As a citizen of the 'great state' of Arizona...

On this Fourth of July, as I sit in a city deep in central Mexico, I wish that I were only thinking of my country and how proud I am of its many accomplishments and how it has played a significant role in the changing of world history to end tyranny, and much more. Instead, I find myself in a different frame of mind that I had hoped would have ended in January, 2008. Alas, I was wrong.

While I usually try to keep this blog light and entertaining, this instance hangs on me like piece of toilet paper stuck on the bottom of my shoe. As an Arizona resident, I am ashamed of the current direction our politics have taken. When traveling through Mexico I have to hide my AZ driver's license, which I once was proud to display. Arizona is a unique state in the union that hosts a very high percentage of Mexican heritage, which of course poses its own unique challenges also, one being immigration to and through the state facilitated by that population sympathetic to those who would be willing to make the risky journey. 

Our state once was a good mix of the political spectrum, with a Democratic Governor and Republican-run legislative body for many years. However, now it has been 'hijacked' by a bunch of right-wing opportunists who use immigration fear-mongering to score political points in order to maintain power. They pose straw-man arguments about how incredibly expensive such immigrant populations are to the state, all the while ignoring the economic influx of money that they earn (and thus spend) in our state's businesses, not to mention the terrible cost of corruption perpetrated by these same political forces with the awarding of no-bid contracts for their big financial supporters, etc. For voters like me, who make up the political center and who identify ourselves as 'independents' it is a sad time in Arizona and especially for those of us who wish it, and our country as a whole, to remain the shining city on the hill, as it was once considered.

I was once proud that our state hosted a great many nationalities, especially in the university districts, and if they were injured, our hospitals would see to it that they received the best care in the world. As an AZ taxpayer, it did not bother me that a part of my taxes were being used to assist this and other costs, such as educating those in our schools who did not speak English as a first language or maybe had a sub-standard education in math or science. I was proud that I and my fellow Arizonans were willing to share our good fortune with those less advantaged and help them aspire to their dreams of creating a better life for themselves and their children. As a prosperous state and nation, it was a great source of pride that we were also a very generous one.

This dream, the one that our Statue of Liberty, given to us by another nation that was so impressed by our 'American Generosity' had inscribed the beautiful and inspiring words by Emma Lazarus:

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door."

For those not familiar with her history, among other things she witnessed the winter of 1882, where multitudes of destitute Ashkenazy Jews emigrated from Russia to New York, where she taught technical education to help them become self-supporting.

Of course, this group of people, who arrived on our shores with nothing but the filthy clothes on their backs, became much of the backbone to the later middle and upper classes of New York, much of it due to their hard work and perseverance. This is exactly what the American Dream exemplified and the genius of our nation's idea of a 'melting pot' that gets stronger with the inclusion of those who wish to become part of our citizenry.

The racism, (yes, that what it F**KING is, that is what is always has been!), as laid-out in AZ's newest laws, currently is directed toward Mexican immigrants, was present then, directed toward the Irish, Jews, Italians, Poles, etc, etc, and probably will always exist on some levels in the future. The new argument that is being made about the high-cost of such immigrants to our social safety-net is too great and they are nothing but a burden to our country. History proves this argument completely invalid in that of the teeming masses that arrived on our shores from such far-flung parts of the world, from Viet Nam to Russia to India and everyone in between, these populations have become powerful additions to our country's economic and intellectual dominance in the world.

To be xenophobic toward another group of people who appear and behave differently than us is a trait that humans have developed over thousands of years of evolution, as it was what usually kept one's tribe safe from 'outsiders' who meant to do harm to it. In human behavior, it is a default position that we can comfortably take as, almost literally, it is part of our DNA, so-to-speak. However, looking back at the history of human societies to it's beginnings, any student of anthropology will tell you that it is the ones that cooperate are the ones that were the most successful.

Again, this is the genius of the United States of America. We as a culture welcome those from outside to join us and through that diversity, the collective wisdom, creativity, intelligence and skill of our population improves with each new generation. This is borne-out in the popularity and dominance of our universities throughout the world, which are considered the pinnacle of opportunity for aspiring students.

Our nation's new tendency to severely limit its generosity to outsiders and the appearance of hostility to those who wish to become part of our population does not bode well for its future. The last century's history that generated such good will the world over is beginning to fade in the minds of those who consider the United States to be the standard in excellence and decency. If we do not alter this course, the reputation of our country, and thus the good will directed toward its citizens who travel and interact with the rest of the world will erode away until we are considered just a remnant of a once-proud experiment in democracy and a stalwart defender what is good and decent.

Again. as I sit in a city center that teems with life and culture, where children dance in costumes that date back more than 200 years for their parents and grandparents who sit in the shade of wonderful gardens, enjoying a wonderful Sunday afternoon, and these same people offer me the warmest of invitations to join them to watch the beautiful spectacle, it makes me deeply ashamed of how we are speaking of and treating this same population up north. These kind folks, many of them knowing my home of record, who offer their deepest hospitality sharing their homes and happiest of celebrations with me, deserve much better than the disgusting rhetoric that I am hearing on both right-wing and even main-stream media. This is not the discourse of the proud nation that I and many others have served to defend. It is is but petty, self-centered, paranoid repetition of talking-points that those who would be easily swayed would repeat as programmed to do so, and it is embarrassing.


While in their country, they offer me a warm greeting and a smile, we offer to them nothing but the heel of a jackboot to their throats.


I implore my fellow citizens to consider these points and pursue a much more tolerant approach to immigration law. Please write to your congressional representatives and let them know that you are not willing to stand by and let our nation fall under the spell of fear-mongering and the politics of hatred. Tell them that you want to see Immigration Reform to streamline our system to allow those who wish to work in the US to do so easily and legally, to make a competitive wage that protects US wage earners and to pay taxes, and return home when they wish to without fear of not being able to re-enter the US due to corruption or changes in policy from political instability. The current system is terribly cumbersome, expensive, takes more than a decade to navigate, and for those who dare, only encourages a slave-like existence should they work here without documentation, many of whom die in the process.It is not sustainable and this is our chance at moving our laws in the right direction.


We have the opportunity to reverse this disturbing trend, however the window is closing soon.

Thanks and enjoy your BBQ's - remember those overseas who only have MRE's to eat.

(...and if you don't know what that means, ask someone who does, they're called combat veterans)


thanks for reading,


f