| February
27, 2004
The Enemy of My
Enemy is My Friend
By Raoul Lowery
Contreras/HispanicVista.com
A friend of mine’s
father once said, “A man who agrees
with me 80% of the time is not my enemy.”
I reminded my friend Michael Reagan of
his father’s declaration when he was
indicating support for Arnold
Schwarzenegger’s “conservative”
opponent in the Recall-Gubernatorial
election last October. He agreed and
eventually supported
Governor-to-be-Arnold despite differences
in opinions.
I hasten to remind
all those “upset” conservatives
I hear on the radio or see in newspapers
letters sections complaining about
President George W. Bush and his January
7th announcement of a new policy on
illegal aliens. He proposed a
tightening of the border for the future
and a guest worker program for those
already here or for others who could
arrange to fill future jobs when those
jobs were not filled by Americans.
As the maxim goes,
the President proposes, Congress
disposes.
Despite the
constitutional requirements noted in that
four word maxim, “upset”
conservatives are threatening to bolt and
vote for anyone but Bush. Some are
declaring that we must destroy the United
States in order to save it. They say we
must throw Bush out, elect John Kerry and
stand back while he and the Democrats
destroy the country. After the collapse,
they say, Americans will be so revolted
that they will throw Kerry out and
ensconce a “true conservative”
in the Presidency.
That “true
conservative,” they claim, will set
the right path for the country and
everyone will live happily ever after
with little or no government, with troops
on the border shooting Mexicans on sight
and boycotting Chinese merchandise and
withdrawing from all trade agreements
negotiated over the past half-century.
Inwardly, the “true
conservative” will impose a benign
police state stationing badge and
gun-toting officers everywhere checking
identifications to make sure that
everyone is a legal resident of the New
World Conservative Order.
What’s so
interesting is that these loud protestors
state that they agree with the President
on many issues. Most complain about his
suggestion to realistically solve the
problem of illegal aliens. Some complain
about his spending policies, demanding
smaller deficit-less budgets, forgetting,
of course, that we are at war. And, some
cry out against an increase in the
arts/education/literacy National
Endowment of the Arts budget.
So, there’s
three issues these “true
conservatives” complain about,
Big deal.
How do they feel
about less regulation of business, lower
taxes, partial-birth abortion, strong
defense, and, an aggressive prosecution
of the war against terror? How do they
feel about improving educational
standards and reading and writing scores?
How do they feel about defeating the
Taliban and Saddam Hussein? How do they
feel about taking the war to them, not
fighting it here?
They don’t say,
but we all know they support the
President on these issues. So, why the
big deal about immigration?
Only one in 29
people in this country are in the country
illegally. They pay their own way,
they feed us, they dig our ditches, make
our hotel beds an fill millions of jobs
that produce goods and services and
billions in taxes.
We don’t have a
zero-sum game, no matter what these
“true conservatives” declare so
piously. Illegals pay taxes;
illegals pretty much stay below the
radar; illegals commit far fewer violent
crimes than the general population;
illegals relive the United States of
billions of dollars in foreign aid we
would otherwise send south of the Rio
Grande.
These “true
conservatives” simply don’t
understand that improving the existing
situation with a guest worker program,
regularization of current law-breakers
and time-certain applications for
permanent residency, plus the cash these
workers send home is far superior to more
Fidel Castros on our border.
“True
conservatives” must ask themselves,
do I agree with President Bush 80% or
more of the time? If so, President Bush
is not the enemy.
___________________________________________________
Contreras’
three books, THE NEW AMERICAN MAJORITY,
HISPANICS,
REPUBLICANS AND
GEORGE W. BUSH; A HISPANIC VIEW OF
AMERICAN POLITICS AND THE POLITICS OF
IMMIGRATION; and, JALAPENO CHILES,
MEXICAN AMERICANS AND OTHER HOT STUFF,
are available through any new bookstore
or from www.amazon.com
and www.barnesandnoble.com/
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