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Tuesday 29 January 2013

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Damn this man is holding nothing back these days! That was a great speech that I am pretty sure just made a number of immigrants life long Democrats.

Here is perhaps my favorite part:  

When we talk about that in the abstract, it is easy sometimes for the discussion to take on a feeling of us versus them. And when that happens, a lot of folks forget that most of us used to be them. 

We forget that. 

And it’s really important for us to remember history. Unless you’re one of the first Americans, a Native American, you came from some place else, somebody brought you. 

You know, Ken Salazar (ph) he’s—he’s of Mexican-American descent, but he points out that his family’s been living where he lives for 400 years, so he didn’t—he didn’t immigrate anywhere. 

The Irish who left behind a land of famine; the Germans who fled persecution; the Scandinavians who arrived eager to pioneer out west; the Polish, the Russians, the Italians, the Chinese, the Japanese, the West Indians—the huddled masses who came through Ellis Island on one coast and Angel Island on the other. 

All those folks before they were us, they were them. And when each new wave of immigrants arrived, they faced resistance from those who were already here. They faced hardship. They faced racism. They faced ridicule. But over time, they went about their daily lives. They earned a living as they raised a family, as they built a community, as their kids went to school here. 

They did their part to build the nation. They were the Einsteins and the Carnegies, but they were also the millions of women and men whose names history may not remember, but whose actions helped make us who we are, who built this country hand by hand, brick by brick. 

They all came here knowing that what makes somebody an American is not just blood or birth, but allegiance to our founding principles and the faith in the idea that anyone from anywhere can write the next great chapter of our story, and that’s still true today.

I thought that was exactly the right way to talk about this and the attitude that will hopefully finally see something  progress on this issue.

Apparently the Republican counter plan hinges on first securing the border, which of course we all know is a ridiculous concept that will NEVER be achieved to the GOP's satisfaction. And the reason for that stance is because the Republicans also realize that the faster immigrants are added as US citizens, the faster the Democrat's ranks swell with new voters.

And THAT is not something they are any hurry to help implement.

(P.S. You can read the entire transcript of this speech here.)

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