Ever since Obama took office all the hate groups that have been quite came out of the woods and with pride expressed their hate.

To me the tea party if full of hate groups. Lots of educated people in those groups.

But every group has its "buffer."  There's gender: men have been making themselves feel they are better than women, by keeping women in positions of economic and social subservience.  There's race, of course, which is an ongoing problem.  There's ethnicity, there's religion: God forbid one is brown and Middle Eastern and Muslim.

We condescend on economic terms: the rich not only think they are better, but they have the money and the power to make sure no one knocks them off the top of the heap.

So much of this is human nature, and I don't know how you change that.  Yes, you can educate about the contributions made across the spectrum, and ideally, what we learn should inspire people to aspire to a better life, but sometimes, looking up the ladder at those who are better off, and looking at the barriers between where we are and where we want to be, is so demoralizing that looking down the ladder is where we turn when we want to feel "better than" someone, anyone.

This country needs an immigration policy that works, but something also needs to be done about the countries whose citizens are finding any and every way to come here hoping for a better life; I don't believe we will begin to solve our immigration problem until we solve both sides of it.

If we had full employment in this country, I don't think things would be at the fever-pitch they are; when you have a job, and everyone you know has a job, there's no sense of there being jobs taken from you by someone who isn't here legally.

And that means we have to address our own economic issues - something that seems to have been on the back burner and allowed to fester for far too long.  There is a growing acceptance of some level of permanent unemployment in this country, and it is being talked about by some of the alleged experts, and this has to stop.  It's helping to fuel the "uh-oh, we really need to cut entitlements" movement and anyone who thinks this is going to make things better for the underclass needs to understand that this is all about "How to Create a Third World Environment in the Wealthiest Nation in the World," which is subtitled, "Cut at the Bottom so There's More Money for Those of Us at the Top."

But the problem in Arizona, I think, doesn't have much to do with either education or experience. Many of the very conservative people who retire to Arizona from other places, and influence its politics, are relatively well educated and affluent.

Plus, Hispanic history in Arizona is long (longer than that of the Gringos), the state has long enjoyed a very substantial Hispanic population, and the border between Arizona and Mexico has ALWAYS been extremely permeable -- a state of affairs that, as it certainly didn't when I lived in Arizona in the 70s, has not caused much anxiety in the past.

So the problem isn't ignorance, nor is it a lack of experience with Hispanics and Hispanic culture -- in Arizona that culture is both all around you and one of the more attractive things about the state. Furthermore, the problem isn't, I think, that Hispanics are suddenly pouring over the border in such substantially larger numbers. (If they are, it is because the opportunities for work has substantially increased.)

I think the problem is that over the last 30 years Gringos have been pouring into the state in historically unprecedented numbers -- a great many of them elderly, cheap and soon to be ill -- and in the process making ever greater demands on the state in terms of very expensive services.

These people are afraid that, unless measures are taken to check their political power and freedom, Arizona's more Hispanic younger, population will, naturally enough, both demand more services for themselves and their children and demand that these recently arrived retirees and entreprenuers, for whom Arizona's low wages and taxes have been such an attraction, help pay for them.

Young Hispanics want to enjoy the legitimate fruits of the bustling, modern economy rapid population growth has contributed to in Arizona.

But older whites still want the low wage low tax benefits Arizona offered them when it was a (low population) economic backwater.

Schools should not be teaching people what to think.  What schools schools should do is to teach people to think critically.  

So that is why I believe it is more important to overturn the law than to rely on schools to change ignorance.

In the South there was a belief among conservatives that prejudice was so ingrained in Southern society that it could only be changed gradually.  What progressives believed instead was that the focus should be on changing the Jim Crow laws.  Prejudice finds support when it is codified into law.  But even if you don't change hearts and minds,those who have been subjected to discrimination will tell you that it is less important what someone believes than what someone does.  Actions are more important than thoughts.

Here's one of several interesting takes on Arizona's idiocy that I have read from African Americans -- concerned that others of their heritage are not seeing the need to side with Hispanic Americans.  

The republican lies of US purpose to be divisive and oppressive need to be counteracted.

The corporate media, servant and propagandist of the plutocracy needs to be attacked, broken up, and neutered.

Right now, it's easier for an unskilled person who doesn't speak English to gain entry (and eventual citizenship) than it is for a skilled person from Europe, Asia, or Australia.  That makes no sense, especially given the dearth of low skill jobs available).

I maintain that there would not be this huge push to close borders if we were at or close to full employment.

Mmmm, there has been fierce anti-immigration sentiment for decades here, even during times of prosperity. Many people have long opposed our immigration policies for the reasons oldpro cites, which I agree with, and a smaller number who oppose expanding our population--whether by births or immigration--as an environmental issue, a view I also agree with. (And of course, our attempts to patrol the border are wreaking horrible environmental damage too.)

What I would add, though, is a lot of the "anti-illegals" are missing the boat. The real problem with immigration is the rampant abuse by American corporations of H-1B visas, fed by the mythology that there aren't enough skilled American workers to take the tech jobs that are going to these workers.

In any case, our tanking economy might just take care of the "illegal immigrant" problem by itself.

The number of illegal immigrants in the United States dropped by nearly 1 million from 2007 to 2009 as the Bush administration ramped up enforcement efforts just as the economy took a dive, according to new figures the Homeland Security Department released Tuesday.

The drop - which analysts said is unprecedented in modern history - indicates that more illegal immigrants left to go back home, and that fewer illegal immigrants actually tried to cross the border in 2007 and 2008 - data that will play a major role when Congress takes up the immigration issue later this year.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/feb/10/1-million-fewer-illegals-in-us-new-study-says/?feat= home_headlines

Most researchers agree that no matter the size of the population, which is notoriously hard to measure, the rate of illegal immigration dropped sharply during the recession. They disagree, however, on the causes.

"The number of new undocumented immigrants coming in has plummeted," Passel said.

Other researchers conclude the drop is not because fewer illegal immigrants are coming in, but because more are leaving.

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_14370889?source=most_viewed&nclick_check=1

h/to to Center for Immigration Studies

Here's an article from two years ago saying that some immigrants were going back home because things were no better here:

You are asking people to fight their instincts. Of course it is an uphill battle.