war on drugs' would solve all our problems? We all know how well that is going.

Immigrants come here because they CAN. There are jobs here or support systems in place (usually family who preceeded them). They pay into a system, using phony ID. Bosses accept that ID with a wink and a nod, not so they can pay their "legal" workers MORE,or provide better benefits with the money they save.. they accept the ID so THEY can keep the extra money saved. They tell their new employees that they will have FICA and taxes withheld from their already paltry checks, and the new hire cannot complain, since he/she knows the documentation is fake.. So does anyone really think that the "boss" matches his share of SS and sends in the payments to the government? They KEEP the money, folks..

As long as there is greed in America, there will always be "an immigration problem".

We will never "solve" the problem, because the people who COULD solve it, don't really think it's a problem.. They will NEVER admit it though.

[Warren Stupidity]

1. K&R

Thank you for stating this.

[LostinVA]

2. Just read the immigration threads on DU

[SoCalDem]

3. I was prescient last year, eh?

It hits people where they are most vulnerable.. their ability to support their families..but the immigrants are not the problem.. the system that supports it is the problem..

[LostinVA]

4. Yup, you were... this is the "gay marriage issue"

Winning Congressional seats on the backs of the neo-slave caste Hispanics...

Divide and conquer, SOLCALDEM...

[SoCalDem]

5. and they still have months to roll out the voucher issue

and guns & anything else they can think of :(

[LostinVA]

6. faith-based organizations....