Weekend Open Thread: Will the Light of Liberty be extinguished?

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“In this struggle against the immigrants it is clear – any half measure leads to ones own destruction. Immigrants and their world must die if we are to live.”

“There is no other choice than to fight a pitiless battle against the immigrants in every form.”

Just as our President seems to be guided by these quotes from Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels (right), so do many elected officials here in Orange County.

Now, clung to by today’s right wing fanatics, the anti-immigrant stance is against everything America stands for, stood for, and will stand for (if they get their way) in the future.

Joseph Goebbels also said “The almighty has never helped a lazy man.  He does not help the coward. He does not help the immigrant that cannot help themselves. The principle applies here.” Nazi propaganda is alive and well, not just in 1941 Germany, but here in America, now, with a foot on our throats right here in Orange County.

We were reminded of Goebbels’ salute at this past Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting. Raise your hand in the famed Nazi salute!  Should we thank the mighty Supervisors for protecting us from the very people that made America great, should we snuff out the very light that lit that New York harbor and greeted the masses? Or should we condemn them for bringing back the burning crosses that wring the neck of our nation’s fraught history?

This week the OC Board of Supervisors freed itself from California’s agenda of protecting immigrant’s rights. This will exacerbate discrimination and encourage attacks on all immigrants legal and illegal.  Supervisor Michelle Steel (up for re-election) grabbed hold of the propaganda and spread it across the county.  Please don’t doubt that the anti-immigrant stance has been solidly entrenched in OC for decades, and is resurgent!

Wood and crosses were lit in a fury by right-wing fanatics combined to burn down the American dream at this heated BOS meeting. Damn immigrant, criminal, low-lifes are destroying our society, all of this was screamed over and over. Maybe they were talking about those damn Irish… no, maybe it was the German immigrants or the Chinese. No… actually it was probably the Jews and the Catholics. Line ’em up and throw them all out of this land!

Emma Lazarus:
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Lazarus (right) contributed towards shaping the self-image of the United States, and how we think of the needs of those who emigrate to this land of opportunity as our parents did.  Her themes produced sensitivity and enduring lessons regarding immigrants and their need for dignity.

That is America, what we are all about, written by an American, an American Jew. Sensitivity and dignity is a far reach from the clenched fist we show the current immigrants.

The Statue of Liberty was an important symbol that was the meaning and the soul of America. This meant a lot to the soldiers shipping overseas in WWII.

Miss Liberty is a 1949 Broadway musical by Robert E. Sherwood and Irving Berlin. It is based on the sculpting of the Statue of Liberty (Liberty Enlightening the World) in 1886. The score includes the song “Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor,” a musical setting of Emma Lazarus’ sonnet “The New Colossus” (1883), which was placed at the base of the monument in 1903.

Now we stand on a precipice, possibly looking at a long fall from America “land of the free” to a despotic state, with the lessons of our history, the fight for equality forgotten, the soldiers who perished to protect distant people’s lives and liberty lost for naught.

Now we must ask: “Is Orange County the leader in the landslide of hate? Will Orange County win in the war of propaganda against the immigrant?  Is God on the side of the immigrant hater? Will we tear down the Statue of Liberty like they tore down the statue of Stalin, the statue of Saddam Hussein?  With this absurd, unbelievable move, will the despots of the past be laughing in their graves at the holier-than-thou Americans?

Sing along in the finale as Woody Guthrie weeps –  “This land is their land, this land is their land, from the shores of New York to the coast of California. From the gulf stream cruise ships, to the west coast wineries, this land was made for them and not anyone from some other place on this planet especially if you are Latino…”

Stand by for more on this unless… the city councils, the Orange County Board of Supervisors and our Commander in Chief himself unite to close down the blogosphere next.

About Fingal O'Flahertie

Fingal is an Orange County resident/entrepreneur, sometimes world traveler and man about the house.