The Lesson of Uno de Mayo

The American Thinker ^ | May 2nd, 2006 | J.R. Dunn

[Tolik]

Uno De Mayo has come and gone with none of the predicted effects – no drastic plunge in retail sales, no nationwide economic earthquake, the only businesses shut down the ones that agreed to do so beforehand.  But still we’re assured the marchers have “made their point”.     We can probably be excused for thinking that the point would have been made if only three marchers had bothered to show up. This is one of those issues where the media has made up its mind and is going to shove the correct interpretation down the throats of the booboisie no matter what it takes. That being the case, the stories and headlines could have been written a week ago – and possibly were.

Three conclusions can be drawn about the events of  Monday:

- that the campaign has very deep and so far unidentified sources of funds and organization;

- that the usual-suspect Leftist organizations (E.g., International ANSWER) are involved up to their ears;

- that the fight is eminently winnable.

The Left usually does well with issues that remain distant from the daily life of the average voter. Take global warming and related environmental issues – the topic is esoteric, the data opaque, none of it is easily understood without advanced training. So the average citizen feels comfortable repeating even the most outlandish conclusions. Now take a look at something closer to home: Iraq and the war on terror. Many people know someone directly affected either by terror attacks or the war itself. The information is processed on a gut level, involving the most deeply held convictions. As a result, the Left, despite massive efforts, has been unable to push support much lower than an even 50%. The same is true of immigration. There is not a element of daily life that it fails to touch: jobs, the economy, the neighborhood, crime. It matters in the most basic sense, and for that reason is not easily subject to manipulation by opinion elites. 

Virtually every move the crowd and its supporters have made – the flags, the debased anthem (it was actually made by a Brit) and this Peronist general strike – seems designed to antagonize this country’s middle class, which must be persuaded before anything can be accomplished. Do these people ever learn?

So now the line is drawn. A nation has a right to ask three things of immigrants:

- that they obey the law;

- that they learn the language;

- that they respect the citizenry.

We have a large illegal immigrant population in which many feel obligated to fulfill none of these.

No one seriously wishes these people ill, or wants to deny them an opportunity to better themselves, particularly considering the social and economic conditions many of them have fled. But it cannot be denied that guests, particularly uninvited ones, are not in a position to make demands. The sooner we get that straight, the sooner we can move on to a just and fair solution. 

[Tolik]

Nailed It!

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[Uncledave]

Bump

[billorites]

"Do these people ever learn?"

As someone quipped about the Palestinians, so too Latin Americans never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.

That's been an historical pattern that has routes back on the Iberian penninsula.

Observe what's happened with the recent lurches to the Left in Veneuela and Bolivia.

Watch for more fun times with the pending Peru and Mexico elections.

[gubamyster]

ping

[The Duke]

"Mexicans...we don't need no stinkin' Mexicans!"

[Probus]

Mike Reagan said yesterday the only thing he noticed about the Stinko de Mayo day was that the highways were less crowded and, he was sure, almost everyone out on the freeways had insurance.

[MarDav]

Weren't those demonstrating ilegales really saying, "America, help us! Our own countries stink! They are rotten! They are full of lousy governments! They are full of hopeless conditions! They are lands with no hope! They are places with no futures! Our own countries don't have enough food to feed us, jobs to occupy us, hospitals to take care of us, schools to educate us. They are cesspools reeking from wasted lives because those lives lack opportunity! Help us, America! Help us! Our own leaders, our own lands, our own homes are not worth trusting, are not worth staying on, are not worth living in. Please, help us!"

Wasn't this also part of the lesson to be learned yesterday?

[Tolik]

Combine that with the oil industry nationalization in Bolivia and incoming elections in Mexico with more slide to the left. The Latin America is not going to get any healthier anytime soon. Unfortunately.

[kellynla]

too bad W & the Gelding Old Party doesn't get the "lesson"...

[jackbenimble]

Weren't those demonstrating ilegales really saying, "America, help us! Our own countries stink!

If they were saying it, I missed it and it must have gone unreported because I have been following the news pretty close on this issue.

[Buck W.]

"- that the fight is eminently winnable."

By whom?

[texastoo]

Are you a psychologist or mind reader?

[MarDav]

Oh, they never said it with words. They never said it as they "proudly" waved their nations' flags. No, they said it by their very presence on foreign soil, seeking all the advantages that a legal presence on tht soil brings. If their homelands were so full of the promise and hope that America holds out, why would they leave?

Isn't that the reason for most, if not all, immigration--the promise of something better?

[roaddog727]

"But it cannot be denied that guests, particularly uninvited ones, are not in a position to make demands."

Gold Star comment of the Week!

[janetgreen]

But it cannot be denied that guests, particularly uninvited ones, are not in a position to make demands. The sooner we get that straight, the sooner we can move on to a just and fair solution.

I think the American taxpayers are the ones who need "a just and fair solution". Illegal immigration is bleeding us dry.

They don't want to pay for anything, they expect (and demand) that we take them on as dependents for the rest of their lives. They get free medical (how many of us do?) Some lawmakers want to give them in-state tuition to colleges (my American citizen grandson pays out of state tuition). They're overloading our schools and demanding "special" attention because they won't learn English. They're drying up our social service system here in California. They're filling our prisons. They're taking American jobs, working for cash, and paying few taxes.

Each one of them in the end costs us over $50,000. WHY IS THIS OUR RESPONSIBILITY? If a "just and fair solution" can be found to relieve the American taxpayers of the burden of these locusts, maybe some of us would be willing to listen.

[Kimberly GG]

I'm sure it was part of the lesson learned. But IMO, one that made clear we should have learned a long time ago to say no, to enforce our border, to punish employers of illegals, and to do thorough background checks before doleing out welfare.

[Lady Jag]

[Verginius Rufus]

The correct Spanish expression would be el primero de mayo, but the Russian pervyj maja would come closer to the spirit of the occasion.

Of course, the old socialist slogan was "Workingmen of all countries, unite!" The subtext was: "You have nothing to lose but your chains." Now it's, "Illegals of all countries, unite!" The subtext is: "to reconquer Aztlan and expel the gringo."

[MarDav]

Does it take mind-reading to think that they are here (illegally) and not in their homelands (where, according to existing laws is where they belong) for a reason? Does it take mind-reading to assume that those reasons may just have to do with living conditions in their own lands? If they had it so good in their own lands, why would they risk coming to this country (Illegally), risk breaking the law for a job that (as we've heard ad nauseum) no American would want to do? It must be that what they are leaving is less desirable. That is merely deductive reasoning. Sorry if you can't see that (or the hyperbole in my remarks--everything okay?)

I do not begrudge them wanting a better life. I'd want the same for my family and my children. I do abhor their presence here, which is illegal, and their insistence that i somehow accomodate them as has been the case with other immigrants. The issue is, as it has always been, a legal issue. Immigrate legally, you are one of US. Do it illegally, you are Entrometidos--interlopers.
Give me a break!