A Day Without An American
“Today we say to America: We’ve come here to work: We clean your toilets. We clean your hotels. We build your houses. We take care of your children. We want you to help us take care of our children as well.” – Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on the subject of illegal immigration
On May 1st, 2006 pro-immigration activists are calling upon all Hispanics to boycott work in order to stage their “A Day without a Mexican†publicity stunt. The aim of this embargo has the intended message of impressing upon America that we cannot simply live without illegal aliens in this country.
Frankly, I welcome May 1st. If ever a pro-immigration publicity stunt has the ability to backfire, “A Day without a Mexican†is the mother of all counter-productive protests. “A Day without a Mexican†will only serve to further entrench the positions of the overwhelming majority of Americans who are adamantly against amnesty or an open border policy.
Americans are a resourceful people, and if we notice any discernable inconvenience on May 1st, we will simply adapt to doing things a different way. I’m pretty certain that as Americans we can let our grass grow another day, live without the produce that will remain unharvested, and go an extra twenty four hours without getting our SUV’s washed and waxed.
Here is my idea for a counter-protest. We call it “A Day without our children zoning out on Video Games.†Held on May 1st to coincide with the “great peoples revolution†staged by the Latino community, we make our teenagers get off their dead asses to mow their own lawns, wash their parents cars, baby-sit their siblings, and complete all of the other tasks that I used to do in order to earn my weekly allowance. Maybe today’s pampered teenagers will learn something about gaining the sense of accomplishment and self-reliance that Americans prided themselves upon before we outsourced our menial tasks to the invading hordes from South of the Border.
Frankly, this whole illegal alien debacle is an excellent opportunity to examine that part of the bigger problem is that as a nation we have allowed this immigration mess to happen by getting lazy ourselves. The generation of the self-reliant has been replaced by a generation of the self-medicating who cannot envision a world without a drive-through instead of a drive-in. The go-go-go world of 21st century America has become addicted to its cell phones, its TiVo, and its remote control for every electronic device in the home. Its time to wake up and realize that if we consent to outsource the labor needed to complete our own chores, then unwelcome consequences will occur.
Another component of the immigration problem is with corporate America itself. While corporations violate the law by employing the cheap labor of illegal aliens in order to increase profits within their companies, benefits and jobs are being slashed in the middle sector, and boardroom fat cats steal away with golden parachutes sometimes worth hundreds of millions of dollars for the privilege of mismanaging the companies they were hired to represent.
America needs to take control of its own destiny before 11 million illegal aliens are granted amnesty and transform our country into a culture re-defined in their own vision. The answer is not in outsourcing the task of cleaning our toilets to Maria, or our lawn care to Juan, its for all Americans to get off their dead asses and to simply do the work themselves.
Finally, we need to ask the Latino community this uncomfortable question. How would they handle “A Day without an America†in which they do not have the freedom of our great nation to exploit their own nationalistic cause? The answer is that they will be forced to muster the courage needed to do the hard work of fighting their own political battles back home.
Cross-posted at The Federalist Blogger
RELATED:
AP: Some Fear Immigration Protest Backlash
An Amigo A Minute
Technorati Tags: California, Los Angeles, Villaraigosa, Immigration, Illegal Aliens, Special Interests, Mexico
April 19th, 2006 at 10:42 am
Brilliant article!
I read about the INS/FBI confiscating Nebraska meatpacking plant employee records. They immediately found 4,000 employees who were using fake SS numbers. Employers played dumb “What? Wow, I didn’t know they were illegals!”
Proves that if we go after the businesses who keep hiring the illegals (like WalMart), the majority of illegals won’t be able to find work and will either go up to Canada or back down South.
April 19th, 2006 at 1:12 pm
i think that the “illegals” are doing no one any harm, “illegals” are doing the work of the dead beat “Americans” that dont want to get off their asses and do, so why complain?? why not complain about all the healthy “Americans” that choose to live off of welfare and not work?? why not complain about the “Americans” that sell drugs rather than do the work that the “illegals” are doing??? the fruit you eat the house you live in the clothes you wear are probably picked made sewed by “illegals” think about it “Mexicans” pay taxes not all but think about the ones that do, think about the americans that rip the government off by claiming children that dont belong to them?? what about those people??? “illegals” are not criminal, yes no one is perfect and yes some maybe criminals but dont stereotype people by the country they were born in or the color of their skin or the language they speak!! 9/11 was done by Arabics right?? so why not make all the Arabics leave the country?? why not protest against them?? they have harmed our country in many ways what do we do about those people??
April 19th, 2006 at 1:24 pm
Emily, while you’re missing the point for the most part, you have unwittingly put your finger on something vital.
…the dead beat “Americans” that dont want to get off their asses and do, so why complain?? why not complain about all the healthy “Americans” that choose to live off of welfare and not work?? why not complain about the “Americans” that sell drugs rather than do the work that the “illegals” are doing???
You may consider directing those questions to Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, et al. In fact, Bill Cosby has been arguing a case similar to yours.
Finally, why do you put Americans in quotation marks? Just curious.
Thanks for your comments and continued readership.
April 20th, 2006 at 12:08 am
Some cable news used the term “undocumented alien” tonight - that’s the first time I’ve heard that permutation. The word games with this are never ending. The massive publicity on marches exposes how ridiculous the liberal arguments are. These have worked to keep the border totally open for years.
All that stuff - the massive campaign to fly USA instead of Mexico flags, embracing greed at the expense of pride I guess. That they do work not even blacks will do. That they do jobs Americans won’t do. Only crazy people talk like that. They’d have us believe bypassing border checkpoints when crossing into the US may be illegal, but it certainly isn’t a crime, so they therefore are not criminals. Or the march was for immigrants’ rights - as if legal immigrants have civil rights problems. Or maybe the 500,000 showed up to the march to get some paper or “documentation”, what they apparently are missing.
November 28th, 2006 at 12:20 am
So now if the immigrants are much more capable then how are Americans efficient that is the question. I don’t think that the Jobs are going to the illegal ones… there are legal ones like the induians who are much more efficient than we Americans and they are getting their Pie… i think my dear friend you are living in an Isolated worls… regarding corporations… They are running because they have to make profits…