Thread: Issue catches fire w/citizens unaccustomed to activist role

ajc.com > Metro
Issue catches fire with citizens unaccustomed to activist role
Published on: 06/30/07

Alan Ogushoff says he's never been a politically active person.

But the recent debate over immigration caused the east Cobb County resident to write Georgia Republican Sens. Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss, work the fax machine and call their offices three times a day to make sure his voice was heard.

"I just told them as a second-generation American I am just disappointed that you're devaluing my parents' coming here legally."

Ogushoff, 54, joined a surge of citizens who were so intent on killing the effort to overhaul U.S. immigration law that they crashed the phone system at the U.S. Senate on Thursday morning.

For many people on both sides of the political aisle, the bill's promise of legal residency and the possibility of citizenship for illegal immigrants was outrageous. While supporters of immigration reform criticized other parts of the bill as too tough, talk radio hosts attacked it as amnesty for lawbreakers, and the label stuck. Senators, including some who supported the bill when it was first introduced, took a procedural vote Thursday that effectively killed it.

Now, Ogushoff said, he's thinking about joining the Minuteman Project, a citizen group that patrols the border with Mexico. He said he could volunteer for a week to help them in the desert.

Though others haven't developed quite the same zeal, Ogushoff isn't alone in his conversion to political activism.

Isakson's offices have received about 27,000 calls about the immigration bill since it was unveiled in late May, said press secretary Sheridan Watson, with 6,000 supporting the bill. "I can say the number of calls we've received have definitely surpassed any other issue before," said Watson.

While Joy Mejias has written to her lawmakers on other issues, her activism took a different form on the immigration bill. Mejias, who supported the legislation, challenged neighbors and acquaintances rather than lobbying lawmakers.

Mejias, 52, came to the United States from the Philippines when she was 20 and is now a U.S. citizen. She said most people born here have no idea how complicated and lengthy the process is for people who try to enter legally. Some of her relatives have been waiting for 20 years for permission to come here, she said.

"This is the first time I have directly confronted others whose opinion I find offensive, inaccurate or biased," said Mejias, who lives in Johns Creek. "I read a lot of things that don't sit right with me."

The former computer consultant said she feels compassion for illegal immigrants and a responsibility to try to explain the twists and turns of immigration policy.

"I bring it up more than I have ever done in the past just to educate people, because I find there's a lot of ignorance out there, a lot of lack of knowledge about the realities," she said.

Larry Sabato, a nationally known political analyst at the University of Virginia, said he doubts public reaction to the immigration issue outstrips the volume of calls and letters more experienced lawmakers have seen over the years on abortion, gay rights, gun control and other hot-button issues.

"Most emotional issues generate tons of letters, e-mail," Sabato said.

But immigration has motivated some people on both sides of the debate to take action when other issues have not. Chambliss' office was also swamped by phone calls and e-mails opposing the bill. Just as widespread rallies by illegal immigrants in spring 2006 bolstered Senate passage of the original version of the bill — which died because the House failed to join in negotiations on a final version — this year's bill appeared to lose momentum as the voices of opponents grew in number and volume.

Among them was Merry Dobbins, 41, who called and e-mailed her senators a few times to try to kill the bill.

"I am not at all politically active," said Dobbins, of Paulding County. "I read the news and stuff like that, but this is the first time I contacted my senators."

She works in the information technology department of a contractor supply company and is a registered Democrat, but said she votes for the person, not the party. She says she's seen small contractors lose jobs because they've been underbid by employers willing to hire illegal workers.

She feels she helped to make a difference. She knows her phone call or e-mail probably wasn't the one that tipped the scales, "but you never know."

Like many of those who opposed the bill, Ogushoff said the country needs to regain control of its borders. And he didn't think the bill in the Senate was the answer. "We're being turned into a third-world country," he said. "You just can't let everybody in."

Ogushoff, who mostly closely identifies with Libertarians, said his first step toward activism came when he attended an "anti-amnesty" rally organized by radio talk show host Chris Krok. Ogushoff found himself among like-minded people.

"When I left the rally, I felt like a million dollars. It felt like a workout," said Ogushoff, who works cleaning carpets after being laid off from a job selling industrial supplies. (He doesn't blame illegal immigration for his job loss.)

Ogushoff's parents were 2 and 4 when their parents brought them to the United States from Poland. He says his parents told him they entered through Ellis Island and that their parents stressed that they were "guests" in their new country. The message: "They would obey the laws and also learn the language."

He bought postcards and sent about 15 each to Chambliss and Isakson. "I just put 'No Amnesty' on there because I got tired of writing," he said.

He programmed the number for the U.S. Senate switchboard into his cellphone, and for a week, he said, he called three times a day. "I had it down. I'd call at 9:15, I'd call at 11 and I'd call at 3 o'clock."

Still, he's not sure he's done enough, and that's why he's thinking of volunteering to help secure the border.

"The government is not doing it, and in this country you've got unfortunate people who just expect the government to take care of them," he said.

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/ ... ab_newstab

Up to mid-March, 2006, I am ashamed to say that all I did was do what I THOUGHT was adequate research (on the Mainstream media, including print), so I could vote 'intelligently. Oh yes, I lived a good citizen type of life, working hard as an ER RN, raising my family, going to church, volunteering, etc.

When I read an article in Newsweek which included the phrase "social security totalization with Mexico', and had no idea what that meant, I went to the Social Security website (one of my very first 'searches' online), read what the phrase meant, realized the ramifications, got sick to my stomach for our nation's future, researched 'immigration', which led me to ALIPAC and activism.

NEVER AGAIN WILL I TAKE MY COUNTRY AND IT'S FREEDOMS FOR GRANTED AS THE GLOBALISTS WANT US TO DO.
The globalists want us to settle back, now that we stopped the AMNESTY bill. Too bad, globalists!

'We the People' are awake now, with more waking up by the day.

Absolutely curiouspat. Your words resonate with me. Imagine how many more people are thinking like this ever passing day!1

The sleeping giant "THE AMERICAN PEOPLE" have definately awakened!!

Thanks fedup and ccusa,

So everyone out there pass on to your personal networks of friends, families, local media contacts, online buddies...whoever you contact...the youtube video of William and Pat Buchanan on MSNBC.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUPxEXIw488#KO46Un_4FK8

Maybe if they are just starting to wake up...it will complete their awakening in just a couple of minutes!

You also might suggest that they check us out!

www.alipac.us

Alan Ogushoff says he's never been a politically active person.

That's how I was until the marches in the spring of 2006.

Suddenly my eyes were wide open, began reading on the internet and found this great site. Thank you William for providing a place I could learn and become a 'politically active person' for the future of this country.