Finn dAbuzz wrote:Illegal immigrants and their legal friends and progeny marching to protest what? Enforcement of our laws? I am happy to march to advance enforcement of our laws. I heard one protester, in tears, explain that her illegal immigrant uncles and cousins are not animals, they are human beings.
Classic mindless liberal rhetoric.
Of course they are human beings. They are human beings breaking the law of a nation that prides itself as being ruled by LAW!
If your Uncle Jose or Cousin Maria breaks a law, it matters little as to their origins or your politics.
Agreed.
It is my opinion that the leaders of these movements need to improve their PR skills, if they intend to sway public opinion on this matter. Marching on behalf of people who are here illegally and
demanding that they be made legal residents (if that is, in fact, a demand) seems counterproductive. Of course, just like you, I often wonder myself just what exactly is being protested.
However, I must admit that I have a bias outlook on this matter. I see faces that are very similar to my own; poor people who have been the victims of historical injustices and obvious poor economic policies by those in power. So, I "naturally" have sympathy for a people who are simply trying to better the horrible hand they have been dealt; many have been born into a life of inescapable poverty. No rational person could blame them for breaking laws in order to better their lives and those of their children. Of course, at the same time, no one can blame a people who want to retain their sovereignty by not relinquishing immigration policy to foreigners and their domestic supporters and who simply ask that people respect and honor the laws of the land.
However, I am reminded of a letter written to the editor of the
LA Times. A reader wrote that he was driving along one day when a SUV sped past him with a bumper sticker that read: "Illegal Immigration: The Law is the Law." He wrote that he immediately slowed down to obey the speed limit. Many people who stand on their moral high-ground and fault "illegals" for breaking the law and who claim to look at this simply as a matter of law are often frequent law-breakers themselves. How many of them offer complete discloser on their taxes, come to a full stop at a stop sign, cross streets only at crosswalks? It seems rather hypocritical for one to break
any law to then turn and demand that others obey a system for which they themselves have repeatedly shown contempt. Of course, that isn't a "real" reply to the charge of disobeying US immigration laws. But I can't help but wonder if the uproar over illegal immigration and the claimed disgust over the disregard of laws would be as fervent if many of the faces of the so-called illegals were white rather than brown. I tend to think that it would not. The law is the law and is written without regard to color, but when comes to on whom it has has enforced, it has been and is often a matter of skin color.
I find that I am a proponent of a very liberal immigration policy; one which would legally allow for willing-workers from any nation to come here and meet and negotiate wages with willing-employers. Now obviously, this would be a great boon to Mexican nationals as Mexico is nation filled with low- and semiskilled laborers who are obviously in high demand here and Mexico enjoys geographic proximity to this job-market. Making such a policy would ostensibly satisfy those who claim to be wedded to the idea of always obeying laws and most of the pro-immigrant crowd who are open to reason.
Anyway, I'm just throwing out ideas that popped into my head. I had not planned on writing this much; it's early and I have not had breakfast. I had just planned on saying I share Finn dAbuzz's bewilderment over what is the objective of these protests.
