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April 14, 2006
On brown immigrants, red herrings
How refreshing. Reid, the most powerful Democrat in Washington, D.C., spoke on a variety of issues, mainly the controversial, polarizing question of illegal immigration. After hammering home points on the need for a secure border and a need to legalize the illegal among us, Reid agreed the sudden outrage - on every side of the problem - represents no more than the latest incarnation of a red herring; the kind that crops up every election year. Abortion, health care, let's get tough on crime and read-my-lips-no-new-taxes are issues created to virtually guarantee a monopoly on any election discourse. These subjects are provocative, emotional and divisive. They are also mountains that used to be molehills. Politicians and their hacks create these red herrings because they are extremely effective at accomplishing a number of things: First, they divide and conquer the electorate by getting us to go after each other's throats. Second, they keep us from discussing the real issues of the day, such as the war in Iraq, Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons - a frightening prospect that has every possibility to lead to apocalypse now - out of control lobbyists that have bought and paid for Congress, a deteriorating highway network coast to coast, housing and fuel costs that have reached an unimaginable level of absurdity and greed, doctors who are more concerned about the health of their bank accounts rather than the health of their patients, and why there's still no Wendy's in Pahrump Valley. And then we have the apparition of Yucca Mountain looming on the horizon. Reid isn't up for election this year, which makes his appearance in Pahrump all the more relevant, but he said he understands Democrats must win some key races this year if the 12-year GOP stranglehold on the Beltway is going to be loosened up a bit. With the national Republican party in disarray - few candidates in close races are eager to have a suddenly very unpopular President Bush support them, at least in public - just like the Nye County Republican party is bifurcated; 2006 could be a breakout year for Democrats. Reid, according to a recent Las Vegas Review-Journal poll, has lost favor in Nevada and has his own PR problems to contend with. But Reid said he wasn't fazed by polls, which is refreshing in another sense. I have to admit I tried to trap the Senator. When Reid successfully ran for another term in 2004 I asked him about the results of another poll; one in which he held a commanding lead over a Reagan Republican challenger. "I don't put a lot of stock in polls," Reid said, "They can be manipulated." Yes, they can. Still the R-J poll is probably accurate if for no other reason than this: People are worried about the war, the economy, terrorism, housing costs, fuel costs, insurance costs, medical costs and taxes. And people in Clark County have had to read the sordid testimony of former commissioners who allegedly received and/or performed sexual favors. That darn Dario Herrera. Now I know why slow play has become such a problem at Southern Nevada golf courses. In short, Reid's once stunning popularity is probably waning because the poll's participants are suspicious of and disgusted by the alleged actions of people they entrusted with their futures. In fact, as embarrassing as Nye County's FBI Operation B-Sting might turn out to be, in the end I don't think we could match Clark County's appetite and ability to destroy public confidence in the integrity of those they must vote for. One final thought: Perception, they say, is reality, so my take on the so-called illegal immigration problem is not at all in line with either side of the debate. I went to high school in El Paso, Texas, where the majority of citizens are Hispanic. I lived close to the Rio Grande and many times I trekked up Avenue de Americas and across the border at Juarez, Mexico. I saw firsthand how they lived. Children and senior citizens begged for nickels. People lived in shacks. Ownership of a car to them is equivalent to our owning a Gulfstream jet or John Wayne's yacht. I know they didn't have fresh water, clean living conditions or jobs. I realized then, as a teenager, that if life had turned out different for me and I was born a poor Latino I would do everything in my power to come to and stay in America. And what could be more American than that? We don't need to crack down on illegal immigrants. We need to crack down on the rich white folks who hire them at slave wages and thereby make life more difficult on those of us who are "legal." Give them a fighting chance. As Americans we should afford our fellow human beings a little dignity and the opportunity to become proper citizens of the greatest nation of mutts on the planet. Write to Doug McMurdo at dmcmurdo@pvtimes.com. |
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