The Root Cause of the Immigration Crisis

We're going to get deep and serious here, and I'm going to ask you to reflect on a number of previous articles. We're not going to fulminate against George Bush, illegal immigrant-hiring businesses and the whores in the Senate they pay off, Democrats who see every illegal alien as a potential welfare recipient who will vote for them, or even Reconquista Mexicans attempting to recapture the American Southwest.

No, we're going to get to the heart of the matter and figure out the fundamental cause of the problem. The problem that lies at the heart not just of the immigration crisis, but of so much else, from the destruction of American education and culture to the war with Islamic terrorism.

It was just outside of Aix-en-Provence. With me were my wife and our then six year-old son. It was late afternoon and we were about the only customers. The restaurant owner had a Doberman pinscher that approached us seeking a handout. I brusquely shooed him away and he threateningly barked and bared his teeth.

Instantly, I jumped up, grabbed a knife, and went after the dog. I was ready to kill it on the spot, without hesitation. Just as instantly, the snarling, menacing dog metamorphosed into a whimpering critter that quickly scuttled away with its tail literally between its legs.

When a predator smells weakness, he demands submission to his threats. The dog was used to intimidating customers - after all, he was a Doberman - and getting the handouts he wanted. Its owner - with whom I expected to have an argument - laughed instead, and congratulated me on being the first customer he could recall to stand up to it.

I want you to think of that Doberman whenever you see Jihadists and Iranian mullahs smelling the weakness of the West, Palestinian terrorists smelling the weakness of Israel, Marxist university professors smelling the weakness of their students, the fascists of political correctness and multiculturalism smelling the weakness of our culture, Democrats smelling the weakness of Republicans, immigration "activists" smelling the weakness of America itself.

And what is it that causes the odor of such weakness? Fear. Fear of intimidation and physical threat, yes, like with the Doberman. But far, far more often, with people it is fear of something else: fear of the evil eye of envy.

As we discussed in Rejecting The Evil Eye, fear of the envy of others is one of mankind's most deeply primal and pervasive terrors. Thus envy-avoidance is one of the most basic and primary motivators of human behavior. It is the primitive superstitious fear of envious Black Magic, the Evil Eye.

As we discussed in Why Liberals Are Incapable of Defending America, liberals are dominated by this fear. They are defined by a compulsion to appease the envious.

All the great barbarisms of modern times - Nazism, Communism, Moslem Terrorism, are pathologies of envy. All the dime-store pathologies are as well. Such human Dobermans as eco-fascist environmentalists, feminazis, PETA animal rights fanatics, homosexual marriage promoters, race hustlers like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, gangsta-rappers, all get their strength from the liberals' fear of their Evil Eyes.

But the immigration crisis brings a terrible truth into focus. Fear of the Evil Eye of Envy is not confined to liberals. It is infecting vast numbers of otherwise normal Americans. It has infected the President of the United States.

Thus the current nostalgia experienced by those of us not so infected for a previous president, Teddy Roosevelt.

There is a quote of TR's making the email rounds that you may have seen. It claims to be dated 1907 when he was still president. Actually, it is taken from a letter TR wrote dated January 3, 1919, just before his passing:

In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here does in good faith become an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with every one else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed or birthplace or origin. But this is predicated upon the man's becoming in very fact an American and nothing but an American...

We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here and that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole loyalty, and that is loyalty to the American people.

And in a speech TR gave on February 1, 1916 to the National Americanization Committee, he declared:

Let us say to the immigrant not that we hope he will learn English, but that he has got to learn it. Let the immigrant who does not learn it go back. He has got to consider the interest of the United States or he should not stay here. He must be made to see that his opportunities in this country depend upon his knowing English and observing American standards.

Of course, TR was talking about legal immigrants. One can only imagine his contempt for the weakness of permitting an illegal invasion into America.

I have a special fondness for TR because my grandfather, Lucien C. Wheeler, was Chief of the Secret Service Bodyguard during his presidency. There is a picture of Lucien protecting TR in Chavez in Chile.

But the affection so many Americans have for TR is not just for him personally, and the popularity of these quotes is not just for their truth. It is a longing for those days a century ago when America had no fear of the evil eye.

That's the root desire of conservatives: A self-confident America with a fearless pride and confidence in its values and cultural worth.

In the America of a century ago, if our culture and existence as a nation was hated by some, and the question asked, "Why do they hate us?", the response of most Americans would have been a shrug. "Who cares?" would have been the question in response.

If Columbus was denounced and Western Civilization condemned, it would have been dismissed as pathetic and freakish.

If Mohammedan (yes, that's what they were called then) pirates attacked Americans, they would be hunted down and shot without remorse.

And if Mexico invaded our borders, armed US soldiers would put an end to it (as Black Jack Pershing did with Pancho Villa).

It is no use bemoaning that George Bush is not another Teddy Roosevelt, because America today has a fear of envy it did not have 100 years ago.

If America did not have this fear of envy, it would have the confidence - it would have a president with the confidence - to have Delta Force teams hunt down the "coyotes" smuggling Mexican illegals across our border and shoot them.

It would have the confidence to enforce the laws already enacted making it a crime to hire illegals, allowing police to arrest them and courts to speedily deport them, and denying illegals welfare or educational entitlements.

It would have the confidence, in response to Mexico's complaints, to question Mexico's sanity in making such complaints, and tell Mexico to grow up, get over its inferiority complex, and start becoming a decent honest country.

It would have the confidence to tell Saudi Arabia to stop funding Wahhabi mosques in our country - or else allow Christian churches and missionaries in theirs.

It would have the confidence to effect regime change in Iran and Syria, and see that Hugo Chavez was tragically demised in a plane crash.

It would have the confidence to tell China, Japan, and South Korea that they will extend the same free trade laws to our exports that we extend to their imports.

And most of all, it would have the confidence to regard liberals demanding submission to multiculturalism and political correctness as no different from radical Moslems demanding submission to Sharia Islamic law.

Islam is one big Doberman, one big intimidation trip, nothing but a demand for submission - for that is what it means: "Islam" in Arabic means "submission," the submission of infidels to Moslems, the submission of the entire human race to their god.

And isn't this the same demand of submission the fascists of the left make, that we all bow down to their PC god and beg forgiveness for the sins of America and Western Civilization?

How did we get in such a state? For the crazed irony is that America today should have more moral confidence, not less. 100 years ago women couldn't even vote. America enormously expanded women's rights and rid itself of its hideous Jim Crow laws.

American's have every right to be proud of their country's moral achievements. We need make no apologies to the world. Yet no matter what we do, it is never enough appeasement for the moral Dobermans of the Left.

The story of how we got in this state of envy-appeasement is told in Aeschylus and America. It is this essay that will give you the greatest understanding and perspective on why we no longer have the confidence of a Teddy Roosevelt's America.

The bottom line is that we can regain it. The revolt of grass-roots America against the invasion of Mexican illegals is evidence. We still have the capacity for cultural and national confidence we once had.

The key is the rejection of envy. It is time to say enough: no more fear of evil eyes. It is time for an Oath of Moral Allegiance to America:

"I am proud to be an American. I make no apology, have no shame, feel no embarrassment for America and Western Civilization for its culture, its history, its existence. America is not perfect as it is human, yet its contributions to human freedom and betterment infinitely outweigh its flaws. It is an honor and privilege to be a citizen of such a moral and humanely noble country as America."

Americans of Teddy Roosevelt's day would have been happy to make such a statement. When Americans can do so once again, the root cause of so many of our ills will have been cured.

[Note to dog lovers: The first three years of my life were spent with my grandmother's two Dobermans, Hugo and Frela. They were my protectors and constant companions. They were taught and trained to be respectful and loving. If they had not been, they would be like the one in Aix. Just like people. And for you Doberman aficionados: they don't dock their tails in France.]

CONNECTING THE GLOBALIZATION DOTS

Property frenzy in Baja California

As megaport is planned 50 miles south of Ensenada, secrecy surrounds land sales in impoverished area

By Diane Lindquist
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

April 24, 2006

CHARLIE NEUMAN / Union-Tribune

Punta Colonet is likely to be transformed over the next decade into a megaport that will help to handle the increasing amount of cargo coming from eastern Asia.

PUNTA COLONET, Mexico – After Mexico picked this uninhabited inlet as the site for a new west coast megaport two years ago, beachfront land that held value only to surfers and a handful of fishermen suddenly became hot property.

Since then, global and domestic business executives, Mexico City lawyers, consultants, engineers and even a former Baja California governor have been beating a path along a pot-holed dirt road from the town of Colonet on the trans-peninsular highway to the water's edge five miles away.

Federal officials have yet to announce a bidding competition, but the project has set off a land grab in this impoverished area 50 miles south of Ensenada.

Buyers have snatched up 132 prime acres along a strip of tideland likely to be transformed over the next decade into docks for container ships arriving from Asia with goods destined for America's heartland.

Former Baja California Gov. Ernesto Ruffo Appel and a partner have bought one such parcel, and also a nearby mountaintop and rights of way to move rock that might be used for the massive project.

“We have purchased 2,500 hectares (more than 600 acres),” Ruffo said. “We've spent about $3 million so far. That shows how serious we are.”

Graphic:

Punta Colonet land grab

Additional groups are said to be maneuvering for other choice sites. Secrecy obscures much of the wheeling and dealing.

The Punta Colonet property frenzy is changing life in a rural region populated in part by families who have held the unproductive land for a half century in collective ejido arrangements. The influx of cash has split apart communal groups, pitting family against family, brother against brother.

José Luis González learned he was being cut out of a windfall coming to Ejido Villa Morelos last August, a day before 18 other members of the group gathered at a bank to receive checks for selling several parcels of oceanfront property.

González, his brother Rubén and two uncles have since taken their fellow ejido members to what is known as an agrarian resolution court, seeking a slice of the proceeds.

“I don't know exactly how much they got. They aren't letting us know,” González said recently while taking a break from preparing a cornfield for planting. “But now they're driving fancy cars and wearing nice clothes.”

Several sources with knowledge of the transaction estimate that $10 million to $15 million was paid for the land.

“No one is against the development,” González said. “We're glad the port's being built because it's needed. We're against how we're being treated.”

Numerous individuals refused to be quoted for publication because of the sensitivity of the subject or fear of financial repercussions. Others didn't return phone calls and e-mails. Baja California Economic Development Secretary Sergio Tagliapietra declined to comment through a spokeswoman because he “doesn't want to contribute to the speculation.”

A federal official said the government plans to encourage investors from across the United States and Asia to take part in the competitive bidding process that is expected to start in the next month or two.

U-shaped port project

The port project is being driven by the inability of other ports, especially those at Long Beach and Los Angeles, to handle increases of cargo coming from eastern Asia. Shipments from there are growing 15 percent annually and are expected to double by 2020.

CHARLIE NEUMAN / Union-Tribune

In Colonet, a bus crossed over the San Rafael River, which empties into the ocean at Punta Colonet when the river is flowing.

Punta Colonet will serve only container ships, said Ensenada port director Carlos Jáuregui González, who will be involved with the government's marketing and bidding process. The port will be configured in a U-shape, with each leg having several berths and cranes to handle cargo. One leg will also comprise the project's breakwater.

Nearly 7,000 acres, 97 percent of them water and 3 percent tidelands, will be devoted to the project. A harbor must be dredged deep enough to accommodate several megaships at once.

Within seven years, Punta Colonet could be processing the equivalent of a million 20-foot-long containers annually, 6 million by 2025.

“It's actually going to be bigger than Los Angeles and Long Beach together,” said Albert Fierstine, a consultant who was the Port of Los Angeles' business development director.

Together, those ports handled 13 million TEUs in 2004, or $200 billion worth of cargo. TEU, or 20-foot equivalent units, is the standard measurement in the shipping industry to quantify container traffic.

The port and rail projects are expected to require an investment of $4 billion to $5 billion. But the development of the region, including a city with thousands of inhabitants that would spread farther east into ejido lands and support the cargo operations, is expected to attract as much as $22.2 billion in investment.

Big names

According to area residents, including Ruffo, Hutchison Port Holdings, the parent of Ensenada's cargo and cruise ship operator, is behind the purchase of the Ejido Villa Morelos parcel. The name on land transfer records, however, is Ernesto Roberto Tatay.

González said that when the judge in the Ejido Morelos case asked who Tatay is and where he lives, Tatay's attorney said he didn't know. The lawyer has been ordered to produce the information.

Officials of Hutchison Ports Mexico, a subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd., the world's largest port operator and developer, did not return phone calls and an e-mail seeking comment on Punta Colonet land purchases.

“They are not buying anything now,” said Isaura Puppo, secretary for Hutchison executive Mike Power. She declined to confirm whether the company is behind the Ejido Villa Morelos acquisition.

CHARLIE NEUMAN / Union-Tribune

Jesús Lara, who owns more than 900 acres atop a cliff overlooking Punta Colonet, displayed a map last month showing the parcels that will be affected by the port project.

Punta Colonet landowners and residents of Colonet, a town of about 5,000 populated mostly by area ejido members and farmworkers transplanted from southern Mexico, said they have been given no official information about plans for the region.

However, Jesús Lara, who owns more than 900 acres atop a cliff overlooking the proposed site, has been waging an one-man effort to learn about the project, the land purchases and the companies and people involved.

After buying the cliff-top property about five years ago, he was in the process of clearing land to develop a golf course, a hotel and restaurant when he got wind of the port project about eight months ago.

“I was just starting a lot of work there, and these guys came and bought (the parcels below his).” he said. “And I said, 'What am I doing?' Then I stopped.”

Lara grew up as a member of a nearby ejido, farmed in the area and operates a cross-border trucking firm from Chula Vista. Bilingual and bicultural, he has sought out officials to discuss the project and has become an important contact for many of the parties interested in the port development.

“Everybody is thinking now is the time to buy the land cheap. If you're down there every day, you'll see helicopters, planes and four-wheel drive vehicles coming in,” he said.

CHARLIE NEUMAN / Union-Tribune

José Luis González was cut out of a windfall coming to other Ejido Villa Morelos members who sold parcels of property.

According to Lara and Ruffo, Hutchison paid about $5 per square meter compared to the average $7 per square meter Ruffo and Ensenada businessman Roberto Curiel Amaya paid Ejido Heroes de Chapultepec for their tideland property.

Initially, Ruffo said, he was acting as a consultant for interested parties but as the project appeared more feasible, he decided to pair with Curiel, a builder with extensive interests in sand, gravel and rock, to play a larger role under a company they formed called Puerto Colonet Infrastructura.

“I will certainly be a bidder,” he said. “Now we are trying to put together a consortium.”

Besides the two communal groups that have sold land, three others – Ejido Veinte Siete de Enero, Ejido Diaz Ordáz and Ejido Mexico, which is also known as Ejido Colonet – hold property in the area where the port, railroad and new city are to be built.

It's up to developers to secure land for the port project, said port director Jáuregui.

Property for a 180-mile rail line from the port to Mexicali is likely to be obtained through eminent domain by the state of Baja California, he said. From the port, it is expected to run along the San Rafael River valley north to the border near Mexicali.

'Now money's involved'

The Ejido Morelos judicial dispute, Jáuregui said, “could interfere with the project if it is not properly solved.”

Once forbidden from selling their land, the collective groups are permitted to do so under a 1992 change in Mexican federal law.

After that change, José Luis and Rubén González and two of their uncles bought a few parcels to farm on their own from the other members of Ejido Villa Morelos, which was formed in 1958.

“Those of us who were cut out of the cake are the pioneers of the ejido,” Rubén González said.

“The coastal property that was sold is common area belonging to all (22 members). Nobody complained before, but now money's involved.”

Interest in Punta Colonet continues to grow among visitors and locals alike, Lara said. Representatives of four of the ejidos and a group of business leaders from San Quintin, the coastal town to the south, met with him recently to learn what he knows about the project and the land transfers.

Lara has no plans to sell his cliff-top property, which extends to the tidelands below that will make up the bottom of the U-shaped facility.

“I won't sell,” he said, “because I can't get now what it's going to be worth eventually.”

Diane Lindquist: (619) 293-1812; diane.lindquist@uniontrib.com

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