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Illegal America 2010, Mexico, Arizona and Schizophrenia



By Loyd E. Eskildson

It's Memorial Day weekend and I'm in Phoenix sitting in front of the 'Mexizona' State Capitol and its legislative buildings. Mutual giants Vanguard and Fidelity bought them for $735 million. The 'good news' is that the government still uses them, thanks to an expensive 20-year lease. The 'bad news' is that we can't sell them twice and nobody knows how we'll balance next year's state budget. U.S. and Arizona flags fly high in the front, but would be more impressive if clean. The state probably can't afford to do so because someone's leaving the lights on during the day in Wesley Bolin Park across the street. We could also raise more money by keeping photo-radar, but our 'law-and order' leaders shut them down.

I'm here with about one thousand others waiting for 10,000+ marchers protesting S.B. 1070's requiring presentation of papers if pulled over by police. S.B. 1070 is the state's official reaction to two of Mexico's leading exports - illegal aliens and unemployment. (Disclosure: I lost my last job to an illegal.) Ironically, a few attendees are obvious illegal aliens, ignored by the hundreds of police. We've gone from "America the beautiful" to "America the schizophrenic." Fortunately, no one was exercising their 2nd Amendment rights to bear AK-47s etc., extended by the state to include bars, while drinking.

Surprisingly, unions are one of the event's major backers - despite their prior membership having been decimated by illegal construction workers, and those remaining having had their earnings lowered. Another supporter is the Communist Party USA - handing out leaflets claiming that legalizing undocumented immigrants would boost the economy, per an associate professor of Chicano Studies at UCLA. (PhDs are like MDs - shop around long enough and you can find support for any recommendation you want.) The 'good news' from the "Peoples World" handout is they claim there are only 8 million illegals. That's down from the 12 million other sources report - we've apparently solved one-third of the problem already!

Also surprising was the number of Native Americans (Indians). They're still angry about our taking the entire state (and nation) from them. A very good point. On the other hand, poetic justice is alive and well - since obtaining a monopoly on legalized gambling in Arizona, the quality of reservation housing has become enviable in some areas. As for Peter Minuit buying Manhattan from the Canarsie Indians in 1626 for $24 in trinkets - they lived on Long Island, and had no claim to Manhattan. Minuit was swindled! I also witness the ultimate in stupidity - a White counter protestor arguing with an American Indian about who has what rights to Arizona. Hey - we bought a lot of it from Mexico in the Gadsden Purchase, and have papers to prove it! The 'bad news' is that we were short of cash - another $35 million in 1853 would have also bought the Baja Peninsula and much of northern Mexico.

I see a fellow Vietnam veteran, and nod. I wonder if he's as puzzled as I by our prior efforts to defend America "over there" in Vietnam and Iraq so we "wouldn't have to fight them over here," and now mostly ignoring or trying to legalize a full-scale invasion. Meanwhile, we wait - fortunately, Mexican-American music is better than most Gringo music.

I'm wondering, "Why is Israel's repeatedly seizing Palestinian land, blocking Palestinians from travel about their own land, killing those bringing relief supplies, and stopping ordinary residents to check their papers OK with the U.S. government, but checking the legality of suspicious-acting individuals in the U.S. unacceptable 'racist profiling?'"

"What gives the President of Mexico the right to chastise our treatment of illegals before Congress, when his country treats illegals much worse, and has failed to tame lawlessness, eliminate rampant corruption, and build its own economy for decades?"

"Why do we subsidize corporate American farmers who send their crops into Mexico, bankrupting farms and driving the workers North?"

"Are Americans guilty of 'racism' if they stop visiting Mexico because of the drug violence of some?"

"What's the big problem with everyone carrying ID - motorists, check-cashers, debit- and credit-card users, and the military already do it."

Finally, the marchers arrive, chanting slogans in Spanish, and shaking their fists in the air. Whatever happened to our 'melting pot' and assimilation? Lots of signs about racism, hate, and Hitler; ironically, also lots of brown shirts. Actually, the issue involves none of the preceding. Our already weakened economy cannot support hundreds of millions of poorly educated immigrants from Mexico, Central, and South America, especially when their children have the highest average high school dropout rates, overall score below-average on achievement tests, too often think teen-age pregnancy is a life-goal, and frequently raise local crime rates.

On the other hand, I would welcome 12+ million legal or illegal immigrants from China, India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, etc. as replacements. Asians are generally committed to very high educational and professional achievement, would boost our economy, and are far less violent. Unfortunately, it is not 'politically-correct' to even think about such. Our self-censorship is more destructive than China's government censorship.

In other news, congratulations to 8th-grader Anjali Nair from India for winning this year's Arizona Spelling Bee. She now advances to the national contest in June. Indian-American spellers have won the Scripps Spelling Bee in seven out of the last eleven years, even though their ethnic group represents less than 1% of the American population. Last year's top eleven finalists included seven Indian-Americans also; a similar result is expected this year. Of the other four, one was a Chinese-American and another the son of immigrants from Ghana. Most, like Anjali, attended public schools. I'm hoping her Indian relatives move here too.

Loyd Eskildson is retired from a life of computer programming, teaching economics and finance, education and health care administration, and cross-country truck driving. He's now a blogger and reviewer for Basil & Spice.

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