I almost never watch political debates. I didn't watch the Republican one last night. It's just people spouting off nonsense, much of which isn't true.
But when I was exercising this morning in the garage, and the radio was on, I did hear some discussion of last night's shenanigans. They were talking about the posturings and strategies adopted by the candidates. According to the report I heard, Nikki Haley was going on about blocking out immigrants, and she said something to the effect of that having been part of the foundation of this country.
Hell of an argument from someone whose parents were immigrants. In fact, the parents or other forebears of every candidate on that stage were immigrants.
Everyone in this country, except the Native Americans, are or came from immigrants. And as for Haley's suggestion about the founding of this country, it was founded by people who just came here, with no one's permission, horribly abused the people who were already here, and soon enough got into the system of importing (buying) other people they could import and abuse. I can understand why Nikki Haley (R-SC) doesn't want to talk about that, especially since she's not complaining about it.
The government of France gave us a beautiful and large statue ("of liberty") which we not only accepted, and placed where many immigrants have come to this country, but proudly inscribed with Emma Lazarus' poem about our invitation for the world to send us its "tired, poor, huddled masses" of people who "yearn[ed] to breathe free."
I've told this story before, but I'll tell it again. Once when I was campaigning for office in BP, I spoke to an elderly Cuban woman who was complaining about "illegal immigrants." I asked her if she knew why she wasn't an illegal immigrant. It's because we said so. We told Cubans all they had to do was get here, and we would welcome them in, no questions asked. There's no reason we can't do that for Haitians, Guatemalans, and anyone else who wants to come here, as our forebears wanted to come here.
So, Nikki Haley had two options if she wanted to invoke the history of immigration to this country. She could have encouraged anyone who wants to come here to come, and overpower and destroy us, as we did the Native Americans, or she could have encouraged anyone who wants to come here to come, because we have erected a Statue of Liberty to welcome them, and the Cubans, and the Indians like Haley's and Ramaswamy's families, and everyone else's forebears. The only thing she could have said that would have been wrong was the thing she said: that this country was founded on keeping immigrants out. It was founded, and has thrived, on welcoming immigrants in.
Last night I learned that "Mother" Pence is a teacher when Pastor Pence reported that he's been "sleeping with a teacher for 38 years." Ick. And that our weird-as-fuck governor grinds his teeth like he's in a K-hole. Otherwise, you missed nada. Oh: Ramaswamy would benefit from ADHD meds. Big night in American politics, kinda like a Housewives reunion without the gowns and extensions.
ReplyDeleteI also read that Scott says African Americans survived every assault except LBJ's "Great Society." He specified that black fathers were removed from their families, by LBJ's policies. First of all, I think Scott really meant that the blacks who survived things like slavery were the ones who survived. It's possibly he doesn't know some didn't. Or racial attacks, or police shootings. Presumably news to him. Second, I wonder if he thinks a centuries-long pattern of breaking up families, so the adult male, for example, could be sold off to someone else, had any effect on black people's confidence in devoting themselves to their families. Otherwise, it's a little hard to comprehend how providing a safety net broke apart black families, and extracted the fathers from them.
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