Me, A Socialist?

A friend of mine called me a leftist and socialist yesterday. I'm not a leftist, though I am clearly left of center. I'm not a socialist, I'm a patriot. I believe that free education and medical care for our citizens will make our country stronger in the long run...But that's another story.

The argument began over our conversation about the governor's race. I ask him who he was voting for and he told me he was supporting Meg Whitman because he liked her stance on immigration. (By "stance" I assume he meant commercial ads.) He felt it important to expand on this by saying, "she'll keep those wetbacks from crossing the border." He felt it was okay for him to say that because he is Mexican American. I felt just the opposite, I felt it was absolutely appalling to hear that coming from him.

Do I have issues with conservative people or conservative values? No.
Do I think there is anything wrong with Mexican Americans advocating for immigration reform and tougher laws? No.

I have no problem with conservative values that are based upon political or economical ideology. However, when conservative values are based upon class, race or social issues, I can't help but be concerned. To hear a Mexican American refer to someone who looks just like him and whose parents look like his parents as a "wetback" was kind of disturbing.

Of course the inevitable comparison between this issue and black people's use of the "N" word had to come into play during this conversation. All I could do was attempt to give an appropriate analogy to address his point. If you are a recovering alcoholic and another alcoholic approaches you and says, "hey you ole drunk", you might take it in stride, even laugh about it. But if another person approaches you, someone with no concept of the pain and hardship that this addiction has inflicted; a person with no history of substance abuse calls you a drunk, your feelings and emotions will tell you that this person doesn't have the background or knowledge to truly feel empathy towards you and people like you.

I don't know that that's a good analogy but it was the best I could do at that time.

What bothers me about this is the apparent need that some people have to "assimilate" into American culture. Dr. King spoke about integration not assimilation. Integration is key to the survival of our society. Assimilation is not only unnecessary, it is harmful in so many ways. Can you imagine a world where all Asians, Blacks, Hispanics and Whites all spoke the same, acted the same and shared the same beliefs and values? I couldn't imagine a more boring place to be...

Economic and political reasons for conservative views are legitimate but where does the "wetback" thing come from? I know what his issues are, he is Mexican American, he has no college degree and he is a non-union carpenter/painter. So he sees Mexican day laborers that are able to work cheaper than he can as competition. I get that; it's an economic reason. But, that's not how it was expressed. I just don't get the whole wetback thing. After all, to most conservatives, he looks just like the people he's advocating against. The fact is, they may have more on the ball then he does because they speak two languages.

Conservative values that are based upon class and race should be a concern for everyone. The problem I have with the so-called "Tea Party"movement is the fact that it is hard to believe that their agenda is based on tax reform and smaller government. After all, this "movement" really picked up momentum about 6 weeks after President Obama was elected to office. The previous administration was spending $10 Billion per week in Iraq and they didn't even put it in the budget. How long was that going on? Where was the Tea Party movement then? Is it reasonable to think that the spending wasn't out of hand until March 2009?

The conservative movement is being hijacked a bunch of racist, homophobes who feel they are somehow "getting the shaft". Unfortunately, some minorities believe that in order to "fit-in" they must pander to the worst that this so-called "movement" has to offer. Well, you don't.

It is okay to hold conservative beliefs without selling your soul. You can believe in immigration reform without reducing immigrants to a status less than human.