We saw and fought the leftists when we were in college in the ‘70’s.  They were exemplified by the SDS (Students for a Democratic Society).  We were, hopefully, best exemplified by the YAF (Young Americans for Freedom).  They thought Jimmy Carter was a great president.  They made fun of “that actor guy, you know—Reeegan.”  We then elected “that actor guy” who turned out to be clearly the greatest president in our lifetimes.  They went dormant; bubbling just below the surface, plotting, planning, and preparing for when they’d be given the opportunity to surface.  They worked hard during this time.   Twenty-plus years of Republican administrations interrupted only by the years of the morally bankrupt Clinton administration (“Newt-tralized” to an extent) kept them at bay.  Then Barack Obama was elected president and the democrats took over both houses of Congress.  Those same leftists, and/or their philosophical progeny, are back in force and in positions of power, having infiltrated systemically and insidiously the federal government.

                They were unleashed, and have gone berserk. They just can’t help themselves.  But, while they were dormant, they dreamed up, and had ready-to-file, legislation like Cap & Tax, Card Check, etc., and Healthcare Rationing.  The current (dare we say “regime”?) administration and its minions’ despicable use of all means and methods, however corrupt they may be, needed to cram this latter issue down the throats of the American public, as well as their seeming complete deafness to the public’s feelings, created an atmosphere of disgust and distrust of the federal government.  It created an environment out of which the Tea Party Movement was born.  Middle America, unfortunately complacently dormant, was awakened.  At long last the opportunity presents itself to smack the leftists down, maybe for generations, by going to the polls in November and in 2012 and overwhelmingly and ignobly bouncing them out.

                Enter the Immigration issue. 

                Let me be quick to say that this is not meant in any way to criticize Gov. Brewer for signing the Arizona illegal immigration bill.  I don’t know much about her, but it seemed like she put it to a lot of thought before signing.  I doubt that she liked doing it.  But the governor and the Arizona legislature have to protect their own citizens.  I’m sure that they’ll do everything within their powers to prevent Hispanics from being victimized, and that if acts of racism occur that blight will be dealt with harshly.

                That being said, this is not a fight that Republicans should want in this context, nor is it something that we should be celebrating.  Rather, it’s an issue that can destroy the Tea Party Movement and thwart the long-awaited opportunity to significantly purge the leftists from our lives.  I believe the Tea Party Movement consists of a broad base of independents and conservatives of different persuasions and that it should and does include, to varying degrees, most minorities.  The tone and perception of the Republican Party on this issue are problematic.  The Republican Party is the best vehicle for the advancement of the principles of the Tea Party Movement. 

                Authorities in Arizona and other border states in particular have been forced into reacting in self-defense due to a series of circumstances largely beyond their direct control.  I think these circumstances have created a “perfect storm” situation.  I probably can’t list them all in one sitting, but I think the following have all contributed.  Several of these warrant further discussion on their own, so I won’t comment any further than I can resist.  They are:

1.        The long and diverse border between the United States and México.  Many countries across the world have immigration problems, but ours is extreme because we are America, envied by the whole world, bordered by México, a third-world country whose citizenry has been victimized for decades by a political party (PRI) that I would compare to American progressives.  The PRI has created not only a “very rich-very poor” dichotomy in their society, but systemic corruption.  A long border with varying geographies and demographics with the wealthiest nation in the history of the world on one side, and a large, internally victimized populace on the other exacerbates the problem.  This one doesn’t take much thought.

2.       A wage system in this country distorted for many years by big labor and big government, and which has driven wage-determination out of free-market balance.  Leftists refuse to recognize that there really are people who just can’t rise above a certain employment level and for years have created an entitlement cult that simply will not perform some labor.  Immigrant labor, both legal and illegal, has filled that gap.  Those folks haven’t been victimized or taken advantage of; rather they have come here and been able to improve their situations in life.   Don’t interpret this as disparaging towards Hispanics; those that I’m referring to here are uneducated, but highly artistic and hard-working people, a product of Mexican society, not ours.

3.       A failure on the part of many to distinguish between immigration, both legal and illegal, and the illegal drug situation.  Of course they’re intertwined, but they need to be dealt with separately; immigration issues with logic and compassion, and drug smuggling-related issues with zealous prosecution to the fullest extent of the law.   There are lots of things both countries can do to combat the violence created by the Mexican drug cartels; they are funded largely by American money. Most illegal immigrants are god-fearing, hard-working, honest people who have gone to great risk to improve their and their families’ lives.  Please quit whining that “they’re all criminals.” Again, other issues for other days.

4.       A failure to recognize that policy on illegal aliens is regarded by our citizens of Hispanic descent as a racial issue.  I realize that the leftists are busy stirring this up, and that they will be incessantly aided and abetted by the MSM, but I guarantee you this will be effectively hung around the Republican Party’s neck, and vicariously to the Tea Party Movement, if we don’t immediately become proactive.  I think Glenn Beck had some good-sounding ideas on this, ie.,let’s affirmatively show folks that we support and encourage legal immigration.  A guest-worker program to carefully assimilate some of those illegally here now into our society as productive citizens, without the irrational screaming of “amnesty”, would work (latter statement mine, not Beck’s).       

5.       A failure to recognize, or acknowledge that México is our friend as well as neighbor.  I read in some posts an irrational antipathy towards México, implying, for example, that “fly-overs” by the Mexican army are somehow menacing.  Lord knows what the real reason(s) for those is, but the likelihood is that they were surveilling drug traffic.  México is at war, folks, and for the first time in many years we have a real friend , the Calderón administration, that I think we can depend on.  I read several Mexican on-line newspapers on a regular basis, and can tell you that he and his administration are under attack by their leftists, and ours. If you don’t believe me, track the funding of the Mérida Accord through our Congress.   And of course the Spanish- language American MSM is right in there.  The leftists almost won the Mexican presidency in ’06, and the “mid-term” elections did not go well for Mr. Calderón’s party. A return to power now by the PRI, or their socialist party, the PRD, will allow the corruption to resume, a situation we shouldn’t be encouraging. A relatively healthy México is a necessary partner for  long-term amelioration of the illegal immigration problem.

6.       A politically correct environment.  We all have been inconvenienced at airports because of a refusal to recognize or acknowledge that almost all acts of terrorism are committed by Muslim extremists. Anglo grandmothers and small children don’t commit those acts, but they wind up on “no-fly” lists and get searched because of that.  If your skin just happens to be brown…………………….

7.       And finally, of course, inaction on the part of the federal government to defend the integrity of our borders and thereby protect American citizens; an actual legitimate function of government.   I realize this pre-dates this “administration”, but it seems the potential for drug- war violence on this side of the border has greatly increased.  It’s undoubtedly caused by Calderón’s war on drugs, but that will be a good thing in the long run.  Using federal troops domestically here may be problematic; that’s another issue for another day, but there’s no reason not to immediately and properly fund and staff the Border Patrol to help shut down the flow of illegal immigration, and to lawfully but ruthlessly prosecute any criminals from Mèxico or any other country who present any kind of threat to or actually harm an American citizen on American soil.  Zero tolerance.

                Let’s take these issues to the Statists.  Let’s beat them at their own game.  But we’ve got to go out and show our folks of Hispanic descent, legally assimilated immigrants, and other minorities that we are not racists; that we offer true, not plantation-type, liberty and freedom of opportunity.  We native Texans live and work together with little notice of skin color.  We don’t tolerate racism from either direction.  We have the moral and logical high ground here, but it can easily be squandered.

 Republicans must avoid the appearance of racism in handling this matter.  Failure to do so will result in an unmitigated disaster for the Republican Party and the Tea Party Movement will be vicariously blamed.  I guess after all these years I’m just frustrated as hell at the thought of losing a golden opportunity to take our country back and send the leftists packing, smarting with the knowledge that they and their ilk won’t ever take over our country again, at least, not in the foreseeable future.

                 Oh yeah, now they make fun of “that Backwoods-Barbie.” We’ll see how that one turns out.