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Politics > Politics-USA |
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16 Apr 2006 05:23:52 PM |
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Immigrants? Welcome O Pioneers! |
American Pioneers -- or 'Illegals'?
By Eduardo Mois=E9s Pe=F1alver
The Washington Post
Sunday, April 16, 2006; B07
A number of the politicians calling for the criminalization of illegal
immigrants may not be aware that they and a good many of their
constituents could themselves be direct descendants of people who did
some illegal migrating of their own many years ago. Much of the
territory of the United States was settled by people -- hundreds of
thousands of them -- who disregarded the law by squatting on public
lands.
Of course, they had a ready reason for doing so: Like today's
immigrants, they were seeking a better life for themselves and their
families. Indeed, many of the current residents of the states between
the Appalachian and Rocky mountains can trace their roots directly to
these onetime criminals -- whom we now call "pioneers."
In the early decades of the 19th century, the federal government hoped
to dispose of public land in its western territories by auctioning it
to the highest bidder -- typically a northeastern land speculator. But
this policy posed a serious obstacle to the settlers streaming west in
hopes of acquiring cheap land to start a new life. Speculators often
held land off the market for years, waiting for prices to increase so
they could sell for a hefty profit.
Although federal law made it a crime to enter publicly owned land
slated for auction, hundreds of thousands of squatters trespassed on
this land, as well as on absentee-owned private holdings, and began to
farm it illegally. The federal government tried at times to protect the
land by sending the Army to clear squatters out, but the settlers would
simply return once the soldiers had moved on.
Eastern politicians, many of whom dabbled in land speculation,
condemned the squatters' defiance of federal law. They accused
squatters of being "greedy, lawless land grabbers" who had no respect
for law and order. In 1815 President James Madison issued a
proclamation warning "uninformed or evil disposed persons . . . who
have unlawfully taken possession of or made any settlement on the
public lands . . . to remove therefrom" or face ejection by the Army
and criminal prosecution. Henry Clay expressed a widely shared
sentiment in 1838 when he dismissed the squatters as a "lawless
rabble."
But once the squatters managed to put down roots, the federal
government found it difficult, both politically and practically, to
remove them. Accordingly, on 39 occasions before 1837, Congress enacted
retroactive amnesties for squatters illegally occupying federal lands,
despite the objection that these amounted to a reward for lawlessness.
Ultimately the process of moving from occupation to ownership was fully
legalized in the 1862 Homestead Act, which granted free title to
settlers who met the statute's residency and improvement requirements.
In one of the great ironies of American history, the lawless squatters
underwent a dramatic image makeover in our collective memory to become
noble pioneers.
The lesson for then -- and now? When the needs that drive large numbers
of people to break the law are strong enough, it's unlikely that
official repression will be able to stop them. This is not to say that
the government isn't justified in attempting to regulate immigration.
But efforts to get a handle on the problem must be undertaken with a
proper respect for the dignity of illegal migrants and for the
legitimate needs that push them to break the law.
Who knows? Perhaps in a hundred years, when the heated debate over
illegal immigration has long since made way for some other controversy,
our grandchildren will watch movies or television shows celebrating the
heroism of today's illegal immigrants -- or "pioneers."
The writer is an associate professor at Fordham Law School, where he
teaches courses on property and land use.
=A9 2006 The Washington Post Company
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/14/AR200604140=
1448.html
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| User: "Topaz" |
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| Title: Re: Immigrants? Welcome O Pioneers! |
16 Apr 2006 06:38:28 PM |
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Portugal was once a great nation. It might have been the greatest
nation on earth at one time. But now it is almost like a third world
country. What happened? Race-mixing is what happened. They let a lot
of Black people in and of course the result was racial inter-marriage.
Now the Portuguese people are not as White as they were. We need to
preserve the White race. Here are some quotes from Mein Kampf:
"All that we admire in the world to-day, its science, its art, its
technical developments and discoveries, are the products of the
creative activities of a few peoples, and it may be true that their
first beginnings must be attributed to one race. The maintenance of
civilization is wholly dependant on such peoples. Should they perish,
all that makes this earth beautiful will descend with them into the
grave."
"All the great civilizations of the past became decadent because the
originally creative race died out, as a result of the contamination on
the blood."
"Every manifestation of human culture, every product of art, science
and technical skill, which we see before our eyes to-day, is almost
exclusively the product of the Aryan creative power. This very fact
fully justifies the conclusion that it was the Aryan alone who founded
a superior type of humanity"
"The foundations of actual life in Japan to-day are not those of the
native Japanese culture, although this characterizes the external
features of the country, which features strike the eye of European
observers on account of their fundamental difference from us; but the
real foundations of contemporary Japanese life are the enormous
scientific and technical achievements of Europe and America, that is
to say, of Aryan peoples."
"A people that fails to preserve the purity of its racial blood
thereby destroys the unity of the soul of the nation in all its
manifestations. A disintegrated national character is the inevitable
consequence of the process of disintegration in the blood. And the
change which takes place in the spiritual and creative faculties of a
people is only an effect of the change that had modified its racial
substance."
"For in a world which would be composed of mongrels and Negroid all
ideals of human beauty and nobility and all hopes of an idealized
future for our humanity would be lost forever."
"It is especially the cultural creativeness which disappears when a
superior race inter-mixes with an inferior one."
"There may be hundreds of excellent States in this earth, and yet if
the Aryan, who is the creator and custodian of civilization, should
disappear, all culture that is on an adequate level with the spiritual
needs of the superior nations to-day would also disappear."
"We National Socialists know that in holding these views we take up a
revolutionary stand in the world to-day and that we are branded as
revolutionaries. But our views and our conduct will not be determined
by the approbation or disapprobation of our contemporaries, but only
by our duty to follow a truth which we have acknowledged. In doing
this we have reason to believe that posterity will have a clearer
insight"
"Thus for the first time a high inner purpose is accredited to the
State. In face of the ridiculous phrase that the State should do no
more than act as the guardian of public order and tranquility, so that
everybody can peacefully dupe everybody else, it is given a very high
mission indeed to preserve and encourage the highest type of humanity
which a beneficent Creator has bestowed on this earth."
http://www.nationalvanguard.org http://www.natvan.com
http://www.thebirdman.org http://www.RealNews247.com
--
NewsGuy.Com 30Gb $9.95 Carry Forward and On Demand Bandwidth
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