Biting the Hand That Feeds You
From the desk of Congressman Steve King, Iowa, Fifth District
April 26, 2006
On May 1st, the activists who brought you thousands of Mexican flags flying in marches down the streets of our cities are now bringing you "Nothing Gringo Day". With help from the Mexican government, Mexican unions, Mexican political groups, and through the Spanish language radio and newspapers, the call has gone out to make America experience a total boycott, both here and in Mexico. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you.
Just the word "boycott" sparks the image of noble dissent in the face of economic or social oppression. I think of American colonials bucking British economic interests in retaliation to the Stamp Act. Or perhaps the ostracizing of Irish landlord Charles Boycott, the namesake of the verb for all tyrannized people. If not tyrannized, at least disgruntled. If not disgruntled, maybe just bored.
Yet, isn't the key to a successful boycott an economic or social upper-hand? The cost must be felt if the offending party be forced to reform. For example, how does boycotting a movie you had no intention of going to affect the box office? More people probably see a boycotted movie due to the attention than if it had simply been ignored.
President Carter thought he was on to something when he kept American athletes out of the 1980 Moscow Olympics. That showed 'em. That particular boycott neither got the USSR out of Afghanistan nor brought down the Berlin Wall. It just caused our own athletes to suffer.
The May 1st anti-Gringo-fest is also being billed as "A Day Without Immigrants" which is a misnomer on a couple of counts. First, the threatened boycott fails to conjure the image of a Norwegian refusing to buy his May 1 lutefisk at the corner Fareway. Second, the pro-amnesty groups are insistent on confusing legal and illegal immigration. Let's not start mixing our apples and oranges. The issue before Congress is illegal immigration. Perhaps the May 1st boycott should give America a glimpse into "A Day Without ILLEGAL Immigration."
What would that May 1st look like without illegal immigration? There would be no one to smuggle across our southern border the heroin, marijuana, cocaine, and methamphetamines that plague the United States, reducing the U.S. supply of meth that day by 80%. The lives of 12 U.S. citizens would be saved who otherwise die a violent death at the hands of murderous illegal aliens each day. Another 13 Americans would survive who are otherwise killed each day by uninsured drunk driving illegals. Our hospital emergency rooms would not be flooded with everything from gunshot wounds, to anchor babies, to imported diseases to hangnails, giving American citizens the day off from standing in line behind illegals. Eight American children would not suffer the horror as a victim of a sex crime.
On the negative side, the price of a pound of tomatoes might go up from $0.79 to $0.80. That is unless you have a garden. But I'm guessing that the Mexican drug lords are not taking May 1st off. Neither will the 11,000 illegal invaders that pour over our border every other day of the year. It is a safe bet that the U.S. Border Patrol will have a very busy "Nothing Gringo Day."
Since September 11th, it remains true that OBL is the greatest threat to America. I will leave it to the reader to decide if the greatest threat is Osama bin Laden or the Open Borders Lobby. The emerging cheap labor "ruling class" in America is the strongest supporter of amnesty for illegals. Their anti-American "new servant class" has chosen to boycott them; the very definition of irony. On May 1st, Primero de Mayo, Americans will observe, as illegal immigrants celebrate, "Bite the Hand That Feeds You Day."
