Last night's broadcast of Political Pistachio Radio became a little heated between Mrs. Pistachio and myself when Jenn of the Jungle brought up a story to illustrate the frustrations of folks regarding illegal immigration. The article she referred to is about a Mexican business owner in Reno that decided to fly the flag of Mexico higher than Old Glory. What really got the words flying is the discussion over a military vet that comes up and cuts down the American Flag from the pole as shown in an accompanying video.
Mrs. Pistachio, though she feels that she is an American first, is still a person of Mexican heritage. No amount of paperwork or words will ever change that. And though the argument by myself and many of my blogging colleagues is that this is not a racial issue, the sad fact is that the leading number of illegals crossing our porous borders is Mexican, and so the brunt of the anger by Americans is against the Mexican illegal alien.
As I said before, Mrs. Pistachio is Mexican, and she was actually born there before her parents immigrated here legally when she was a toddler. However, comparing Mrs. Pistachio to the current illegals that come across the border is like comparing most of us white bloggers to inbreeding rednecks from the Ozarks. But, as a white person I don't fully understand the pride of her heritage or how she must've felt when she watched the video of that military veteran cutting down the American Flag and yelling at the Mexican business owner. In her mind, when she looked at the confused Mexican business owner, she saw her father's face in the face of that man.
Perhaps the Mexican man didn't know that flying the Mexican flag higher was a Federal crime. Perhaps the veteran should have taken a different path to get his point across, such as going through the proper legal channels.
The point of the video was not legalities, however. It was designed to show how far the frustrations of red-blooded Americans have gotten regarding this issue.
My heart goes out to Mrs. Pistachio, and it is unfortunate that the vast majority of Mexicans, despite their heritage, don't seem to see the wrongness of what the illegals are doing, or the actions they take when here in the states. Mrs. Pistachio understands the importance of immigrating legally. She dislikes the illegal immigration invasion as much as I do. Unlike me, however, she has emotions invested as well due to her Mexican heritage.
But the anger of that military veteran that cut down the flag in the video is what all of this is coming to. And whether we wish this to be a racial issue or not, race is involved. Heritage is a large part of the group of invaders, and those illegal aliens share that heritage with a large number of Americans.
Frustrations are high.
I understand that if I moved to France (not that I would ever do such a thing) I would still be an American first in my mind. But there is a huge difference between that scenario and the one currently developing in the United States. First, I am not going to move to France. If I did, I would abide by their laws, including the ones that would allow me to enter their country in the first place. However, no country in this world has got anything to offer me what my beloved United States of America can offer me. This is why people try to come here. This is the place everyone wishes to be, and nobody wishes to depart from. America is the land of opportunity, freedom, and patriotic pride.
And let's not forget that this is not only an issue of right and wrong when it comes to the legalities of illegal immigration (and the burden it places on the taxpayer), and of whether or not the criminal actions of border jumpers should be rewarded, or if they should be sent back to their country of origin. This is also an issue of national security. Fact is, a large portion of illegal immigrants are of Middle Eastern birth, coming from groups that sponsor and train terrorism.
I just hope the Mexican business owner in Reno comes to realize this, and understands that the Military Veteran that cut down his flag, though a criminal act in its own right, did so out of frustration and fear for the country he was willing to lay down his life for. Mrs. Pistachio argues that the Mexican business owner in Reno did not know it was illegal to fly his Mexican flag higher than the American one, nor does he fully understand all of the things at stake in this issue.
What do you think?
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