Warning: This is another (quite hurried) semi-Historio-rant-screed by the long time lurker Aurelius. Proceed at your own risk.
Unbelieveable ! Just when Pub. Verg. Aurelius was about to go back to another multi-year extended period of lurking at Dkos, we get another meta-spat. One diarist posts timely expatriate and emigration information for those in the community and the country, who are considering it. The response by commentors and response diarists is swift. "We must stay and fight", they say. We then turn the circular firing squad on ourselves.
Here's the real problem, and once again, the point is completely missed: EMIGRATION FROM THE U.S. IS THE NEW POLICY ! ALREADY, ALREADY ! Done, spoken, and articulated. And us Kossacks will be the first to go. Rep. Steve King of Iowa appears to be set to be the new chair of the U.S. House Subcommittee on Immigration. His position is well known, having enunciated it months ago. You can read about it:
here: http://iowaindependent.com/...
here: http://thinkprogress.org/...
and I think this is video footage of it here:
http://vodpod.com/...
I'll support amnesty... under one condition. Every time we give amnesty for an illegal alien, we deport a liberal.
I don't have a lot of time, because frankly I have a history paper to write. But let's give a warm, albeit quick, welcome to just a partial list of the new deportee's. Feel free to envision your own pictures next to each entry, and add your own descriptions to each one. Heck for that matter, feel free to add to the list. Maybe we can give King a good healthy start. Here's Aurelius's entries:
Magna Carta and the ideals of Stephen Langton.
Thank you Magna Carta and ideals of Stephen Langton. Even though you were never citizens of this once great nation, you gave us the foundations of liberty, a word with the root liber, from which we derive liberal and liberalism. You and a bunch of rebellious noblemen stood up to King John. You made our nation possible. But this is the New America. You no longer have rights. You are hereby deported for the crime of being liberal.
Jurisprudence and the ideals of Coke, Bacon, and Blackstone.
Thank you Coke, Bacon, and Blackstone. Even though you were never citizens of this once great nation, you gave us the foundation of Jurisprudence. You gave us the foundation of our once great legal system, which allowed for redress of disputes by a jury of our peers and not the king, plutocracy theocracy, or fascist dictator. But this is the New America. You no longer have rights. You are hereby deported for the crime of being liberal.
Thomas Jefferson.
Thank you Thomas Jefferson for being the true "father of our country". You were one of the drafters of the Declaration of Independence, and your service to our country is unlike any other. Not only did you represent the best of the Enlightenment, but you served us well as Governor, legislator, and as U.S. President. But this is the New America. You no longer have rights. You are hereby deported for the crime of being liberal.
John Quincy Adams.
Thank you John Quincy Adams for not only your service, but for your strong stands on social justice, human dignity, and religious freedom. It was through your efforts that a once non-diverse religious denomination, became two strongly diverse religious denominations. Your serving as counsel in the Matter of the Amistad, gave our country's drive for social justice a longer life. But this is the New America. You no longer have rights. You are hereby deported for the crime of being liberal.
Henry David Thoreau.
Thank you Henry David Thoreau. Your literary works and life examples of civil disobedience were an inspiration to the world. But this is the New America. You no longer have rights. You are hereby deported for the crime of being liberal.
W.E.B. DuBois.
Thank you W.E.B. DuBois for your passion to be educated. You were a beacon that showed the way to Americans of all races that they could achieve the education they wanted in this once great nation. But this is the New America. You no longer have rights. You are hereby deported for the crime of being liberal.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Thank you FDR. Of all the proud progressive's in the great liberal tradition, you are the one that the right wing authoritarians vehemently hate the most. Not only during your life, but lo these many years after. But this is the New America. You no longer have rights. You are hereby deported for the crime of being liberal.
The Kennedy's.
Thank you Jack, Bobby, and Teddy. All of you are gone now, your shining lights as liberal lions include examples too long to list here. Be glad you have passed on for this is the New America. Each of you no longer have rights. Each of you are hereby deported for the crime of being liberal.
Jimmy Carter.
Thank you Jimmy Carter. I know that your loss in the election of 1980 was the country's loss, even if they refuse to admit it collectively. We all share your pain. I enjoyed being one of the other 5,999 souls who gathered with you to build 100 homes in seven days here in the oppressive Houston heat in June of 1998 for the JCWP and Habitat for Humanity. I still have our house group picture taken together. I read all your books, and am still inspired. It is perhaps you only slightly less than FDR that they hate the most. But this is the New America. Soon you will no longer have rights. You will hereby be deported for the crime of being liberal.
Future Generations of liberals.
Thank you future generations of liberals, for continuing our hopes and our aspirations wherever you might find yourselves. You will almost certainly no longer be residing in America. This is because most in our current generation were not allowed to fight a fair fight, call the BS, and take radical action on your behalf. That was the New America, but you likely are not living here because our generation was deported. For the crime of being liberal