Sometimes two articles can comment on each other even though they are about two separate things. In the New York Times Magazine, there is an article about small town immigration issues and a mea culpa about the Iraq War.
In the immigration story, a small town in Illinois called Carpentersville has elected two officials on an anti-immigration ticket. The two officials, Judy Sigwalt and Paul Humpfer give some strange reasons for being anti-immigration:
A restaurant owner and his family, who were Hispanic, [Ed.—Were Hispanic? Did they stop being Hispanic?] had been abducted from their nearby village to a home in Carpentersville. The six kidnappers, all members of a street gang, believed the restaurateur had a stash of drugs or cash, which they wanted. Everyone was eventually freed safely, but in the aftermath the newspapers reported that one of the kidnappers was here illegally. “It scares you,” Humpfer told me. “It’s just a matter of time before it ends up in my neighborhood.” Around this time, Humpfer also learned that the village was having little success in collecting $372,000 in ambulance fees. The collection agencies hired by the village were unable to locate many of the individuals with outstanding bills. A number of them had Spanish surnames, Humpfer said, and he concluded that many gave false addresses because they were without documents and so feared deportation.
But mostly they feel unease because they didn’t like hearing Spanish spoken at grocery stores and other public venues. So they put up some English only referendums and some other laws. They called themselves the All American Team, and they handed out this flyer:
Are you tired of waiting to pay for your groceries while Illegal Aliens pay with food stamps and then go outside and get in a $40,000 car?
Are you tired of paying taxes when Illegal Aliens pay NONE!
Are you tired of reading that another Illegal Alien was arrested for drug dealing?
Are you tired of having to punch 1 for English?
Are you tired of seeing multiple families in our homes?
Are you tired of not being able to use Carpenter Park on the weekend, because it is over run by Illegal Aliens?
Are you tired of seeing the Mexican Flag flown above our Flag?
If you are as tired as me then let’s get out and Vote for the: All American Team ... Finally a team that will help us take back our town!
Yeah, punching 1 for English is exhausting. I usually have to take a nap after punching a single button. And the part of the park being overrun by Mexicans, I mean Illegal Aliens, is truly hostile racism. And as far as the multiple families, what are about this news story of a white Bible Belt family that has 17 kids? Who wants to live next to them?
Although they couldn’t get the English-only law to pass, the All American Team did win a majority on the Board of Supervisors. A lot of politicians get a lot of mileage out of this racism. Lou Dobbs has built a second career out of it. To paint a group as the other that will do you harm always wins points.
Which brings me to the other article. Political professor, Canadian politician and pundit, Michael Ignatieff says how a politician has to walk the line between being bold and being pragmatic, the gist being the Iraq debacle suffers from too much boldness and not enough pragmatism. Ignatieff makes an interesting point of bad policy that is popular with the people:
In my political-science classes, I used to teach that exercising good judgment meant making good public policy. In the real world, bad public policy can often turn out to be very popular politics indeed. Resisting the popular isn’t easy, because resisting the popular isn’t always wise. Good judgment in politics is messy. It means balancing policy and politics in imperfect compromises that always leave someone unhappy — often yourself.
The English-only laws are popular but pointless in the end. To get anywhere in America you need to be fluent in English. Even in the world, English is the lingua franca of both science and business. First generation immigrants can get along without learning the language but their children do assimilate and learn English fluently. Third generation children are American as apple pie, and probably vote for English-only laws.
We need to overhaul our immigration policy, but it seems to me that much of the anti-immigration is racism that hardly helps our country. The Latino immigrants that I have met work hard, and I think getting them amnesty and making them contribute to the country is better then sending them back home. And to be a humanist about it, should we try and help Mexico anyway? Wouldn’t it be better to have a stable and prosperous neighbor to the south instead of instable one? Is it better to help thy neighbor instead of building a wall?
But that’s not popular politics.
In the immigration story, a small town in Illinois called Carpentersville has elected two officials on an anti-immigration ticket. The two officials, Judy Sigwalt and Paul Humpfer give some strange reasons for being anti-immigration:
A restaurant owner and his family, who were Hispanic, [Ed.—Were Hispanic? Did they stop being Hispanic?] had been abducted from their nearby village to a home in Carpentersville. The six kidnappers, all members of a street gang, believed the restaurateur had a stash of drugs or cash, which they wanted. Everyone was eventually freed safely, but in the aftermath the newspapers reported that one of the kidnappers was here illegally. “It scares you,” Humpfer told me. “It’s just a matter of time before it ends up in my neighborhood.” Around this time, Humpfer also learned that the village was having little success in collecting $372,000 in ambulance fees. The collection agencies hired by the village were unable to locate many of the individuals with outstanding bills. A number of them had Spanish surnames, Humpfer said, and he concluded that many gave false addresses because they were without documents and so feared deportation.
But mostly they feel unease because they didn’t like hearing Spanish spoken at grocery stores and other public venues. So they put up some English only referendums and some other laws. They called themselves the All American Team, and they handed out this flyer:
Are you tired of waiting to pay for your groceries while Illegal Aliens pay with food stamps and then go outside and get in a $40,000 car?
Are you tired of paying taxes when Illegal Aliens pay NONE!
Are you tired of reading that another Illegal Alien was arrested for drug dealing?
Are you tired of having to punch 1 for English?
Are you tired of seeing multiple families in our homes?
Are you tired of not being able to use Carpenter Park on the weekend, because it is over run by Illegal Aliens?
Are you tired of seeing the Mexican Flag flown above our Flag?
If you are as tired as me then let’s get out and Vote for the: All American Team ... Finally a team that will help us take back our town!
Yeah, punching 1 for English is exhausting. I usually have to take a nap after punching a single button. And the part of the park being overrun by Mexicans, I mean Illegal Aliens, is truly hostile racism. And as far as the multiple families, what are about this news story of a white Bible Belt family that has 17 kids? Who wants to live next to them?
Although they couldn’t get the English-only law to pass, the All American Team did win a majority on the Board of Supervisors. A lot of politicians get a lot of mileage out of this racism. Lou Dobbs has built a second career out of it. To paint a group as the other that will do you harm always wins points.
Which brings me to the other article. Political professor, Canadian politician and pundit, Michael Ignatieff says how a politician has to walk the line between being bold and being pragmatic, the gist being the Iraq debacle suffers from too much boldness and not enough pragmatism. Ignatieff makes an interesting point of bad policy that is popular with the people:
In my political-science classes, I used to teach that exercising good judgment meant making good public policy. In the real world, bad public policy can often turn out to be very popular politics indeed. Resisting the popular isn’t easy, because resisting the popular isn’t always wise. Good judgment in politics is messy. It means balancing policy and politics in imperfect compromises that always leave someone unhappy — often yourself.
The English-only laws are popular but pointless in the end. To get anywhere in America you need to be fluent in English. Even in the world, English is the lingua franca of both science and business. First generation immigrants can get along without learning the language but their children do assimilate and learn English fluently. Third generation children are American as apple pie, and probably vote for English-only laws.
We need to overhaul our immigration policy, but it seems to me that much of the anti-immigration is racism that hardly helps our country. The Latino immigrants that I have met work hard, and I think getting them amnesty and making them contribute to the country is better then sending them back home. And to be a humanist about it, should we try and help Mexico anyway? Wouldn’t it be better to have a stable and prosperous neighbor to the south instead of instable one? Is it better to help thy neighbor instead of building a wall?
But that’s not popular politics.
4 comments:
Perhaps you are not old enough or bright enought to read history. 1954 President Eisenhower signed the "Operation Wetback" bill. Over a million illegal's went home, most without any help. They are NOT immigrants! THEY are illegal's, just like the people that break other United States laws and go to JAIL! I guess you can't relate to that, your to busy trying to save the world from itself.........
If you are going to question my brightness, you might want try to write with less typos. What exactly is a 1954 president? Is English your first language?
Duncan, not only did you repeatedly play the race card (showing yourself to be a racist), but you also proved that you're extremely critical and judgmental -- the very attitudes you pretend to abhor in others. If there was any indication that you were a reasonable person with a sound argument, I'd take the challenge. But frankly, I can see it's only a waste of time....
Anonymous, I can't really play the race card, since doing so would imply that people treat me badly due to my race. My backround is Dutch/Scotch/Irish and I'm all American, and not once did I state I've been treated badly due to my race, so no card had been played. Also playing a race card does not show racism, only a deflection of real intention.
This is a blog of opinions so, yes, I am critical and do pass judgment, otherwise this would be a pretty boring read. And I don't mind if people have their opinions, what I don't like is hypocrisy. Say all you want about illegal immigrants sucking down taxes, the real reason people pass anti-immigration bills is fear of the other. I live in a city that has signs in English, Cantonese, Spanish and other languages, and somehow we manage to get along pretty well.
If the folks in Carpentersville didn't have that fear, then why mention a park being "over run with illegal aliens" in the political flyer? Like it or not, we all have to share this world.
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