Anti-American Laws

A facsimile of the Declaration of Independence, which hangs between the flags of several American states, occupies a place of honor on my desk. Some people have told me that my enthusiastic and even passionate admiration for the Union is utopian, because, they say, the United States I revere is that of the Founding Fathers; the country of Jefferson, Emerson and Whitman; an intellectual blueprint that has little to do with the present American reality. Though this is partially correct, my devotion is nuanced and has never stopped me from seeing the ever-present dark side, nor have I failed to see that the country has regressed in some areas. Nevertheless, I believe there is still much that is admirable in the Grand Republic and that it needs to be taken care of, even more so during these times that give rise to people determined to tear down its very foundations.

I basically venerate the legal institutions, values, politics and policies that allowed the forging of the most powerful state ever. But neither is it about a show of sympathy based on a dry rationalism. I love American music (Charles Ives as well as Bob Dylan), bourbon and the lovely side of American cinema. I have already said that the United States is the work of humankind, where self-selected groups from around the world have converged…beginning with the Pilgrims. The best university system in the world is an impressive example thereof.

Thus my alarm at Arizona’s SB 1070 and HB 2162 laws, which are not anti-immigrant as commonly said, but anti-American, for they attack one of the basic pillars of American society: the possibility that individuals, regardless of origin, will get to collaborate in the construction of the gigantic republic. Would the United States even exist if these rules had been applied to the Mayflower passengers? What would Sheriff Arpaio, dutiful enforcer of these rules, say if they had been applied to his parents, Italian immigrants? What if an unscrupulous immigration employee had denied entry to Andrew Grove, the architect of Intel, because he arrived with less than ten dollars in his pocket?

Beyond the anecdotal, it is frightening to learn that other states are preparing to implement similar anti-American and certainly, unconstitutional laws. A growing trend, based on fear, prejudice and ignorance, generates this and other manifestations of xenophobia and intolerance. It is terrifying to know that many African-Americans have subscribed to these ideas. If only Martin Luther King, Jr. could see them! And we are appalled by the growing success of Governor Sarah Palin, a paradigm of small-town conservatism and hillbilly populism.

If this tide eventually prevails, twenty-first century Americans will have succumbed to cowardice and obscurantism instead of the audacity and enlightenment that accompanied the founding and growth of the country. In the short term and in Latin America, it will further alienate sympathy for the traditional American causes. Don’t do this to us!