… but the way to succeed here is fairly straight and narrow. Speak the language, obey the law, respect your neighbors.
You forgot to add: “… and vote yourself other people’s money when given the chance.”
Most Hispanics are Democrats. They are not Democrats over same-sex marriage, they are Democrats because they want their food, shelter, clothing, transportation, healthcare, child care, and free time paid for or subsidized by others, or their salaries artificially inflated to pay for such things, if they can get away with it.
Illegal Latinos come to America to work, but they are currently and will end up taking away the fruits of others’ work when their education-averse social strategies fail to deliver a lifestyle as affluent as their neighbors (or those they see on TV).
I’d be curious what Mr. Navarrette thinks about economics. Does he believe that economics is a zero-sum game, that Mexico is poor because countries like America are rich? Many of the flag-wavers believe this, wrongly, and it is for this reason many illegals believe they are owed a particular lifestyle. There is definitely an element of get-evenism and racial animosity to these May Day ‘immigrant’ rallies. After all, there is a reason Mexico is a dead end, and a lot of it has to do with the stupid ideas floating around in the heads of Mexicans. Not viewing the public treasury as your personal piggy bank to be raided at will, for instance, is a cultural attitude that has been part and parcel to the American cultural landscape, and it is one that is completely foreign in other nations. It’s easier for such people to chant slogans at political rallies and prostate themselves to bigmouth politicians and other ‘leaders’ promising them goodies than it is to get off their asses and work for an education that funds a decent lifestyle.
Additionally, Navarrette’s flag-waving comparisons are inapt. A better comparison is people’s reaction to a white waving a Confederate flag. While he may think the flag is a geographic/cultural symbol for the South, a large section of the population sees the flag as representative of slavery and racist attitudes, and thus in polite company its display is considered in bad taste. While someone waving the Mexican flag may or may think of it as a geographical/cultural symbol for Mexico, the vast majority of American citizens see it to mean some variation of ‘Reconquista’ or ‘we gonna git you whitey’. For illegals in particular to display it while chanting slogans making various demands of American citizens, 87% of whom are not Hispanic, is in bad taste, and politically obtuse, as well.
