Thread: What Bush fails to see at the border

http://washingtontimes.com/op-ed/200604 ... -1458r.htm

What Bush fails to see at the border
By Ronald F. Maxwell
Published April 6, 2006

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Dear President Bush, Perhaps you know me from my work. I wrote and directed the movies "Gettysburg" and "Gods and Generals." Walking Civil War battlefields, soaking up the letters and diaries of that generation, re-creating the world of our ancestors -- all this has given me a deep appreciation for our country. My dad was with the Army Air Corps in North Africa while your dad was in the Pacific. My French mother was liberated in Tunisia and became a lawful immigrant to the United States. For an American, my story is unique and typical at the same time.

You probably don't need to be reminded of the hostility and animus directed your way by most of the Hollywood community. Then again, I'm sure you don't take it personally. After all, they held Ronald Reagan in equal contempt. As one of the very few directors of major motion pictures who sees you in a different light, I implore you to listen seriously to what I have to say.

What is happening on the southern border is unprecedented. Not only in our own history, but in the history of the world. No country at any time anywhere has sustained the influx of tens of millions of foreigners across its borders. A wave of anti-American leftism is sweeping Latin America. A socialist radical may soon be elected as the president of Mexico, a country which officially encourages its emigrants to vote in Mexican elections, urging them to think of themselves as Mexican first and perhaps only. The eventual outcome is plain for anyone with eyes to see. This is invasion masquerading as immigration.

It may already be too late to avoid a future annexation of the Southwest by Mexico or the evolution of a Mexican-dominated satellite state. This is not to say Mexican people are better or worse than any of God's children. It is to say that millions of ethnically and culturally homogeneous people will seek self-determination in a land they will increasingly feel justified in claiming as their own. Especially when the natural weight of demographic change is accompanied by the soundtrack of radical demagoguery which seeks to legitimize and moralize this phenomenon as a "reconquista." Many pundits claim you will be remembered in history as the president who won (or lost) the war in Iraq. I see it differently. I believe you will come to be seen, in the years and decades to come, as the President who saved (or lost) the Southwest of the United States.

Mr. President, this is a time for candor. Your immigration policy is viewed as captive to the cheap labor -- big business lobby and inimical to the survival of our country. It is splitting the party and draining away support for your presidency. We who understand the vital stakes will not be placated by rhetoric or slogans. The failure to recognize this growing and deep disaffection among Republicans, conservatives, independents and, indeed, many Reagan Democrats, is, in the short run, going to lead to a monumental defeat for your party at the polls in November.

The last two years of your presidency will be plagued with impeachment hearings, with pressures to diminish the war against terrorism, with the cutting off of funds for the war of liberation in Iraq for which so many of our brothers in uniform have paid the ultimate price. The American people will once again be forced to endure a painful repetition of the humiliating withdrawal from Vietnam. We will be dedicating yet another monument to brave men who gave their lives for honor, country and a lost cause.

I understand that in your heart you want to believe that the border should be an open place where goods and people can move freely back and forth for the good of all. I do not question your integrity or the goodness and decency of your motivations. Dear Mr. President, this is a utopian creed, which must be discarded before it is too late.

When I watched the Senate Judiciary Committee's one-day public session on immigration reform (I suppose we should be grateful that Sen. Arlen Specter devoted one whole day out of his busy schedule for the public discussion of a problem regarding 20 million illegal aliens) it was remarkable for the near absence of any senator speaking on behalf of the American people or their own constituents. It seems the overriding concern of most senators of both parties is for the illegal immigrant population. Perhaps these senators should be reminded that they are supposed to represent and defend American citizens, not foreign nationals, illegal aliens or indeed anyone else. Listening to the self-serving and pandering speeches, you'd think the senators were elected in Mexico or any other country on the globe except America.

Where was the concern for American schoolchildren forced to sit in overcrowded classes, for American patients forced to wait in overcrowded hospitals, for American workers whose wages are being undercut, for American drivers forced to sit in interminable traffic jams in over-whelmed freeway systems, for the victims of organized gangs, for the American college students who are turned away from publicly funded state universities, for many African Americans who are being literally displaced from their neighborhoods while being moved figuratively, once again, to the back of the bus, for those environmentalists and conservationists who want to protect open space and slow down urban sprawl, for the American taxpayers who have had to bear the burden of billions of dollars in increased welfare costs, over-burdened prisons, extra police and security and even, adding insult to injury, for bilingual education?

Where was the concern that we as a people are compelled to deal with these "in your face" issues which have been imposed upon us by external forces, instead of focusing our time, energies and capital on our own indigenous, urgent concerns, like for instance, the medical care for our own countrymen and women. Might it be irresponsible to mislead the 20 million illegal foreigners already here and might it be immoral to encourage the yearly arrival of millions more when we cannot even take care of our own millions of poor and sick and hungry and, yes, dare I say it, our unemployed?

Working as I do in Civil War history, I have had to explore the ugly depths of the American institution of slavery, and have been privileged to work alongside civil rights leaders and specialists in African-American history. For this reason it troubles me that we appear today to be importing a second virtual slave class of low-wage workers who are hired to replace or displace less-educated or privileged Americans -- including the very descendants of American slaves.

I agree with you that "no child should be left behind." But that is precisely what immigration advocates are doing to the children of America's working class -- by flooding the market with workers from a desperately poor country, who depress the wages of high school and even college graduates.

Little in the current situation resembles the immigration we knew and cherished while growing up in America prior to the '80s. The new and radically dislocating phenomenon we are enduring is not the old, familiar immigration of yesteryear -- gradual, orderly, assimilating and lawful. The numbers alone are unprecedented. The American people have been made the victims of monumental social engineering perpetuated upon them without their consent and against their will by an arrogant governing elite. Those who try to neutralize their justifiable instincts of self-preservation as a people and a sovereign nation by constantly invoking the mantra of "a nation of immigrants" are trying to pull the wool over their eyes.

The House immigration bill isn't perfect, but it is a firm and realistic place from which to build an effective policy for the survival of our country. The McCain-Kennedy bill looks like it was drafted by bureaucrats at the United Nations, not by representatives of the United States.

To do the right thing, to take the safe course for protecting our country, you will have to endure even more vilification from the left, you will have to watch large and increasingly violent rallies by those who don't want to abide by our laws or the will of the American people -- who think they are entitled -- who believe this country already belongs to them -- who believe the rest of us should just move aside, shut up and smile. To pretend this problem will go away by pandering to the illegal population, or to leave it for the next generation to solve is national suicide.

The moment has arrived. The Senate has already begun its bloviations and self-agrandizing platitudes, its morality play of good and evil wherein they the noble senators are cast as the redeemers of the entire world population seeking only to "live the American dream." We know by their coded words they will do nothing meaningful to really solve the problem or to defend America. If their actions of the past 20 years are a guide, they will only take the pose of pretending to do so. As a movie director I can see bad acting a mile away.

Today there are two Republican Parties. One is now seen correctly by most Americans as responsive first and foremost to the demands of multinational corporations, the agro-business and the Chamber of Commerce. The other, best represented by the embattled members of the House, represents grass-roots America -- we the people. In this debate you have the opportunity to make the party one and whole again, to regain its soul and return it to the service and the sovereignty of the American people.

Dear Mr. President, you must disenthrall yourself from the failed policies of the present. I implore you to rethink this issue and to change course. Millions of Americans, a great majority of your fellow citizens will be with you. Start speaking and doing the sensible, courageous and right thing. You will see your poll numbers turn dramatically around. You will save your country.

Ronald F. Maxwell, a writer and director, is currently working on a satirical motion picture about immigration into America.

What a great article and letter to the President.

Unfortunately, it is a waste of time on a Traitor Bought and Sold to Globalist Traitor Trash.

But the value of this writing is for the American People.

Distribute it; email it; send it to as many people as possible.

Send it to US Congressman...Representatives and Senators.

Send it to your Governors and Lt. Governors and Attorney Generals and members of your General Assemblies.

Send it to your Mayor and Police Chiefs and City Council and School Superintendents.

Send it everywhere.

That letter is brilliant! We all need to send it to the President, to make sure he sees it. If the President still cares one iota for the American people, he will have to listen. Please copy and send this letter to the President NOW. It will only take a couple minutes of your time.

I feel like crying. I want to cry everytime I see an American take hours out of their day to pour their heart, soul and mind out to this president to plead and beg for him to see that WE JUST WANT WHAT IS RIGHT FOR OUR COUNTRY !!!

Why in God's name can't he understand 80% of the people in this country ? He is so lost, he is married to corporate America, his loyalty lies with the wealthy and his friends, and common sense and lawfulness are his enemies.

This is a scarey day in America when the President of the USA literally turns his back on the American people, to the very people who not only trusted him, but trusted their children in his hands and even sent their loved ones off to fight a war that he believed in. How can he even look at us again ?

When will we stop begging and finally give up ? I don't know when but when it does happen, he is going to know loud and clear that the day has arrived. The day the American people FINALLY gave up their trust in their government. It's almost here American Brothers and Sisters and when it does happen you will see a horrible black cloud following this president wherever he goes for the rest of his life.

http://www.nationalreview.com/interroga ... 060615.asp

April 06, 2006, 6:15 a.m.
Mad Maxwell
A filmmaker on immigration.

Q&A by Kathryn Jean Lopez

Ron Maxwell, director of the movie God and Generals, has, like many of us, immigration on his mind. He is currently working on a film called Armada about the issue of the day in Washington...and on the streets of many a major city.

NRO Editor Kathryn Lopez talked to Maxwell about the movie, the movies, and the contentious immigration issue.

Kathryn Jean Lopez: How does one make a satirical movie about immigration?

Ron Maxwell: Not easily. Satire is one of the most difficult genres to work in. For satire to be effective, I believe you must genuinely care about the thing, the institution, or the people you are satirizing. Gilbert & Sullivan managed to poke fun at the British courts, the admiralty, the pop culture of their day and a host of other sacrosanct institutions with whimsy, wit, and a melodious score. Michael Moore for instance, is decidedly not a satirist. His cinematic screeds drip with scarcely concealed contempt and anger. You get the clear impression he hates his subjects and loves only his own righteous indignation. Contemporary movies rarely pull it off. Outstanding examples would be Network, Wag the Dog, Bullworth, Dr. Strangelove. What these films have in common are grotesque yet recognizable exaggerations of the real world. Sometimes, humor can be the road best traveled to truth.

Lopez: Why would one make a movie about immigration?

Maxwell: The subject of immigration is perhaps most suited to satire, because those most visible in the debate have just about caricatured themselves to the point of absurdity. How many times in one day do we hear "We are a nation of immigrants," or "Give us your tired and poor," or "They do the work that Americans are unwilling to do?" One of my favorites was from Senator Durban, when in the summation of his speech on the senate floor recently he justified illegal immigration by his own sterling example, since none other than he himself was the grandson of an immigrant and had risen to the almighty stature of a US Senator. In other words, his presence alone, preening in the well of the Senate, was enough of an argument.

Perhaps one job most Americans would be willing to do would be to build that 2,000 mile wall along the Mexican border. If the senators, in their limitless wisdom don't believe that U.S. Citizens are available in large enough numbers, perhaps we should get the illegal aliens to do the work, building it from the Mexico side. Then two goals would be accomplished at the same time.

Lopez: Doesn't everyone in Hollywood employee illegal immigrants?

Maxwell: No matter how many millions you have it's always preferable to cut down on your expenses for the gardeners, pool man, chauffer, nanny, chef, butler, masseuse, and maid — no doubt about it.

Lopez: Aren't there jobs Americans won't do for Alec Baldwin?

Maxwell: Aw, come on. Americans love Alec Baldwin. After all, after publicly swearing that he would move to France if Bush got elected he showed his true patriotism by not straying one step from his poolside patio.


Lopez: How closely are you watching the Senate deliberations?

Maxwell: What deliberations? Imagine, Senator Specter devoted one whole day to the committee's public session on the issue of the broken borders and the problem of 12 to 20 million illegal immigrants. A whole day! At one point he threatened to hold the committee into the evening by offering them a delivery of pizzas. That did it. Within 15 minutes they took their historic vote and headed for a respectable meal. At one point Senator Feinstein brought up the vexing problem of unlimited visas for foreign students. After all, as she pointed out, there are just so many slots for students at California state universities and foreigners are already keeping out many qualified American students. Specter wouldn't let her get a word in edgewise. "Take it to the floor," he counseled. Was anyone surprised a couple of days later when that great pillar of puffed up self-importance and self-sanctimony, none other than Senator Leahy stood up on the Senate floor to announce that there should and would be no further debate because the issue had been decided in the Judiciary Committee. End of story. If these paragons of virtue aren't the subject of satire, what and who is?

Lopez: Who is your favorite pol in this mess?

Maxwell: I have got to say Edward Kennedy. One has to admire this rascal. He has almost single-handedly got the entire country into this immigration mess. With unlimited personal wealth and not a personal financial care from cradle to grave, he has done his utmost to depress the wages of working-class Americans by doing everything conceivable at every point in his interminable career to flood the country with cheap, illegal labor. What is more remarkable is that he has achieved this by posing as a champion of the little guy! If he says, "This bill is not an amnesty" one more time I think he'll split his lip.

Lopez: Who would play him in a movie?

Maxwell: Why, Alec Baldwin of course!

Lopez: You're a Bushman right? Wassup with him on this?

Maxwell: "Alas, poor Bush I knew him well. A fellow of most infinite jest and fancy." Bush is caught between the rock of the Chamber of Commerce and the hard place of his own utopian open-borders fantasies. If he doesn't snap out of it fairly quickly he will wake up in November surrounded by a hostile Senate and House, out for his hide. The American people are pretty loud and clear on this. But Bush is pretending he can't hear them. Or wanting to hear something different from what they are actually saying. Maybe the poll questions are all wrong? It's a kind of massive self-denial. It's also a manifestation of living in the cocoon of the Washington, D.C. environment — where the far-away voice of the average American is drowned out by the din of the special interests. Basically Bush's only hope is to throw out all of his advisers warning him about losing the Hispanic vote. (Why this assumption that American Citizens of Hispanic origin care less about border security and illegal immigration than anyone else?) Then he must lay prostrate before the American people and beg their forgiveness for being AWOL from border security for five years. As the chief executive he must start enforcing existing law regarding illegal aliens and their employers, order the National Guard to the southern border, and secure it once and for all. If he can't do that he doesn't deserve to be president or dogcatcher.

Lopez: Who would play W. in a movie?

Maxwell: Alec Baldwin. Wouldn't it be great to watch him do Kennedy and Bush in the same film?

Lopez: Is your next movie on the U.S. Civil War?

Maxwell: Yes, but I sincerely hope it's about the one we fought in the 1860s.

Lopez: Are we watching a civil war in Iraq?

Maxwell: Not quite. Anyone who thinks this is civil war in Iraq should revisit the slaughterhouses of South and East Asia in the 70s, Central Africa in the 90s, or Spain in the 30s. It might yet go that way, but thanks to our boots on the ground and some common sense that tragedy may yet be averted.

Maxwell: Can you do us a favor and make sure the first movie about Iraq post-Saddam won't be made by or starring George Clooney?

Maxwell: George Clooney is the modern day counterpart of George Stevens, John Huston, and Frank Capra. In the 40s those Hollywood icons made movies under the rubric, "Why We Fight." Clooney and his Hollywood bankrollers make Why They Fight.