(Cross-posted on MyDD)
Remember the 1990's? Those long-gone days when everybody had an opinion about both Clintons; when a coterie of right-wing media outlets splatter-blasted their centrally-determined talking points all over television and radio to rail against a fictive, ubiquitous "liberal media"; and when everybody had a next-door neighbor who would descend into hysterics at the mere mention of immigration?
Oh, that's right. Today is September 11-- the very day on which Gee-Dubya Bush believes the universe we live in fundamentally changed, 7 years ago-- and yet today also feels like Bill Murray's Groundhog Day in the sense that nothing ever changes. Our daily lives are still awash in a white noise sea of opinion-mongering vis-a-vis that fictive librull media and that inexorable topic of immigration.
But in the 1990's, the ascendant right-wing television outlet was called National Empowerment Television, and its slogan was "America's Voice". NET folded in '97, and it’s beside the point to mention what rose out of its ashes...
My point is that there’s a new group calling itself America's Voice-- and this one is decidedly more reasonable:
And that's not the only thing that's changed. According to a new study undertaken by the progressive think tank and advocacy organization NDN, overwhelming majorities of the voting populace in four battleground states support comprehensive, humane immigration reform that entails a path to citizenship to presently-undocumented resident aliens:
Florida 73%
Colorado 68%
New Mexico 69%
Nevada 72%
What does this mean? It means that across America, our next-door neighbors are not so crazy anymore-- at least, regarding the welcoming of our neighbors from south of the border. It means that across America, people desire a policy that makes sense-- and they are ready to vote for one.
Honestly I'm not sure what else it means. I have a few other things to say on behalf of America's Voice-- so I'll be coming back to this space over the next week or so.
But I hope if you have any ideas-- about immigration, the hate-mongers who rail against it, or about what progressive policies should or should not be implemented-- that you'll discuss them with me in the comment thread.