Democrats View of the Immigration Law in Arizona

As with any legislation there are both Democrats and Republicans who back the new immigration law in Arizona. However, the law is more or less a Republican supported one; the tea party specifically. Democrats are largely rejecting the law, calling it racist and unnecessary. At best, they admit that something had to be done about immigration, but that this wasn't it.

I tend to side with the democrats on this issue because, frankly, this law is unconstitutional. The law allows for police to ask anyone who appears to have entered the country illegally to show their papers, based on reasonable suspicion. But what would the reasonable suspicion possibly be? Oh that's right, that they look mexican. This law is flat out racist.

In one instance, a man was incarcerated on "reasonable suspicion" that the man was an illegal immigrant, despite the fact that the man had a driver's license and his social security number. So basically, if you don't have your birth certificate and you look mexican, you can be arrested.

Activists are not going to let this law pass without a fight, and there have been protests going on since before the law was officially a law. Juan Jose Gutierrez had this to say:

"We will not accept a new policy disguised as enforcement of laws that essentially reinstitionalizes the "separate but equal" policies for which we have already fought, spilled our blood in America to end racism, to end the separation of races. That's what's happening in Arizona."

I really had to think about that quote when I first read it. I had to wonder how one can connect "separate but equal" to this new immigration law. I realized, however, that it is very simple. When "separate but equal" institutions were still permissible in this country, men and women of color were denied equal protection under the law, because, lets face it, separate is inherently unequal. Essentially, blacks did not have the same rights. In the case of the Arizona law, white people have no reason to worry about being asked for their birth certificate, the officer would have no "reasonable suspicion" that they were illegal immigrants. Someone with darker skin however, would be forced to show his papers, or else be incarcerated. Quite simply, people's rights being denied on the basis of race, and it's wrong.

This law needs to be overturned until better immigration reform is drafted.

The Republican Party

I mentioned in my last post the disadvantages of violent democrats. Naturally, there are violent Republicans as well. Such as Michelle Malkin, who posted the phone numbers of Liberal students on her website, and now the liberal students are receiving death threats. Michelle is the ugly side of the republican party. To contrast the progressive Democrats, the Republicans have been called the party of "No", referring to their unwillingness to pass any progressive legislation; as demonstrated by the health care reform debate, where Republicans could be found chanting "Kill The Bill!" . The party is also a relatively religious party, as compared to other parties. As evident by their wide range support of Prop 8, which banned gay marriage. In reality, marriage is a religious institution that shouldn't be touched by the government, but the republicans are a prime example of a cross-over between church and state. However, I want to make clear that I am not suggesting that all republicans are homophobic, and I am fully aware that not all Republicans are religious.

A huge dent in the Republican party is FOX news. This program is merely an opinion show, masquerading as a news show. The show is not "fair and balanced", as it says, because it is completely biased towards a conservative view point. FOX news gives Republicans a bad name, which is unfortunate because it would be completely false to say that all republicans didn't graduate college and are unintelligent (not that I have an opinion about it, as my government teacher would say).

While the Republicans do not have much progressive legislation, they make up for it with organization. Recently they have begun to lack in successful ideas and plans, but for a long time the republicans have been incredibly clear about what their ideas and desires are, and they work to get them done.

The Democratic Party

The Democratic party, like any other party, has it's strength and weaknesses. The problem that I most frequently have with the Democrats, is that some of them can be violently liberal, such as when the blogger Hart Williams wrote about wanting to shoot Rush Limbaugh. An excess of violent liberals running around leads to a highly disorganized group of people. In order to get things done, the Democrats need to focus on the things that will help them reach their goal more than they focus on their opponents who will hold them back. This party has often been called a party of "wimps". This likely comes from, in general, their lack of relentless ad hominum attacks from their politicians in office, and their sympathy for the poor. The Democrats war-on-poverty is a positive thing, but their method of simply throwing money at the poor makes for an imperfect fiscal policy, and in the end does not help. What makes the Democrats strong is their inner spark. Many Democrats identify as "progressive", and tend to be more supportive of human rights. The Democratic party was the one that was voting against Prop 8 (Prop 8 outlaws Gay Marriage). Those against this law realized that it was unconstitutional because it was regarding marriage, a religious institution. The Democratic party is the party of the first black president, which was a huge step away from racism in this country. The Democrats pushed a health care reform bill through congress; a huge achievement considering that presidents had been attempting this for years. This health care bill aims to cut health care costs and expand coverage to more citizens. Truly a government for the people.