May Day, mayday!

Venice Gondolier ^ | 4/21/06 | Me

[Joe Brower]

May Day, mayday!
Illegal immigrants are seeking to impose their will by sheer force of numbers.
Joe Brower
April 15, 2006

I was at the Home Depot in South Venice the other day to buy some “Eucalyptus double-shredded” mulch; however, to my annoyance, there was none to be found. The reason? The company’s production had been down for three days, a result of its largely “undocumented immigrant” workforce having walked off the job to instead fill the streets of Ft. Myers to the tune of 75,000 strong, demanding their self-invented “rights” as a reward for being here illegally. As of this writing, after a couple of lame attempts at a legislative fix, it looks like our esteemed leaders are leaning toward the easy route: bow to the protestors’ will (and the large business interests lobbying on their behalf), in whole or in part.

Wow. We American citizens have to try that sometime. How about we hit the streets by the thousands and protest having to pay income taxes next year? I’m sure the same rules will apply – we don’t like the law, so we’ll just break it, consider it our God-given right, and then get disruptive when we’re not catered to. Surely the government will understand. Or maybe not. After all, somebody has to pay the bills around here.

Immigrant workers, mostly Hispanic, are no longer an uncommon sight here in Sarasota County. You see them every day, putting down stone pavers for someone’s front patio, mowing lawns in Bay Indies, toiling away on many of the local road expansion projects. I went through the Wendy’s drive-through on the bypass a week ago, and the two workers there were chatting back and forth in Spanish. One thing is certain: This isn’t your father’s Venice any more.

All the major papers, perhaps longing to recreate their “glory days” of the ‘60s Civil Rights Movement and based on the pictures they print and their page-one editorializing, fully support these protests. On April 12 the headlines read, “Latinos: Rising Numbers, Rising Voices.” Hmmm… Problem is, those voices can’t speak English. The day before that it was “Immigrants Rally for Recognition”. Oh, we recognize them all right, and the reaction of most people is “If Mexico’s so great, why are these people here?” and “Good lord, we’ve been invaded”. Because that’s what we have here, folks -- a slow-motion invasion, by numbers without historical precedent, who have no desire to integrate into mainstream American society. This is all expertly described in a powerful essay in Foreign Policy, written two years ago by political scientist and author Samuel Huntington, “The Hispanic Challenge”. The main danger, Huntington points out, is the one attribute that differentiates Hispanic immigrants from all others who have come to our shores, legally or no: The majority refuse to assimilate. Instead, they “Balkanize”. And when they chant, "!Aqui estamos, y no nos vamos!" ("We're here now, and we're not leaving!”), they mean it.

Now these illegal workers are planning to strike and conduct La Gran Marcha on May 1st, “May Day,” a longstanding focus for demonstrations by various “worker” (i.e.: socialist) groups, although most of the participants probably don’t know or care much about that. What these immigrants do know is that a variety of American businesses are going to suffer a bit, and the average American consumer is going to be suddenly running short on all kinds of things, like mulch, for example. And what is available will be more expensive. The idea is that the general discomfort level will be sufficient to make Americans acquiesce to their demands.

But how about this idea instead: Get used to it. Are we not Americans and, as such, undaunted by hardship? If we are truly a “nation of laws,” and we resolve as a people to preserve our distinct culture and way of life, there will be pain for all involved, because fixing this long-festering problem will be neither quick nor easy. Like a person who’s been addicted to heroin for thirty years, it’s high time for the U.S. to finally go cold turkey, break our unhealthy habit and get off the dope once and for all. It’s that or “Aprenda el español hoy, evite la prisa mañana.”

No more illegal immigrants means no more cut-rate labor. So what? I’ll take the preservation of my country’s laws and national identity over cheap lettuce and other such self-serving, short-term conveniences. And I’ll mow the lawn myself, thank you.

[La Enchiladita]

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