The Daily Strike-7/1/10-Supplemental Madness

Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. The Senate skipped out of town yesterday having not finished: a) war funding, b) unemployment benefits and c) financial regulation. Late last night, Majority Leader Reid tried one last time to pass an extension of unemployment benefits, but he failed by a single vote. Republicans Snowe and Collins of Maine both voted yes, but Democrat Ben Nelson (NE) broke with his party and singlehandedly caused mass suffering for millions of people. The plan should be able to pass when the new West Virginia Senator is sworn in, but that won't happen until after the July recess. Now on to the rest of the day in politics.

THE HOUSE: The House is trying to finish up a supplemental war funding bill, and the Democratic leadership is using all sorts of interesting parliamentary maneuvers to include key domestic funding, such as aid to state and local governments, money for summer jobs programs, and Pell Grants. The problem for House leaders is that a majority of House members don't support BOTH the war funding and the domestic spending. So Democrats have resorted to some cleaver trickery. According to a rule adopted by the House this evening, the war funding would be passed and sent to the President, only if all of the other domestic spending is also approved. If the domestic spending is rejected, the war funding too will be rejected. Thus, by voting for the domestic spending, members are actually "deeming" the war funding passed. My guess is that the amendments will be agreed to, and that the war measure will be sent to the President for his approval. I'm not quite sure exactly how this works. I guess the Senate would then have to vote on the domestic spending separately (which won't happen, of course, for another couple of weeks). Also included in this bill (under the rule) is a budget enforcement resolution that sets spending targets for Fiscal Year 2011. This is in place of a normal budget resolution, which House Democrats didn't want to pass, because it would have foreseen record deficits. (I guess we should just pretend they don't exist?).

It looks like the House will be taking votes late into the night, so I'll have to update you tomorrow.

Prior to consideration of this measure, the House passed rather easily the same extension of unemployment that died yesterday in the Senate. The final vote was 270-153, with 29 Republicans voting yes, and a pathetic 11 Democrats voting no. The Senate will try to concur when they return on July 12th, but by that time, millions of Americans will already have gone without needed unemployment assistance.

The House will adjourn after votes end later tonight or early tomorrow morning.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: President Obama gave a speech today at American University outlining his plans for comprehensive immigration reform. The speech was prototypical Obama. He talked about how the issue has been demagogued by the Republicans, and he specifically mentioned the new law in Arizona. He also criticized the left (unfairly in my view) for having unreasonable expectations about illegal immigration, and for not being serious enough about securing the border. I understand politically why Obama would pay close attention to this issue. He does want to bring Latino voters to the polls. However, the political risks seem to outweigh the potential rewards. Jobless Americans are looking for people to blame for their malaise, and if the issue of immigration comes front and center, immigrants will be an easy scapegoat target.

That's it for tonight! See you tomorrow!

The Daily Strike-5/25/10-Frank Meeting

Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. Make sure you catch up on The Big Picture's entry on the Democrats' missed opportunities. It is a tough read, but I think very prescient.

MEETING: Today, President Obama met with the Senate Republican Conference to discuss areas they can work together in the coming year. It seems like the meeting got pretty contentious. Republican Senator Bob Corker (TN) apparently confronted Obama for preaching about bipartisanship while undercutting bipartisan negotiations on financial reform. To Obama's credit, I think Corker has a point. The Democrats abandoned broad bipartisan negotiations in order to make the bill stronger. Of course, it's still not strong enough, but it's better than it would have been if we had watered it down for the likes of Bob Corker. Obama also asked for Republicans' help in passing a supplemental war funding bill this week. On this measure, I expect him to get some support.

I think the relationship between Obama and Senate Republicans is a lost cause, and thus it doesn't make sense for Obama to attempt any outreach. He has been rebuffed too many times. While he still has large Democratic majorities, he should focus on governing.

LEGISLATIVE WRANGLING: There wasn't much action on the floors of either House of Congress today, though negotiations/bickering on a couple of issues ensued. Democrats and the administration announced a deal that would allow for a near repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell as part of this year's Defense Authorization Bill. The Pentagon signed off on the compromise, even though it is currently conducting a "study" on the matter. Democrats picked up the support of GOP Senator Susan Collins (ME) today, but they still probably aren't close to 60 votes that they'd need to advance the amendment in the Senate.

On the seemingly never-ending oil spill in the gulf, President Obama is amping up the pressure on BP, and the Republicans are trying to lay the blame on Obama. Senate Democrats have tried numerous times to pass a bill that would raise the liability cap for BP, but Republicans have, as I would have expected, every single time.

And on the issue of immigration, the President announced today that he will send an additional 1,200 national guard troops to protect the border in Arizona. This was met with tepid approval by Republicans, who demanded that Obama send even more troops. Apparently, John McCain was especially testy on this issue during the Obama/Republican luncheon. I'm sure it has nothing to do with his primary challenge from former Rep. J.D. Hayworth.

ON THE FLOOR: On the Senate floor, Majority Leader Reid (D-NV) has filed cloture on the emergency war funding bill. There are several amendments pending, and many of them will get votes in the next couple of days. Some of them deal with contentious issues like secret holds, border security and a drawdown of U.S. troops in Afghanistan. We'll keep an eye on amendment votes.

Over in the House, it was just suspension bills today. They'll start their busy legislative week in earnest tomorrow.

That's it for now, leave comments!

The Daily Strike-4/28/10-Playing Hardball

Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. Today's score: Democrats 1, Republicans 0.

FINANCIAL REGULATIONS: After three days of obstruction, Republicans have caved and will now allow debate on the financial reform bill. By unanimous consent this evening, the Senate has agreed to debate the bill and amendments starting tomorrow. The Republican cave-in occurred late this afternoon. Earlier in the day, the GOP held together (with the help of Democrat Ben Nelson) to defeat another attempt at proceeding to the bill. But the Democrats didn't give in like they had so many times in the past. Democratic Senators, led by the freshman class, threatened to keep the Senate in session all night to highlight GOP obstruction.

Republicans claim that they acquiesced because they negotiated a deal with Senator Dodd (D-CT) to take out a provision they consider to be a potential "taxpayer bailout." The provision is actually a bank-financed fund that would help wind down banks that are too big to fail. Dodd has agreed to close a loophole that would prevent taxpayer dollars from being used to assist these firms. I wouldn't count this as a particularly significant concession, given that the White House and Democratic leaders had previously agreed to make the change. It seems to me that Republicans gave in due to successful public pressure from the Democrats, who clearly have the upper hand on this issue.

Debate and amendments on this key bill will begin tomorrow, and we expect it to continue possibly for several weeks.

THE WHITE HOUSE: The President continued his "Main Street" tour today with stops in Missouri and Southern Illinois. His speeches today centered around an articulate defense of his Presidency, and some of his best rhetoric yet on what his overall vision is. For the first time in more than a year, he talked about not just bringing our economy back from the brink, but creating the foundation for a new, more prosperous, economy. This is the type of positive case he will have to make to voters this fall and in 2012.

I'm hopeful that the President will continue making this case to the country while his agenda struggles through Congress.

THE HOUSE: The House passed a bill today to set new rules for defense acquisition. The bill passed by a wide bipartisan margin of 417-3. The only no votes came from Republicans Broun (GA), Flake (AZ) and Paul (TX).

The bill requires the Secretary of Defense to implement ways to measure the performance of the weapons that we buy. Hopefully this can save some money from our bloated defense budget.

The House will move on the Puerto Rico Democracy Act tomorrow.

Make sure you read the first entry from The Picturette about the Arizona immigration bill. It is very, very interesting. Also, read The Big Picture's and my response to it.

The Big Picture and the Strike Discuss the Picturette's Post

(Please see the Picturette's excellent and thought-provoking post below. The Strike and the Big Picture discussed the post and the conversation took a provocative turn.)

The Strike: really gets at the personal side of the issue

but also some very good counter-conventional wisdom in there

about immigrants not committing criminals more than NORMAL americans

Th:he Big Picture: yeah getting at the broader point that immigrants, including and perhaps especially illegal immigrants, are more American than "real" Americans

now that's a campaign slogan!

but I do believe it

The Strike: i completely believe it

much more of an "american dream" story

than your average exeter-princeton-goldman sachs track

The Big Picture: or really any track

The Strike: yeah exactly

much more american than what I've ever done in my life

The Big Picture: taking huge risks, sacricificing, to give your kids a better life

working really hard, saving

Better to retire at 55, play the stock market, shoot 18 in the morning, and watch Glenn Beck in the afternoon

that's what real Americans do in Arizona!

THEY're the ones who should be stopped and questioned:

"what are YOU doing to contribute to this country?"

The Strike: that would be a great thing for michael moore to do

or that open left interviewer guy

new left i mean

first ask them if they're carrying their birth certificates

then threaten to lock them up if they don't provide justification for what they do in society

The Big Picture: All they do is collect Social Security checks, cash in on the stock market casino and put tons of pressure for quick quarterly profits to maximize the god-given rights of shareholders

tremendously terrible consequences

and then vote to cut school funding, cut any investments in our future

and try to kick out the people who are doing all the work and providing much more than they are taking out

this is just such a perfect example of who has the moral high ground and who has the low ground

The Strike: it's also just a subject that needs to see the light of day

who is ACTUALLY working hard in society, and who is ACTUALLY reaping the benefits

The Big Picture: the very idea that these jerks sit around and collect money purely because of their good fortune

then whine about how bad they have it, refuse to allow the government to help anyone else

direct their goons to kick everyone else out

even if it makes the goons (police) jobs much harder

and actually will make everyone less safe

except for those who can afford to hire private goons on top of their semi-private goon police force

THEY're the ones complaining????

The Strike: yeah i mean goddamn

compared to the immigrant who works in the field for 10 hours

in 115 degree heat

just to feed his family

The Big Picture: nobody in the world is in a cushier position in life than these Arizona retirees

someone needs to tell them to shut their goddamn mouths

and pitch in

who would be the best candidate to give such a speech?

Joe Biden's got to be number one

The Strike: someone white

yeah he'd be very goo

The Big Picture: Bill Moyers

The Strike: no one really likes bill moyers though

besides the liberal NPR crowd

The Big Picture: yeah but he grew up working-class in Texas

The Strike: he doesn't have any tough guy reputation

obviously he should

jim webb would be pretty good but he's anti-immigrant

The Big Picture: Jonny Tester

maybe the Udall cousins

would be a huge political risk

but that's what would make it meaningful

The Tester-Udall and Udall "Shut Up and Pitch In" bill

The Strike: mandatory janatorial work for all white people in arizona

The Big Picture: or at least paying some higher taxes for schools, working hard to help integrate immigrants into society, some tutoring in education, finances, health, navigating American bureaucracies

they actually have a lot to offer

and it would make these retirees a helluva lot happier as well

you feel a lot better when you're helping people and recognizing others' humanity

than when you're angry, bitter, and screaming

The Picturette: What does Arizona's new immigration law imply about our country?

(This is a post by The Picturette, who occasionally contributes to femonomics.blogspot.com/ under the name Just a State School Girl)
What does Arizona's new immigration law imply about our country?

Lately, there has been quite a bit of coverage in the media about Arizona's new immigration bill. It is the toughest piece of immigration legislation in United States' recent history, and it will give the Arizona police power to detain anyone who they "reasonably" suspect is an illegal immigrant. Moreover, all non-U.S. citizens in Arizona will now be required to carry their documents at all times. As an immigrant to and a citizen of this country, this new law makes me angry and sad because I fear that it will lead to racial profiling and second-class treatment of both legal and illegal residents of this country, and it indicates that America might not be the "land of opportunity" and "the melting pot" that so many people who risk their lives to come here imagine it to be.

I truly worry about the direct implications of this law. In response to many people's criticisms of the potential for racial profiling in this law, law-makers in Arizona have tried to assure us there will be training for the police officers on how to determine whether someone is an illegal immigrant without racial profiling, and Arizona cops claim that they will not racially profile. However, I am not sure how this is really feasible. Now, I will not claim to know very much about how police officers are trained or how they do their job. But, I don't know how one can determine whether a person is an illegal immigrant or not without relying on some observable characteristics of this individual. In particular, we know that the vast majority of illegal immigrants are of Hispanic origin. So, it seems highly unlikely that police officers will demand that a white person walking down the street will present their documents to prove their legal status in this country. They will inherently have to rely on some form of racial profiling -- regardless of whether they are trained to look past race or not. And this means that a certain portion of Arizona's population will be treated in a way that is different (more accurately, worse) than the rest of the population. It's hard to imagine that Arizona cops won't occasionally make mistakes in their assessment of who is legal or not. As a result, they will treat legal residents in this country who just happen to be of the same race as the illegal residents, as second-class citizens. Given the historical significance of racism and discrimination in this country, it seems that policies that actively force police officers to make judgments that are so inherently based on race is a step backwards and detrimental to our progress.

In following the media about Arizona's law, I was heartened to see that so many people share my concerns and have been actively protesting it. But what struck me the most is the quiet, but unyielding support that exists for it. This article, in particular, documents people's opinions on both sides of the debate. Supporters of the law seem to be just tired of these immigrants "congregating on the streets", committing all these crimes (despite the fact that there is no evidence that illegal immigrants commit more crime than the rest of the population), and taking jobs from Americans (although they should probably be more worried about highly-skilled and highly-educated legal immigrants on this front, but people seem to like them more).

I won't pretend that I can speak for the plight of illegal immigrants in this country. But I can say something about the overall immigrant experience. My family and I moved to this country from Russia when I was ten years old. As far as immigrant experiences go, I would say that mine was very fortunate. My parents are highly-educated and spoke some English when we first moved here. This enabled them to quickly find well-paying jobs, and to start adjusting to their new environment. I came at a young-enough age, which allowed me to learn English quickly and to learn to speak without a clearly detectable accent. Further, my family is mostly white (although not entirely), so we have benefited from being able to "fit in" with other upper-middle-class whites in our neighborhood and in our lives. Yet my family (at least in the current generation) will always feel as though it is *not* entirely American. People will always look at my parents, who don't speak English completely fluently and have accents, as outsiders. I know that they feel like that have to work hard to prove that they are capable at their jobs, perhaps harder than some of their more "native" American counterparts. Yet, despite never feeling completely at home in America, my parents chose to uproot their entire lives, leave their friends and families behind, and come to a place that was completely foreign and new. And if you ask them why, they'll tell you that it was to obtain better opportunities for our family and for my future.

And I think that -- this firm belief that America is a place where opportunities abound and where people have a real chance to truly make something of themselves and live comfortably and happily -- is something that all immigrants (legal and illegal) share. Immigrants who are nowhere near as fortunate as my family is -- either because they are considered non-white or they have lower education or are less able to speak English -- still choose to leave their homes, and despite some serious and often life-threatening risks, come to America. Because what was offered to them in their home country was just so dismal and so poor that they had no choice but to seek something better. Because they thought that they could do something to change the fates of their own and their families' lives. And because they couldn't wait for ten or twenty years to get legal authorization to immigrate to the U.S., they had to succumb to a life of fear and second-class citizenship as illegal immigrants. I don't think that any Americans who legally reside in this country can truly imagine or understand the gravity of the decision that an illegal immigrant had to make. And we, as Americans, who supposedly believe in the ultimate American dream of success and making the most of your opportunities, instead of supporting and admiring these individuals for their bravery and determination, treat them as though they are not good enough to be amongst us.

I hope that my fears about racial profiling in this law will not come true, and that police officers will actually implement it not on the basis of race. More importantly, I hope that we act soon to show that America really is a land of opportunity for ALL, and not just for those of us who are lucky enough to be white and have easier access to legal immigration (or have benefited from simply being born here).

The Weekly Strike-4/26-5/2

Good morning and welcome to the Weekly Strike. The President's agenda seems pretty stalled in Congress, and the administration is opposing breaking up the big banks. Plus it's dreary outside. It all adds up to me in a pretty sour mood.

FINANCIAL REGULATION: The battle for financial regulation will forge on this week, starting this afternoon in the United States Senate. The Senate will take a test vote this evening to begin debate on the bill. It appears that Democrats will be unable to win over the one Republican necessary to move forward. Senate Republicans are united in sticking together to block the bill so they can extract some concessions that will inevitably make the bill worse. Democrats need Republicans to pay for this obstruction. They should not weaken the regulations, and they should relentlessly attack Republicans for standing with Wall Street. Democrats are on the winning side of this issue, and there is no reason to give in now, even in the face of uniform Republican obstruction.

For his part, President Obama doesn't seem to have any events this week pushing the bill. It is frustrating that the President isn't out there forcefully explaining what this bill does, why it's needed, and what it will do to ease the burden on middle class families (i.e. protect people's savings from the reckless traders on Wall Street).

THE SENATE: It is unclear what the Senate will move to if Financial Reform fails its test vote today, as I expect it will. Two major items on the agenda were threatened by the selfish nihilism this week of Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC). Graham was the lead negotiator for Republicans on both climate legislation, as well as immigration reform. In fact, Graham was supposed to unveil his climate bill today with Senators Kerry (D-MA) and Lieberman (I-CT). But Graham backed out at the last minute, saying that murmurs from the White House that they want to push immigration reform somehow threaten the work on climate change. So basically, two of our country's most pressing issues are currently on the back burner because one Republican Senator is having a temper tantrum.

The need for legislation on both of these issues is obviously great. Last Friday, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed an immoral law that will allow police to pull over those they "suspect" as being illegal immigrants, and ask for identification. This measure will amount to pure racial profiling. The Obama administration rightly reacted to this bill by emphasizing the need for a comprehensive national immigration strategy. It becomes a lot harder to do this in an election year without Graham's involvement. Democrats will have to find another Republican willing to work on both of these issues. I'll try to remain confident.

THE HOUSE: While the Senate dithers on big ticket items, the House continues to pass smaller pieces of legislation. This pattern will continue this week. The House will consider suspension bills today and tomorrow. On Wednesday and Thursday, the House will consider two pieces of substantive legislation. The first is the "Puerto Rico Democracy Act." The bill gives the Puerto Rican people the option to vote on whether to maintain its current relationship with the United States. If the populous disapproves of the arrangement, they will vote whether to become fully independent of the U.S., or whether to join the U.S. as our 51st state. The bill has wide bipartisan support, and I expect it to pass relatively easily. The bill is sponsored by Puerto Rico's non-voting House member, Rep. Pedro Pierliusi.

The House will then vote on a bill that further reforms how our military acquires weapons. This legislation builds off of last year's bill that reformed the procurement process. I expect this bill to pass relatively easily as well.

That's it for now. Unless you want me to talk about today's visit to the White House by the World Series Champion New York Yankees. But that would just depress me even further...

The Daily Strike-8/10/09-Dog Days

Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. Congressional recess is really, really difficult for the blogosphere.

THE WHITE HOUSE: Virtually nothing has happened in the political world since this morning, when I wrote the Weekly Strike. The President held a joint press conference with the President of Mexico and the Prime Minister of Canada, and made one newsworthy comment. Obama said that he hopes to get an immigration bill drafted in Congress by the end of the year, but he probably won't get one passed until 2010 at the earliest. He reiterated that his primary goal is to pass health reform, which he said will eventually get done because more "sensible and reasoned arguments" eventually will emerge. That's an obvious reference to the conservative town hall mobs, and their enablers in the right-wing media and among Republican politicians. When asked how these efforts might affect Democrats in the midterm elections, Obama said "we'll do fine." If Republicans continue to marginalize themselves, I think President Obama might be right. Even as the Democrats overreach a bit in their legislative goals, and some of these goals may seem scary to the American people at first, they will be seen eventually as being the party that solves problems. That is, if moderates know what's good for them and support Obama's agenda.

The President heads to Portsmouth, NH tomorrow to hold a town meeting on health reform. He will be joined by New Hampshire Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen, and Democratic Reps. Paul Hodes and Carol Shea-Porter. We'll have full coverage for you, including any potential wing nut protests.

WING-NUTTERY: Speaking of wing-nuts, I don't like using childish names, but Bill O'Reilly calls people "pinheads" every day, so I feel a little better about it. Plus, I don't think there is any other way to describe the people involved in this extraordinary statistic:

According to a poll to be released tomorrow, only 24% of Republicans in North Carolina think that Barack Obama is an American citizen. That is absolutely insane. It's a reminder to all of us though, that even something so obviously false can be pedaled consistently by those with large megaphones, and can be accepted as the truth. It's really, really dangerous. The positive side, is that we can put the "birther" face on all of our political opposition. The same people screaming about how Obama hasn't produced a long-form birth certificate are the people raising hell at town meetings across the country. The arguments against health reform are a lot more easily discredited coming from these people.

That's it for a short entry today. Hopefully the length of this entry will inspire the Big Picture to write his long overdue grading of Obama's 8 priorities. See you tomorrow!

The Big Picture: Immigration - Who REALLY threatens America?

In a time of economic crisis, when Americans are seeing their wealth and their jobs and their security vanish, when the competition for scarce resources and opportunities intensifies, we should be on our guard for a backlash against immigrants. Legal and illegal, immigrants from around the world - and those who were born here but "look like" immigrants - will be scapegoated. Scared and anxious people will be looking for people to blame for their troubles, and they will be spurred on by demagogues practicing the time-honored art of accumulating political power by finding easy answers and recognizable villains. This crisis is extraordinarily complex, and in some ways we are all implicated; in more important ways, elites in the government, business, and the media are directly responsible, but no single person, interest group, institution, policy, or even ideology is solely responsible. These murky, almost incomprehensible lines of accountability for very real, life-altering problems make anxious, confused, and angry people even more anxious, confused, and angry. Demagogues - from Lou Dobbs, Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity on cable TV to thousands of national, state and local politicians - are already well-versed in preying on the anxiety of the white middle and working classes, affixing blame on the most marginal, least powerful group in America - immigrants, especially Arabs and Lations. These demagogues are now aided in their efforts to spur the backlash by two events: the economic crisis, and the election of Barack Obama, who is still seen as the un-American, anti-American Other by a disturbingly large minority of Americans. These events feed the fears of whites who see their vision of America, their very understanding of reality, falling apart all around them. Demagogues find it easier and easier to rehash that old claim: America's problems are entirely the fault of all these shadowy, darker-skinned immigrants, including, by implication, the President himself. I think that most of the appeal of these "socialist" attacks is rooted in racial, not ideological, anxieties: they want him to fail because his success would mean the end of an America run of, by, and for whites of a "traditionally American" background.

A few examples from my supposedly liberal, tolerant New York provide anecdotal evidence. Four young white guys have been arrested for an Election-Day rampage in which, they have confessed, they were fueled by fury at the election of a black man as President that they drove through the city trying to hurt and kill any black man they could find. The one man they did succeed in killing was actually white, but they thought he was black. On Long Island, the Suffolk Country Executive rose to power in an area experiencing economic turbulence by promising to be the toughest, harshest foe of illegal immigration. Most likely inspired by the screeds of this executive in the newspapers on their doorstep, by the anti-immigrant harangues of Lou Dobbs and Bill O'Reilly on their TV sets, and by the prejudiced, scapegoating words they heard from their parents and other adults, every weekend a group of teenage boys set out to "beat up Mexicans", targeting any Latino man they could find. They injured and brutalized many, and finally a few months ago a star athlete stabbed an immigrant from Ecuador to death. In Brooklyn, two "native New Yorkers" murdered an Ecuadorean man walking arm in arm with his brother in a vicious expression of anti-immigrant and anti-gay prejudice. And yet, the politicians and the TV hosts continue to ramp up their hate-filled message of scapegoating: "Be very afraid: America is under attack from illegal immigrants and this black man with the un-American name and background!"

What is particularly galling about this scapegoating of immigrants is the overwhelming evidence that they are a) the last people responsible for this economic crisis, and b) the ones most hurt by it. Last time I checked, there weren't too many immigrants running banks and hedge funds, strolling the halls of Congress or occupying the regulatory agencies. It is evil to scapegoat whole groups of people for the sins of a few, but if we've gotta to do it, let's denounce and deport middle-aged white men in expensive suits. And it is Latinos who are bearing the worst the crisis: unemployment has skyrocketed at a sickening pace as the construction industry, where such a high percentage of Latino men are employed, has ground to a halt and as the service industries that employ so many Latino women suffer. The home foreclosure crisis has disproportionately punished so many first-time buyers in California, Arizona, and Florida, families who were easy prey for the demonic deceptions of the bloodsucking lenders. Most fundamentally, immigrants almost by definition have the lowest level of security - savings, family members who can help out, alumnae networks - to help them weather the storm. It adds grievous insult to injury for these rich white men to rake in the viewers, the cash, and the votes by scapegoating the very people who are suffering the most.

It is dead wrong and egregiously insulting when, in a Virginia suburb with a growing number of immigrants, the chairman of the all-white Republican Board of Supervisors to say to the New York Times, "We wanted to address issues involving problems in housing, in hospitals, in schools, and with crime ... illegal immigration was driving a lot of the problems." And it almost makes me throw up to read the blatant racism of the American-born students in the local high school who explained their lack of immigrant friends by "mentioning a worker who did not finish a job their parents had paid for, or a line of pregnant women at the clinic where their mother works." With a smug elitism that brings shame on people like me who once held her position, the editor of the student newspaper categorically dismissed being friends with people from a different class: "My friends' parents are not cashiers or people who wash dishes."

But it isn't just incorrect, mean-spirited, and racist to call these people a threat to America, it's fundamentally un-American. In fact, these anti-immigrant forces are anti-American, because they virulently oppose the very essence of America: no one race, no one religion, no one background makes anyone American, only a shared commitment, in words and in deeds, to democracy, to making the most of your life and to helping your fellow citizen make the most of his. Immigrants like my girlfriend the Picturette, who came here with her family from Russia when she was 10, are a hell of a lot more American than predatory mortgage lenders. A family from Mexico who work impossibly long hours building houses and making hotel beds to make a better future for their are a hell of a lot more American than upper middle class homeowners who fear their presence will "ruin the neighborhood". Immigrant janitors who organize in unions to to achieve better wages, basic job security, a measure of power over their lives preserve and indeed strengthen America's democracy. They strengthen our economy too, because with better and more stable wages, they will have more money to spend and invest, crucial to turning around an economy with, paradoxically but ominously, dangerously low aggregate demand and savings rates.

Contrary to the smug self-righteous pronouncements of the Dobbs and the O'Reillys, our immigrants are our only shot at turning America around. The only thing that makes America different from every other country - the fact that has more than made up for our other shortcomings and failures - is that old cliche: America is a nation of immigrants. We get the people from around the world like the Picturette's family, who are the most ambitious and the most committed to working hard to achieve the American Dream. When they live in America, immigrants become the most thankful for its unique opportunity, and then the most committed to preserving and strengthening equal opportunity and broadly shared prosperity. In short, immigrants are the most patriotic Americans. Their opponents are unpatriotic.

Immigrants provide the answer to so much of what we need. We need people who work harder: no one has a stronger work ethic than immigrants. We need people who are efficient and not profligate, who know the worth of a dollar: and immigrants who have worked for everything they've got, who know what it feels like to be lacking the basic necessities, have a proven track record of being savers and not wasters. As a society we have a deficit of community bonds, of neighbors looking after neighbors, and immigrant communities in America have always been based upon strong community networks, keeping up moral and economic support, holding society together. To prosper and thrive we need more innovation, more creativity - and throughout American history the key factor in our unprecedented prosperity has been the unpredictable commingling of immigrants from everywhere, their ideas bouncing off of each other and coming together into new inventions and new ways of thinking. The opponents of immigration want America to sink into economic and social stagnation. They seek to deny our history, cripple our future, and take away the very thing that makes us most American.