They Were Against Big Government Before They Were For It

Your Papers, Please: Arizona is about to enact legislation that will require aliens (read: Hispanic aliens) to produce their immigration status upon police request. Senator John (I Ain't No Maverick) McCain said,

The state of Arizona is acting and doing what it feels it needs to do in light of the fact that the federal government is not fulfilling its fundamental responsibility -- to secure our borders.*

McCain, who once favored comprehensive immigration reform, did not explain why the issue was multifaceted when George Bush was president but is simplistic now that Barack Obama is in office. I heard McCain on the radio this morning. He addressed the possibilities of racial profiling along these lines: Gosh, but he would hate it if this law lead to racial profiling, but what are you going to do?

Hispanic-Americans comprise 30% of Arizona's population of 6.5 million and 5% Native-American. (Think about the irony of Native-Americans being required to prove their legitimacy.) Moreover, Hispanics accounted for 70% of Arizona's population growth from 2000 to 2006. Are you starting to get the picture? Given that, what reason would a policeman have to think that any Hispanic is illegal (even given the large amount of undocumented workers in Arizona)? There's a 4-in-5 chance of being wrong, so four times out of five an American citizen or a legal immigrant may well have to interrupt their personal business and be haled into a police station to prove their citizenship.

And how is anyone going to know? The U.S. doesn't require us to carry proof of citizenship, a Social Security card is not a photo i.d., and it's certainly not against the law to not have a driver's license. This gives carte blanche to any racist police officer who feels like hassling an Hispanic. What about Hispanic police officers? Will they get pressure from white superiors to bring in suspected illegals? Which begs the question of what besides skin color are grounds for suspicion?

How many innocent people will lose jobs because of missing work while proving their innocence at a police station? I can just about guarantee that this will turn into a Kafkaesque nightmare for more than one poor family. According to John McCain, though, that comes with the territory: If conservative white Arizona wants to dance, innocent brown Arizona has to pay the piper.

The right wingers say they're against so-called Big Government and then get behind something as thoroughly intrusive as this. They claim to revere the Constitution, then trash it by passing a law that requires a presumption of guilt. They call the president a Nazi, then institutionalize a Gestapo tactic. This is really about conservative white Arizona trying to keep the Mexicans in line: When it comes to something like that, the right doesn't give a damn about the Constitution or Big Government. It's disgusting and embarrassing, although nowhere near as humiliating as it will be for the honest people caught up in this racist dragnet. Whatever immigration reform means, surely it's something better than urinating on our most fundamental values.

Immigration reform is a complex issue that will require complex solutions and money, especially if the right wing insists on a security-based solution that involves beefing up the border patrol and walling in the southern border of the United States. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) recently said in response to the likelihood of a mass layoff of American teachers that, while it was regrettable, actually appropriating funds to avoid it was a matter for serious debate:

I wonder from whose schoolchildren we are going to borrow this money, because we have a looming debt crisis in this country and we'll need to debate this.We all want to help our children and our schools, but that is a deep concern.

This small-government proponent has voted against sanctuary cities and for a border fence. Forgive me for thinking that he and his ilk -- so concerned that about the debt that tomorrow's children might inherit from their undereducated parents -- will have no trouble paying for border security technology that has about as much chance of working as robot built by Calvin and Hobbes.

For John McCain, it's simple: You wet your middle finger, hold it to the wind and notice that you've got a primary challenge from your right, sell out your integrity, and give that finger to every Hispanic-American who ever voted for you. For them, it's another matter entirely. But what does he care?

*The United States Border Patrol apprehends over a million illegal aliens each year...

A major failing of the MSM is that they deal with issues discretely and never force politicians to prioritize. Assuming it's the case -- and I fear that it's not a bad assumption -- Lamar Alexander should have to explain why he thinks we have the money for a border fence and not for education. For that matter, I'd like John McCain's opinion on the matter. And if education is one of those things that you can't solve by throwing money at it, why is border security?...

When I say you have B.O., I don't mean Baltimore & Ohio...

The Non-New Orleanians Guide to Treme (thanks, Editilla!)...

PR tips for teabaggers (thanks, Premium T!).  Such as:

Problem: Too many are quick to dismiss the substance of your ideas, in particular your calls for smaller government and less deficit spending. (Boy, that must be frustrating.)
Solution: If you want to be seen as having a legitimate concern about spending and the deficit, let's try something counterintuitive.  How about rather than ranting about a bunch of tax increases that haven't happened, go ahead and flip this one on its head and loudly and vociferously condemn the huge increases in deficit spending that occurred first under Reagan, then under Bush.  Better yet, if you want people to think your goal is to get back to surpluses and pay-as-you-go, then demand a repeal of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy and restore the Clinton budgetary guidelines.  Problem solved!  Steal that issue from the Dems and you've got yourself a winner there!

Bill Mauldin gets a stamp...finally...

Tipitina's announces its 2010 Fess Jazztival lineup and how I wish I could be there with the likes of Trombone Shorty, Galactic, Patty Smith, the North Mississippi All-Stars, Dumpstaphunk, George Porter, Jr., Zigaboo's Funk Revue, Eric Lindell, Tab Benoit, and on and on etc. etc...

Green card? I'm from East L.A.!