There is a mean, mean spirit in the air that attacks Governor Rick Perry, from Texas, for signing a bill that gave illegal immigrants, who had been in public high schools in Texas for three years, the right to enter colleges at in-state tuition fees. The legislature and the Governor simple decided that if they were going to be in his state, it was better to have them educated and productive than to have them uneducated and on the dole. It is a mean, mean spirit to attack that decision. It merely recognizes the reality of the state. Those students are here. The state may either help make them productive or can deal with them as welfare and criminals. For me to say something nice about Governor Perry is a great concession on my part.
The mean, mean spirit in Alabama that has driven so many of the illegal immigrants out of the state is costing the farmers and agricultural industry a great deal of trouble because the farmers are not finding enough workers, the workers they find do not work nearly as hard, do not harvest nearly as much, do not come back for the second day, and take more breaks.
There is a mean, mean spirit in our country that just will not look that problem straight in the eyes and attempt to find a comprehensive national solution. Ex President Bush made a very good proposal and President Obama took that proposal and offered it again, and nobody in Congress would touch it.
The mean, mean spirit in this land seems to be manifested in most of our major issues. The mean, mean spirit cannot find public leaders who can work to find a compromise. The mean, mean spirit can be found in Occupy and Tea Party rallies. The mean, mean, uncompromising spirit is seen in the NBA lock out. The mean, mean spirit is hear in the rhetoric about amendments for banning same sex marriages. The mean, mean spirit is visible in the complete callous and insensitive actions of Wall Street bankers, hedge fund, mortgage lenders who continue to want and demand their bonuses for practices which created the sub-prime crisis.
The mean, mean spirit, that refusal to compromise, that refusal to look at the reality in front of us and seek to find a solution killed the Bowles-Simpson Deficit Commissions Report before the ink even dried on the published page.
Barbara Tuchman, a historian in the 60's, had a book about the March of Folly. People, societies, which continued to follow and do the wrong thing even when there were wise and sane counsel that advised them not to. Like King George and the American colonies in our own independence. There were lots of advisers in England urging King George to reduce taxes, but he refused to listen. It is the mean, mean spirit in our land that somehow keeps our leaders from listening to the wisdom, from facing the real problems and fixing them, of making the kind of responsible decisions that need to be made.
And I am afraid it will be a long time before we as a nation will be able to sing about the "sweet sweet spirit in this place."
2 comments:
Initially, my hackles began to rise, but, as I read on, I saw your point. I may not fully agree with the illegal immigration thing, but, I respect your right to express that opinion. Unfortunately, one reason I believe funding is such an issue in our public schools (from kindergarten thru college) is so few are able to pay for that education. Does this mean that my child may not be able to handle the annual increases in tuition, because a student who lives in this country; may be on welfare;and most certainly does not pay taxes is taking her spot to be able to be a "more productive individual." I think they all need to be legal & registered.
meant to say "lives in this country illegally"
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