Good Lord. The latest things conservatives have a hard-on about (can I say that on AOL?) is the fact that Latino protesters against nativist legislation carry Mexican flags.
If anyone believes that nativist rightwingers would respect the protesters or their cause more if they didn't display any Mexican flags, please contact me. Boy, do I have an exclusive story for you on the undisputable evidence of Iraq WMDs! (For a small fee, of course.)
Dr. Demarche at American Future puts it this way:
As I have watched the television coverage of the immigration reform protests over the past few days I have been struck by two things - the number of Mexican flags and the signs stating "We are not terrorists." It would seem to me that if you are trying to make the point that you want to stay in America and celebrate all that America is and means that you would pick up the Stars and Stripes, and maybe chant the pledge of allegiance as you march in your thousands. But that is just me.
It seems to me that the USA would be a lot better off if flag-waving Republicans would give up this American flag idolotry and focus a little more on more essential aspects of Americanism, e.g., democracy and the rule of law. Of course, conservatives like to claim that part of their motive in bashing immigrants is to enforce the rule of law.
But watch carefully to see how many conservative politicians are going to insist on effective employer sanctions, which would be a critical part of any realistic solution to the illegal immigration problem. And it *is* a problem. But watch them. The employers' associations, especially large agribusiness lobbies, will go to the wall to oppose any effective employer sanctions.
Instead, we get various euphemisms for "there are too many Mexicans around here". Such as "they're carrying a Mexican flag and not just an American one". Or, as I heard Orlando Sentinel columnist Kathleen Parker say on TV last weekend, lots of people get upset when they call a help line and hear the instructions that say, "Para espanol, marke el dos". Get a life, lady.
I usually pick the "marke el dos" option, myself.
There's nothing like the sight of 500,000 protesters on U.S. turf, demanding rights in Spanish while waving Mexican flags, to stir Americans from their siestas.
In Los Angeles, the iconic phrase may be "Si se puede," but in Muncie, it's "What the ... ?"
Suddenly, in the flash of a newscast, polite political debate about guest worker programs visually morphed into what seemed like a full-blown invasion.
It's stuff like this that lets us know that the nativists are not appealing to an abstract respect for the rule of law. After all, no respectable Republican who supports Bush's warrantless spying program actually believes in the rule of law. No, they see "a full-blown invasion" of brown people.
Maybe we can make a deal on the flags. We could have a Constitutional Amendment to ban the Mexican flag. And also to ban the Confederate flag. And outlaw flag-burning. And at the same time make it a felony to display the American flag in any form unless you can prove that you voted in one of the last two elections in your precinct. How's that sound?
No comments:
Post a Comment