Bill O'Riley Moment
O.K., so there's this guy I work with that's a hard-line old-school conservative. We argue politics all the time. He's great to argue with because he are really nice guy, he's very well informed (even if he does get all his most of his news from Fox and Rush...) He argues fair and when I make a point he's not thought about or I prove him wrong, he respects that and accepts it. If the truth be known, he's probably better at it than I am. And, when I call him on his right wing talking points, he can call me back on my left wing talking points, because I get all my news from Air America (no rhetoric there;), Salon, The Nation Magazine and NPR. Oddly enough, I really like him.
We are thinking about starting a pod cast...we do some goooood arguing.
So, today we are chatting (I use that word ironically) about Pat Buchanan's new book about how "America is being invaded by millions of illegal immigrants every year, and it threatens the future of the country." That's a quote from Sean Hannity introducing Pat B. last night.
I was talking about how I'm not really bothered too much by illegal immigrants and if, as a country, we really wanted to stop it, we would severely sanction the employers that provide the jobs they come here for. If there weren't any jobs....we'd have way less people clamoring to come here. Also, I was arguing that we should untangle the immigration system so that folks who want to come here and work, can and they will be treated with all the rights and protections of american workers. But then again, I don't really care how you get here, if you don't break the law and make a living for yourself, I think you should be treated like everyone else...but that's just crazy, nut job, liberal talk.
We went back and forth for quite a while, his main point is that immigrants come up from Mexico and they don't want to be citizens, they want to take back the land that was there's in the first place. That they don't buy into our way of life, our political system....and so on. Pretty much what Pat B. was touting in his book.
So, at one point he said, "You are not afraid of anything, you're not afraid of tourists, your not afraid of immigrants destroying the way of life of natural born Americans." And I say no, I'm not, I'm not threatened. Our political system still works and being frightened of an illegal immigrant population with no political power and no money and no guns is ridiculous.
He looked at me and said, Don't get mad, I'm not saying this to make you mad, I just want to know...Deanna, why do you hate America?
We are thinking about starting a pod cast...we do some goooood arguing.
So, today we are chatting (I use that word ironically) about Pat Buchanan's new book about how "America is being invaded by millions of illegal immigrants every year, and it threatens the future of the country." That's a quote from Sean Hannity introducing Pat B. last night.
I was talking about how I'm not really bothered too much by illegal immigrants and if, as a country, we really wanted to stop it, we would severely sanction the employers that provide the jobs they come here for. If there weren't any jobs....we'd have way less people clamoring to come here. Also, I was arguing that we should untangle the immigration system so that folks who want to come here and work, can and they will be treated with all the rights and protections of american workers. But then again, I don't really care how you get here, if you don't break the law and make a living for yourself, I think you should be treated like everyone else...but that's just crazy, nut job, liberal talk.
We went back and forth for quite a while, his main point is that immigrants come up from Mexico and they don't want to be citizens, they want to take back the land that was there's in the first place. That they don't buy into our way of life, our political system....and so on. Pretty much what Pat B. was touting in his book.
So, at one point he said, "You are not afraid of anything, you're not afraid of tourists, your not afraid of immigrants destroying the way of life of natural born Americans." And I say no, I'm not, I'm not threatened. Our political system still works and being frightened of an illegal immigrant population with no political power and no money and no guns is ridiculous.
He looked at me and said, Don't get mad, I'm not saying this to make you mad, I just want to know...Deanna, why do you hate America?