by Editors

Illegal Mexican Aliens…

A Common Sense View

Mi  Casa es tu casa, pero..

Mi patria ???

 

[Editorial Note:  B.E.A. member and DW contributor, Charlie Crotts, a native High Pointer, artist, printer and Viet Nam veteran forwards us this uncommonly-sensible take on  illegal Mexican Immigration.  The article is a letter to an unknown editor by an unknown citizen of the U.S. 

We are all familiar with the friendly expression Americans have adopted from their Mexican amigo’s who entered the country legally:  “Mi casa es tu casa”  (translated: “My House is Your House”).  It’s got a warm and fuzzy ring to it, I think we’d all agree.  This is the way we’d all like to feel about all our neighbors, and the way we’d like them to feel about us, I’m sure.  

The writer asks, however, two important related questions:  (1) Is the reverse true?  That is to say, what would you feel like if your neighbor walked up to your door, walks in without knocking and said:  “Your House is My House”?  and, much more importantly (2) When someone enters your country without knocking (legally immigrating) and says… Mipatria ! , what should our reaction be?  I think the “unknown” op/ed writer makes a poignant  point here.  Thanks, Charlie for the contribution.

Dusty Schoch (DW foreign policy Editor)]

 

Mi patria ???

I have NOTHING against anyone from other countries immigrating to the United States legally.  Having said that….

 

Recently large demonstrations have taken place across the country protesting the fact that Congress is finally addressing the issue of illegal immigration. Certain people are angry that the US might protect its own borders, might make it harder to sneak into  this country and, once here, to stay indefinitely. Let me see if I correctly understand the thinking behind these protests.

 

Let’s say I break into your house.  Let’s say that when you discover me in your house, you insist that I leave.  But I say, “I’ve made all the beds and washed the dishes and did the laundry and swept the floors; I’ve done all the things you don’t like to do. I’m hard-working and honest (except for when I broke into your house).”

 

 According to the protesters, not only must you let me stay, you must add me to your family’s insurance plan, educate my kids, and provide other benefits to me and to my family (my husband will do your yard work because he too is hard-working and honest, except for that breaking in part).

 

 If you try to call the police or force me out, I will call my friends who will picket your house carrying signs that proclaim my right to be there. It’s only fair, after all, because you have a nicer house than I do, and I’m just trying to better myself. I’m hard-working and honest, um, except for well, you know.

 

And what a deal it is for me!! I live in your house, contributing only a fraction of the cost of my keep, and there is nothing you can do about it without being accused of selfishness, prejudice and being an anti-house intruder. 

 

Oh yeah, and I want you to learn my language so you can communicate with me.

 

Why can’t people see how ridiculous this is?!  Only in America….if you agree, pass it on (in English). Share it, if you see the value of it as a good analogy.  If not, blow it off along with your future Social Security funds.

 

 

 

“MY HOUSE”  IS “TU CASA”  

 

AN ADDENDUM ON THE ISSUE OF A COUNTRY WITH A LANGUAGE BARRIER

 

 

By: Michael Kevin Murphy

 

 

Dear Dusty and DW friends:

 

The older I become, the more convinced I am that language — specifically, a common language — is the single most unifying attribute of a country and is far and away ahead of whatever is in second place:  religion, commonly accepted form of government, political persuasion … whatever.

 

One can look across the planet and point to any of a number of countries where there is no common language and you’ll find one or more pieces of evidence of civil unrest — even chaos, political instability, weak public institutions; the list goes on and on. 

 

And we have to look no further than our neighbor to the north for evidence of that.  Canada is blessed with abundant natural resources, a population that was settled largely by industrious European stock during the same period that the U.S. was peopled with the same kind  stock.  Yet Canada is riven by political and cultural strife.  Is it a country with formal Anglo-Saxon based institutions but its two languages, French and English, have left its people with two distinct countries and cultures nesting inside a single border. Canadians are 25% French extraction and 35% British, and in total population are a bit more than 10% the size of the U.S. but, geopolitically, why did Canada lag so much behind over the years on so many indicies?  I believe that lack of a common language accounts for much of that.

 

*Mr. Michael Kevin Murphy is an attorney in Virginia, and a B.E.A. correspondent  of long standing. Mike served with the U.S. Army in Viet Nam during the period which straddled the 1968 Tet Offensive. He was commanding officer of an infantry rifle company in the Mecong River delta and  his badges and decorations  include the U. S. Parachutist Badge, the U.S. Combat Infantryman’s Badge, the Vietnam Ranger Badge (Biet Dong Quan), the U.S. Bronze Star Medal, thirteen Air Medals, and the Vietnam Gallantry Cross.

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