I’m reminded of the old saw “if you’re not a liberal (Democrat) when you’re twenty, you have no heart; if you’re not a conservative (Republican) when you’re forty, you have no head.” Clearly the Republicans who passed this law are heartless.
HB56 doesn’t punish only illegal immigrants; it punishes anyone who helps them. Churches and social welfare agencies have complained that they cannot legally minister to their charges. The law even makes it illegal to transport an undocumented alien; you could theoretically be cited for giving your neighbor a ride to the store.
Aside from the predicted impact (families pulling their kids out of school, vegetables rotting in the field for lack of workers) there have been some embarrassing unexpected consequences. In November a German man working for Mercedes-Benz was arrested for not having documentation while on a business trip to Alabama, even though he had his German identity card and his passport was in his hotel room.
The next month a Honda executive from Japan was cited at a police checkpoint even though he carried an International Driving Permit, a valid passport and a US work permit. Both Honda and Mercedes are major players in the Alabama economy; the law makes Alabama look the fool.
This would all be funny were it not so chilling. The Republicans cry that Obama is leading us toward some sort of European welfare state. I’ve never thought there was anything wrong with that and I completely favor it over the Gestapo tactics at work in Alabama.
Where do Republicans learn such hatred? If you’re a regular reader, you know my answer: they learn it every Sunday in their church, where homophobic, xenophobic, Puritanical preachers misread the bible to promulgate their us/them view of the world. The Republican Party – the Grand Old Party – has been taken over by right-wing religious zealots. It's the Grouchy Ogre Party as far as I’m concerned.
Saying it better than I can: click here to read a first-person account of this issue.
Agree totally. As I learned it, the saw went "If you aren't a socialist by the time you're twenty, there's something wrong with your heart. If you're still a socialist when you're forty, there's something wrong with your head." Another saw I learned way back then is "Men get more conservative as they grow older. Women get more radical." There's something to that, eh?
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