Monday, May 01, 2006
The Immigrants and the Streets
The biggest thing lately, even more so, it seems, than gas prices and peak oil, is the immigrant revolt that occurred today with demonstrations that involved massive numbers of people. These resulted because Congress passed a low making it a felony to be an illegal immigrant in this country. A lot of Hispanics came out for these protests, with signs reading "No somos criminales ni terrorista!" (We are not criminals or terrorists.) But there were Northern Europeans, Africans, and Asians in the protests as well.
To me such a big display of solidarity and protest means there may be something wrong with what they are protesting. In this case, it is the recent immigrant legislation by the US Government; by the Senate and the House, and by Bush for signing the measure. This posed so much of a threat to immigrants that they took to the streets. And indeed this measure seems to be similar to the Patriot Act of 2001. It takes government powers too far.
So why did they do this, considering that we elected these jokers? It's because we don't think before we vote. We vote for the same guys over and over again, especially in the House. We don't think if they represent us or not. We vote Democratic or Republican and almost never consider other candidates. So we vote for someone that does not represent us, and sure enough, this Congress does something very nonrepresentative to us.
Well guess what? There are elections coming up this November. If immigrants and their friends are not happy with Congress or this legislation, they can petition Congress to repeal it. If they don't, then vote for the other guy, or for an independent. I'd love to see all those incumbents thrown out, and Democrats take over both houses as a result - not the same old tired Democrats over and over again, but new ones, coming from traditionally Republican districts.
So it is good to take to the streets to protest an unwise piece of legislation (which this is). But it is even better to prevent thesse clowns from even making it to Capitol Hill in the first place with an appropriate mark on the ballot this November.
To me such a big display of solidarity and protest means there may be something wrong with what they are protesting. In this case, it is the recent immigrant legislation by the US Government; by the Senate and the House, and by Bush for signing the measure. This posed so much of a threat to immigrants that they took to the streets. And indeed this measure seems to be similar to the Patriot Act of 2001. It takes government powers too far.
So why did they do this, considering that we elected these jokers? It's because we don't think before we vote. We vote for the same guys over and over again, especially in the House. We don't think if they represent us or not. We vote Democratic or Republican and almost never consider other candidates. So we vote for someone that does not represent us, and sure enough, this Congress does something very nonrepresentative to us.
Well guess what? There are elections coming up this November. If immigrants and their friends are not happy with Congress or this legislation, they can petition Congress to repeal it. If they don't, then vote for the other guy, or for an independent. I'd love to see all those incumbents thrown out, and Democrats take over both houses as a result - not the same old tired Democrats over and over again, but new ones, coming from traditionally Republican districts.
So it is good to take to the streets to protest an unwise piece of legislation (which this is). But it is even better to prevent thesse clowns from even making it to Capitol Hill in the first place with an appropriate mark on the ballot this November.
