Nationalism & Patriotism.

I had a couple of follow-up thoughts to my earlier post, Immigration: The Hidden Underbelly.

And they center around some thoughts on the idea of allegiance. I fear that in most conversations about immigration that both sides (at least the people of God) get lost in thinking and seeing things through a purely American, national, and patriotic lens.

In response to immigration, our responsibility as Americans (specific, national, local) may be to close our borders to illegal immigrants. But as compassionate, concerned members of the kingdom of God (embracing, global) where does our responsibility lay?

As members of the kingdom of God we are not defined by borders and flags . . . imaginary lines on pieces of paper . . . concrete walls separating the same dirt and air. We are defined by a cross.

As members of the kingdom of God, this is not our home, prompting Hauerwas to call us resident aliens and for Derek Webb to sing, “My first allegiance is not to a flag, a country, or a man. My first allegiance is not to democracy or blood. It’s to a king & a kingdom.” And as the writer of Hebrews says, “This is not our home. The insider world is not our home.”

As members of the kingdom of God we can not approach immigration from a purely American perspective. Obviously, illegal immigration is not in the best interest of us as individual people or as a individual nation.

As members of the kingdom of God we have to approach immigration as members of a community and family that is larger than America. As members of the kingdom of God we are to wrestle with the kind of broad reform that makes immigrating to another country and unnecessary.

As members of the kingdom of God we can not fight to close our borders to those who do not belong when our call as members of the God’s family is to open our arms to those who do not belong.

As members of the kingdom of God talk of turning desperate, hopeless, poor, and hurting people away is difficult to reconcile with the words and actions of Jesus.

As members of the kingdom of God nationalism and patriotism are irrelevant terms to us. They make little sense unless they are framed in the larger story of diversity in the global community of nations.

This is why I’m so frustrated with the current conversations about immigration coming from those who are pushing hardest for reform. As I said yesterday, we need distance and a consistent ethic in our positions. And we need to approach the conversation as compassionate, concerned members of the kingdom of God as opposed to staunch proponents of the flag that happens to be sticking into a particular point on this rock floating through space.

For some larger context, although I’m about 7 months late in posting this link, Aaron Monts has a great post that he wrote back in June of last year on the differences between nationalism and patriotism. You definitely need to read his distinctions.

Immigration: The Hidden Underbelly.

Since I was in an intelligence vacuum in Alabama and already had to deal with ill-informed, FOX influenced comments on immigration and Barack, and spent a couple of days in a hotel in New Orleans, I thought I’d share some more of my recent thoughts on immigration.
As a complete side note, I was told some breaking news – Barack Obama refuses to pledge allegiance to the flag. Just so you know.

To the point at hand . . . I’m a bit confused by some of the seemingly contradictory postures on immigration. Let me say up front, I’m not up for debating the issue of immigration in this particular forum. I think it is way more nuanced than I perceive it to be and I think we need an extremely broad and comprehensive vision for reform. But I’m troubled by some contradictions.

Regardless of our respective positions, I think most of us are the benefactors of the hidden underbelly of immigration. So many of those who have immigrated to America, both legally and illegally, often serve as the hidden machinery that makes our economy go. Mainly because of their cheap labor and partly due to their limited voice, immigrants often end up on the ground floor of our economy.

I wonder about the contradiction that lies in those who are often anti-immigration. Namely, that those who are the most urgent and vocal are often those who are reaping the most rewards from immigration. They complain about immigrants with rhetoric that borders on racism only to reap the benefits of lawn care, food service, hotels, farming and food production, and retail manufacturing labor to name a few that is almost entirely made up of an immigrant work force.

I wonder if those who are opposed to immigration would be willing to get rid of their perfectly manicured lawns that are taken care of by immigrants? I wonder if those who are opposed to immigration would be willing to clean their house themselves instead of it their toilets being cleaned by an immigrant? I wonder if those who are opposed to immigration would be willing to pay more money for their hotel stays in order to pay for the more expensive American labor? I wonder if those who are opposed to immigration would be willing to pay more for their food at the grocery store and more for their food at restaurants?

The majority of every house and hotel maid in America is an immigrant. The majority of every kitchen staff in America is an immigrant. The majority of every lawn care person and landscaper in America is an immigrant. The majority of every day laborer on the farms in America is an immigrant. The majority of every producer of clothing in America is an immigrant.

I wonder if those who reap the benefits of this immigrant work force, that fund our middle-class lifestyles, would be willing to go immigrant-free? I also wonder if their voices aren’t growing louder as more and more immigrants begin to move from the hidden underbelly and into plain sight . . . gradually growing in power, education, and wealth.

As much as I think there needs to be healthy and robust conversations about immigration and reform to our current policies . . . I also think that we need to take honest looks at the hypocrisy of an issue.

We can’t say one thing and do another. We have to have a consistent ethic. If you’re against immigration . . . then clean your own toilets in your house and hotel. Mow your own lawn. Grow your own crops. And make your own clothes. Then make your stand from that position of consistency as opposed to your position of contradictions.

Immigration, Obama, & The Social Politics of Being Political.

Sometimes I think family is the best place to have conversations about politics. When you’re within the safe confines of your family, everyone is more willing to say what they want without fear of personal attacks.

Other times I think they are the worst place to have these types of conversations.

For those who don’t know how to use context clues, Alabama is a pretty conservative state. After all we are the state that voted “no” to the lottery on the back of the Christian populace here. Slight disclaimer, I may or may not have boycotted the lottery with picket signs during the late 90s. I can still remember those sermons about the dangers of hell coming to our front door. Good times.

The other night we went to a fish fry with my parents at their friend’s house. It was a birthday party for my dad’s friend. And to say that the company present was conservative would be an understatement. There was my parents. A Southern Baptist deacon. A retired railroad operator. A lady who worked in the regional prisoner work release program. And an insurance lady who worked in a rural hospital.

This is no exaggeration when I say that it only took 2 minutes from the time their butts hit their chairs until they started in on immigration. Ironically enough, my dad made some snide comment about Mexicans. To which the ex railroad guy transitioned to his commentary (directed towards the hospital lady) about all the Mexicans getting to have free babies and her giving away his tax money to help these Mexicans (no one ever used the term immigrants which is what our ancestors were, instead it was a slang term or Mexicans). Then the hospital lady said that we have no idea about what goes in the hospitals. Which inevitably led to health care and how the communists are gaining in power again and trying to make medicine communist (unlike our parks, libraries, roads, and other government programs that they took advantage of). Which of course led to how Barack Obama was a Muslim and raised by some Muslims and a pack of wolves in a cave.

What bothers me about all of these things is not their opinions. But rather how they came to their opinions. Nobody at that table had read a book on immigration. Nor tax reform. Nor immigration. Nor minimum wage. Instead, because they get dumped on by the government (they complained about taxes, healthcare – ironic, and retirement) they look for the only others that they are above economically. And take their aggression out on them.

It’s the classic problem. Kid A gets bullied on and picked on by his parents or older sibling. Has no voice, no power, no opportunity to express himself. Kid A goes to school and takes it out on Kid B with bullying words and fists. Kid B goes home and beats up on his brothers. And the cycle continues.

Everybody needs somebody that makes them feel better about themselves. And fear makes an excellent enemy. With these two combined, middle class Americans, instead of placing a critique properly on those above who siphon off the wealth and the bureaucracies (governmental and business) that empower it, we look for a scapegoat. Which just so happens to be Mexicans at the moment. That is of course only because we’re tired of using African Americans as projections for our frustrations.

The problem comes in for me when you try to engage people in these social situations. Their is unwritten social rule about being political . . . don’t do it unless you agree with the majority of the people who are in the room.

To have a rational discourse with anybody . . . to have intelligent conversation with someone without resorting to scapegoating or using rhetorical propaganda . . . is nearly impossible.

I mean this as no disrespect to Republicans but as broad generalization . . . the more uneducated you are . . . the more you love Bush. There was not one college diploma in that room besides my mom . . . and yet everyone extolled the praises of his politics. There was not one person who read a book about any of the issues that were discussed . . . and yet everyone extolled that politic. There was not one person who had even a cordial relationship with a Mexican or African-American . . . and yet they extolled that politic.

To be more than fair, it’s not much better for the Democrats. The more educated they are the more they like to talk and do nothing.

It just bothers me that people will listen to media spin and believe that Obama is a Muslim and was raised by al-Qaeda. Meanwhile, they won’t read his autobiography or read in of his early writings where he expresses clearly his Christian beliefs.

It bothers me that when you talk about having a local, small, natural economy you get labeled as a communist when in fact local, small, natural economies are the most conservative in nature.

It bothers me that when you talk about the immigration problem the easiest (and most unimaginative) answer is to ship them back to where they came from or as my brother put it . . . sit at the border and shoot them when they come across.

It bothers me that these lower middle class friends of mine would be such staunch, uncritical proponents of a politic that exploits them and moves money away from the bottom and towards the top.

It bothers me that when I man up and confront these contradictions and issues with sound, intelligent, informed, diverse facts . . . that an awkward silence fills the air.

Lasting only long enough for everyone to process how liberal and communist I am before they ignore facts and go back to propaganda.