Bush v. Nuestro Himno

What "Nuestro Himno" signifies is not anti-patriotism, it is patriotism. What Latinos can say about Bush's condemnation of "Nuestro Himno" is not "how dare you insult us as latinos", it's "how dare you object to our demonstration of love for our country?" Literally, (this sounds cheesy, but what the hell) it gives Latinos the opportunity to reiterate the Langston Hughes line and declare that they too sing America.

I've written several times in commenting on other diaries on the necessity of limiting immigration for economic reasons. At the same time, I oppose making immigrants felons, I oppose mass deportations, I do not think the cultures new Americans bring with them to the country present a problem. And I think it's urgent that the people on the Left who support more or less open borders, and the people on the Left who support a more restrictive immigration policy, find common ground. I think George W. Bush may have just provided that opportunity today.

It's fairly obvious that with this "Nuestro Himno" gambit Bush is engaging in is an attempt to distance himself from his guest-worker (indentured servitude, really) programs that so seriously alienated his conservative base. It's classic: create an artificial issue to excite the base, and use that to distract followers from the actual issues, on which he and the Republican have anything but ordinary Americans' best interests at heart, and pray that no one figures out how to successfully call him on it. It follows, transparently, the Republican playbook that we've seen on everything from flag-burning to same-sex marriage.

But I think this time it may not work.

I think Bush over-stepped. And in pointing out that "Nuestro Himno" represents a different variety of patriotism, not a loyalty to a different entity than the America we know, Democrats can differentiate and drive a wedge between the pragmatic position on immigration, that because a labor market can only absorb so many new entrants at one time immigration ought to be limited, and the actual racist/ethnic chauvinism that lurks behind the extreme right end of this debate.

We have to call Bush's statement today what it is: a cowardly effort by a desperate President to reverse his slide in the opinion polls by capitalizing off narrow-minded prejudice, an effort to say that the patriotism of some Americans means less than the patriotism of others, solely because of their ethnic heritage.

And most importantly, we should reiterate that it does not matter what words are used to express the love of one's country so long as the love is genuine.

This states the proposition at stake in such a way that the great majority of Americans--who want an immigration policy that is reasoned and humane but that limits entry--see the Democratic Party as their voice.

And at the same time it reveals the Republicans for what they are: the champions of the vilest demagogic chicanery. With one hand, they welcome the possibility of a class of "guest-worker" helots permanently incapable of exercising their rights under American labor or anti-discimination laws because they can be returned to their home countries with a wave of the hand from an employer. And with the other, they seek to profit politically by creating a new culture of discrimination, limiting illegals' access to health care, education and the courts, and that seeks to define Spanish-speakers (illegal immigrants, legal immigrants, and natural-born Americans) as less than American. And this new system of discrimination that is marketed as the way to stop illegal immigration in fact fosters it, encourages it, subsidizes it. Because the further the illegal immigrants are driven into the dark, the less recourse they have to their abuse at the hands of U.S. employers.

I may not stand for the complete opening of the United States' borders to all comers. But I certainly stand against this Republican ideology of neo-slavery.

And the President's words today demonstrates precisely how much a threat to this Republican programme "Nuestro Himno" is. It demonstrates a love of country from a Republican-unapproved source. Which of course, cannot be allowed.

So for the love of God, sing.