Have we lost our minds?

Young conservatives and their editorial writing of late exhaust me. They vehemently defend their positions in print and in private, but turn into witless wonders when face-to-face discussion and debate emerge from their gutter- sniping sensationalism. In my mind, the Young Conservatives are the Junior League of the KKK.

As an American Indian, I look at the current debate on immigration and wish that our tribes had been as aggressive 400 years ago as the Republican Party is today. We would have turned back all of those poor migrant workers crossing the ocean in leaky boats, closed our borders to the ne’er do wells of other countries and kept our quality of life status quo by denying the opportunity of it to others. It would have been a sound decision, and as a result, most of you reading this would not be here today, as you are descended from those risk takers; the rejected minorities of other countries, many of you are descended from people who were criminals in their home countries.

And yet, possibly because of poor policy making on the part of American Indian tribes, your ancestors stayed and created a nation based on concepts of freedom, symbolized often by a statue in a northern harbor, a gift of the French, that was historically meant to welcome people of other nations who came to the United States seeking a better way of life. There is no such statue or symbol on the southern plains of this nation.

Many use the too-often played card of “terrorists” to argue against immigration. But if we share a border and a regional economy, does it not make sense that we would seek to have our neighbors as allies? If the “neighborhood watch” programs work so effectively in communities, would it not be effective on a larger scale?

While there are no clear cut answers on immigration, it would make sense to engage the Latin American nations in conversation, debate, brain storming, seeking answers and remedies for a long-term approach to these issues and creating an on-going dialogue to address evolving and new issues regarding this very old problem.

Now, more than ever, this makes sense as the majority of Americans within the next 30 years will be Americans of color, that is, Hispanic and African American. In my mind, this is the next logical step, enlisting our neighbors and allies, working together to strengthen the economy of this hemisphere and addressing the socio-economic issues created by that economy.

Hadrian’s Wall was a stop-gap for the Romans, abandoned when the resources to maintain it were stretched too thin in other parts of the world. Nor do we see the Great Wall of China maintained and staffed with troops, holding at bay migrant populations. It seems a lesson current world powers would remember. Great nations seem to make the greatest mistakes of late, but historians would tell you it was always thus and always thus will be.

My hope on this issue, as with many of our current issues, rests on the establishment of the Bush Library and subsequent research. With the creation of that institution, citizens and leaders from around the world will have a central place to come and study policy and procedure, to learn how not to govern a nation.

Steve Denson is the director of diversity at the Cox School of Business. He can be reached at [email protected].