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Wednesday, 21 June 2006 04:03 |
| | Bill Walz |
I finally heard a politician speak intelligently (and forcefully!) about the challenge of illegal immigration on our Mexican border. In an interview with Al Franken, Ted Kennedy, in his marvelous blustering style, weighed the two positions the political class seems myopically locked into.
On securing the border versus an orderly assimilation of those already here, Kennedy assessed each to be necessary, but only partial elements of a bigger, more complex solution to a big, complex problem.
He
identified the necessity of engaging Mexico to develop a viable
fair-labor economy as the real issue. He called Mexico a rich country
that has done a poor job at distributing its wealth and noted that
America had failed to use the leverage of NAFTA to insist on needed
economic reform. This reform, according to Kennedy, is the only real
solution to Mexicans leaving their homes to seek economic survival and
a small measure of prosperity in the U.S.
Wow! Here was long-range, common-sense critical political thinking from
a sitting U.S. senator and the sun didn??t stop in the sky! Oh, there is
hope.
Most of the time, the echo chamber that is American politics seems only
capable of intoning simplistic policies that amount to little more than
slogans, never addressing the complexity of the real world. The
political establishment seems mesmerized by the unshakeable belief that
the American electorate cannot tolerate complexity. Republicans have
made this their cornerstone election strategy for years now. It has
befuddled Democrats completely. Kennedy??s thoughtful statements are a
shot across the bow of this nonsense.
With the Republicans looking uneasily at the November elections, with
their war and terrorism platforms collapsing around them, you can count
on the G.O.P. to pull out every fear and loathing position they can get
away with. They have already unleashed gay marriage and are deep into
exploiting America??s uneasiness with the increasing presence of Latino
immigrants in our schools, hospitals, communities and workforce. ?®Shut
down the border, only English spoken here, send them back to Mexico!!?∆
Of course, none of this can be done, but that doesn??t seem to deter
Republicans any more than they were deterred by the impossibility of
their simplistic notion that you can get away with invading and
occupying another country, and will be received as liberators.
Democrats, in their usual deer-in-the-headlights manner, knowing full
well they are walking right into another trap, cautiously have
countered that criminalization and mass deportation is not only a very
bad idea, but the morally wrong thing to do. They then attempt their
version of trying to sound stern, emphatically declaring that their
policies will strengthen security at the border, but when they shift
into addressing the real need to humanely absorb those who are already
here, the Republicans spring the trap. The right-wing talk shows and
posturing Republican legislators jump right in with ridiculing,
sneering accusations of Democrats as mushy-headed weak sisters, handing
out ?®amnesty to law-breakers.?∆ Round ?¥em up, send ?¥em back and shut
down the border. It sounds so simple. So, once again, I see the
Republicans cynically looking to a win at the voting booth by doing
what is wrong. Hey! It??s worked so far.
Unless ... Democrats take their cues from Brahmin Bull Ted and start
snorting and bellowing. America faces tough, threatening problems and
Democrats have to get tough about bringing real leadership and critical
thinking to America as it wakes up to the reality of these problems.
While the Republicans bemoan gay marriage, Mexican immigrants and
inheritance taxes on millionaires as critical threats to the Republic,
let the Democrats bring honest, energetic and courageous political
debate about the issues that really threaten our security and
well-being. If Democrats offer powerful, thoughtful and complex
solutions to our very real complex problems, and refuse to be
intimidated by Republican sneer campaigns, I??m betting that America
will respond. Go Ted. And oh, by-the-way, Al Gore for president.
?ÿ
Bill Walz is a
UNCA adjunct faculty member and a private-practice teacher of
mindfulness, personal growth and consciousness. Contact at
bill.walz-at-worldnet.att.net or (828)258-3241.
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