Let us pray that the Hispanic citizens of the United States do not swallow the latest political ploy of President George W. Bush. It is so obvious that Stevie Wonder could read it at first sight.
Pres. Bush has announced that he is willing to abandon this nation's immigration laws and actually create a "guest worker" system for 14 million undocumented Hispanics, who can be virtually awarded U.S. citizenships --without actually becoming citizens. Now you don't have to be a space scientist to understand what's happening in the White House.
The Bush team does not want to take a chance on losing the 2004 presidential election, which could be closer than some pundits predict.
Yet, common sense dictates that with all of his extremely rightwing judicial appointments and his declaration of war on affirmative action before the Supreme Court, he must forget about winning the Black vote. But, voila, there's another "minority bloc" available -- one growing even bigger than those recalcitrant Blacks. Right?
The Hispanics! Yes, the Hispanics!
Let's capture them and convert them all into Republicans. Forget about everything but their capture this year. Let's establish another "permanent underclass" from the south of the border, one that we will encourage to work for less pay than American citizens -- especially union members.
Forget about what this will contribute to America's current unemployment figures, which are frightening, just do it in time to convince Latino voters that on Nov. 2, 2004, Bush Republicans are "compassionate conservatives."
Let the Democrats keep their Blacks while we gather in the Browns.
President Bush is playing a dangerous game with his country, which also is your country and my country and my children's country and my grandchildren's country, and the country of several millions of citizens of all races and creeds.
But game playing is not new for this administration. Witness other media accounts of White House activity that occurred almost simultaneously with the announcement of his new Hispanic immigration policy. Thursday, several of the world's major newspapers announced that Bush's policies are "endangering the world economy," while contributing to "global warming," and that he misled the world on Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq.
On Wednesday evening, the CBS weekday 60 Minutes exposed the flagrant misinformation and cheating at his celebrated Houston, Texas public schools, which Bush had displayed as a model for his "No Child Left Behind" solution for the rest of the nation. He even appointed Houston's former School Superintendent Roderick Paige as his Secretary of Education.
Not a single charge against Bush came from partisan organizations. It was the International Monetary Fund that sounded the alarm over the dangerous universal impact of America's record-breaking budget deficit, which will exceed over $400 billion this year. The U.S. dollar has lost 20 percent of its value and the national debt could reach 40 percent of our economy, according to the IMF.
This is an "unprecedented level of external debt for a large industrial country," the IMF continued. This easily could be translated into an increase in worldwide interest rates, slowdown of growth, while hurting foreign investments in American assets. The impact already is felt in Europe and Japan, the IMF said.
At the same time, the Bush game came in for more criticism for its contributions to "global warming." In a special study published Thursday in the science magazine Nature, it is predicted that from 15 to 37 percent of all living species may become extinct by 2050. The cause is unabated "greenhouse" gases caused by industries and power plants that entrap heat in the atmosphere.
By far, America is the greatest producer of the gases that may one day start melting the world's ice caps and glaciers while drying up wetlands that keep alive nature's balance.
During the Clinton administration, several of the world's great scientists came together and began work on what is known as the Kyoto Pact, wherein they would agree on a collective effort to dramatically reduce the manufacture of carbon dioxide, which causes most of the problems. When Bush was elected, he withdrew U.S. participation, charging that the pact would put this country in a "straightjacket." He said he would get American industries to volunteer.
I didn't happen. He joined the Russians and the Chinese in what amounts to a "holdout" on the future of the earth. Industry, meaning money making, come first.
While the United States represents less than 5 percent of the world's population, it creates nearly 25 percent of the world's "greenhouse" gases.
Under President Bush, the game plan says act unilaterally -- just like invading Iraq while misleading American citizens on the urgency of an invasion.
His new immigration game plan deserves reconsideration, just like the others.
Article copyright Sengstacke Enterprises, Inc.
