LEGALIZED HATE

by Ruth Sheets

I am  currently listening to an edition of This American Life on NPR.  It describes the results of the recent Alabama immigration law.  The law essentially legalizes the worst aspects of human behavior.  It encourages law enforcement, employers, and non-Hispanic Alabamans to treat their neighbors so badly that they will want to “return” to wherever they came from. 

One woman reported that clerks in a store wouldn’t serve her and another described her experience in church of neighbors not wanting to share the “Peace of Christ” with her.  How Christian of them!  Students, born in Alabama reported harassment by classmates including making them sit in the back of the class.  (Sound familiar?)

I can’t help but think that this now legalizes the hatred that has been so much a part of Alabama life for a couple hundred years.  Before, it was White against Black.  Now, it is about White and other Alabamans against anyone who looks foreign.   

A white state representative, a strong supporter of the bill, told a story about a woman who came to him claiming she couldn’t get a job because illegal immigrants took those jobs.  He said that the drop in unemployment in Alabama was because “illegals” had left the state and employers were now hiring “citizens.”  There is no evidence that his story is true or that the unemployment rate was in any way affected by immigrants leaving the state, but he clearly believes it.

There was no problem regarding immigrants in Alabama before 2010 according to another representative, but Republicans needed an issue that would get them more power.  He claims that the National Republican party chose to “try out some new legislation” in Alabama.  If it worked there, it could work elsewhere. 

It seems that a Republican strategist, Kobach, from Kansas is busy writing laws for states regarding immigration.  He is smart and physically looks like some kind of “superhero,” and he is a manipulator and really proud.  He plays on people’s fears and uses his intelligence to stir up hatred that is already present.

His hatred movement is now spreading to other states, especially those where Republicans currently have power.  His plans are grandiose.   He wants to enlist the aid of state law enforcement on his behalf to drive out “illegals” all over the country if we let him. It’s too bad he didn’t find something  more humane to do with his intelligence.     

The Alabama majority Whip wants to “tweak the bill,” but when asked if he thought Jesus would vote for the new provisions, he admitted “probably not.”

Self-deportation, that’s the way to drive people from America who “don’t belong here.”  So, we can hate people out of this country and be commended for it.  How good of us! 

I suspect that many people from Alabama and other states would like to have done that to their former slaves.  They did drive many of them north.  Passing such restrictive hateful immigration laws lets these “Americans” have an outlet for their frustration.  This frustration may have nothing to do with their immigrant neighbors, but that’s OK, “I am angry and afraid.  And, they’re here.”

WHAT HAVE REPUBLICANS DONE FOR US?

by Ruth A. Sheets

 Lately I hear Republican candidates claiming that they want to “take or win America back.”  They seem to want to return our nation to some mythical time when things were better.  I can’t help but wonder, better for whom.

I have been trying to think of one thing the Republicans have done for America and Americans that was positive and did not primarily serve the wealthiest few.  I considered contributions by Republicans to American society since 1980.  Here are some important categories that touch the lives of most Americans

Education:  Republican education reformers came up with vouchers which take tax payer money and give it to private and religious schools while neglecting the public schools as much as possible. Charter schools were introduced, a vehicle for giving public money to private companies and individuals to provide educational services, whether or not those people or companies are competent. 

Health care:  Republicans tore down every attempt to introduce programs that could assure each American of affordable medical services.  They convinced many Americans that “Obamacare/socialized medicine” would be terrible for Americans when what they meant was it would be terrible for the wealthy medical insurance companies who sponsor their campaigns.  Even extending insurance to poor children involved a fight.

Jobs:  Republicans say they create jobs, but they are not too interested in the quality of those jobs and whether or not those jobs provide a living wage.  They work constantly to break unions and to fight raising the minimum wage.  Most Republicans bearly blink when a presidential candidate tells poor people that their kids should be hired as janitors so they can learn to “show up on Monday.” 

Family Values:  Republicans would have us believe that they have a lock on what it means to be family while they ignore their own principles.  It is OK, though since they ask forgiveness after they are caught and are immediately assumed to be repentant.  They speak of the sacredness of marriage while not honoring it very well themselves.  Many Republicans want to prohibit use of all birth control as well as abortion but do not provide assistance after the baby is born.  Their position should be called “Right to Birth,” not “Right to life.”  It is not sufficient that they choose not to use these family planning techniques themselves, they need to dictate what everyone else is allowed to do.

Government Programs:  Republicans don’t want to have Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, Social Security or other Government programs, yet these are often the only safety nets that stand between citizens and disaster.  They do not create better programs, they just put barriers in front of people who need them.

  

Size of Government:  Republicans claim Government is too large, but under every Republican administration, it grew significantly, particularly in the area of defense.  Growth is good as long as the right people benefit from it.

Environment:  I won’t even begin to address environmental issues. In Republican eyes, environmental regulations just get in the way of people making money, no matter the destruction that results.

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So, what do Republicans have to offer America this year?  It is certainly not going to be anything that will benefit average Americans.  If the past is any indication, and Republicans gain any more power, we are all in for a rough time, except maybe the one percent.