open letter to congressman heath shuler
U.S. Representative Heath Shuler
512 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Mr. Shuler:
I am one of your constituents. Not long ago, i received your taxpayer-expense mailing. Because of the way our mail had been dropped onto the table, i first saw the back, with its large letters: Congressman Heath Shuler is Securing Our Borders. i laughed and wondered why we cared to keep out those people from Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia and South Carolina.
But since that initial giggle, i have wanted to write to beg you to take a different position, not only on this issue, but in general.
Immigrants, legal and otherwise, can be a problem. They can be terrorists, gang members and deadbeats (as can our own citizens). But that is not the whole story, and it is not an accurate picture of the effect of immigration.
Immigrants also keep this country going in important economic ways: they take the jobs we don’t want, work hard and become entrepreneurs, creating more jobs. Immigrants also make a strong showing on the other end of the economic scale, in the high-tech sector. My husband brings income into Western North Carolina through work he does for companies (two started by immigrants) located elsewhere in the U.S., and we actively use this income to support local businesses. My husband has colleagues from around the globe, and our country needs them, with their strong math/science/tech backgrounds, entrepreneurial spirit and international perspective. The immigrants i know are also lovely, interesting, educated people, many with families, who will be hurt by anti-immigrant hysteria, as will our country. This is a dangerous path.
i beg you not to get on the anti-immigrant bandwagon, or at least to stop leading it. I beg you not to encourage more "us and them" thinking. With our economy heading into the toilet, we need to pull together, not establish scapegoats.
Illegal immigration may be a problem, but is it the most important problem?
There are so many areas where we need strong leadership: the Iraq debacle, Guantanamo, economy (short-term and long-term), Patriot Act, education, healthcare, environment, racism in our criminal justice system, our standing in the world, etc.. Please don’t focus on immigration.
The immigration issue is a cheap way to tap into our fears. Leadership by fear can be effective, but there is another way, and it is the way of people who go down in history as heroes.
I understand that fear-leadership may seem politically expedient, but please examine carefully what is happening with Barack Obama’s campaign. He is tapping into hope and a desire to make the U.S. strong in its integrity, compassion, courage and fairness. He calls us to live up to our ideals. We are responding in unprecedented numbers. We are weary of fear-leadership.
Obama is calling us to our best selves. He is inspiring us to be involved in the process. We are responding with our money, our time and our enthusiasm, providing the most active primary support this country has ever seen. Please take note: this well is deep. And while some of his supporters may be caught up in hype, most of us are listening more deeply and watching the issues. We know what kind of senator he is. We know what he sponsors and authors. See, for example, this blog post which is being widely read and circulated on the WNC for Obama list.
We don’t yet know who will be our next president, but in any case, we will need strong leaders in congress. Please be one of them. Make your constituents proud. You were elected because we wanted meaningful change from the disastrous 109th congress. It’s not too late to set yourself up in this position, but you must be a hope-leader, not a fear-leader.
Best regards,
Kathy LaMotte
Asheville, NC
828-230-7185
512 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Mr. Shuler:
I am one of your constituents. Not long ago, i received your taxpayer-expense mailing. Because of the way our mail had been dropped onto the table, i first saw the back, with its large letters: Congressman Heath Shuler is Securing Our Borders. i laughed and wondered why we cared to keep out those people from Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia and South Carolina.
But since that initial giggle, i have wanted to write to beg you to take a different position, not only on this issue, but in general.
Immigrants, legal and otherwise, can be a problem. They can be terrorists, gang members and deadbeats (as can our own citizens). But that is not the whole story, and it is not an accurate picture of the effect of immigration.
Immigrants also keep this country going in important economic ways: they take the jobs we don’t want, work hard and become entrepreneurs, creating more jobs. Immigrants also make a strong showing on the other end of the economic scale, in the high-tech sector. My husband brings income into Western North Carolina through work he does for companies (two started by immigrants) located elsewhere in the U.S., and we actively use this income to support local businesses. My husband has colleagues from around the globe, and our country needs them, with their strong math/science/tech backgrounds, entrepreneurial spirit and international perspective. The immigrants i know are also lovely, interesting, educated people, many with families, who will be hurt by anti-immigrant hysteria, as will our country. This is a dangerous path.
i beg you not to get on the anti-immigrant bandwagon, or at least to stop leading it. I beg you not to encourage more "us and them" thinking. With our economy heading into the toilet, we need to pull together, not establish scapegoats.
Illegal immigration may be a problem, but is it the most important problem?
There are so many areas where we need strong leadership: the Iraq debacle, Guantanamo, economy (short-term and long-term), Patriot Act, education, healthcare, environment, racism in our criminal justice system, our standing in the world, etc.. Please don’t focus on immigration.
The immigration issue is a cheap way to tap into our fears. Leadership by fear can be effective, but there is another way, and it is the way of people who go down in history as heroes.
I understand that fear-leadership may seem politically expedient, but please examine carefully what is happening with Barack Obama’s campaign. He is tapping into hope and a desire to make the U.S. strong in its integrity, compassion, courage and fairness. He calls us to live up to our ideals. We are responding in unprecedented numbers. We are weary of fear-leadership.
Obama is calling us to our best selves. He is inspiring us to be involved in the process. We are responding with our money, our time and our enthusiasm, providing the most active primary support this country has ever seen. Please take note: this well is deep. And while some of his supporters may be caught up in hype, most of us are listening more deeply and watching the issues. We know what kind of senator he is. We know what he sponsors and authors. See, for example, this blog post which is being widely read and circulated on the WNC for Obama list.
We don’t yet know who will be our next president, but in any case, we will need strong leaders in congress. Please be one of them. Make your constituents proud. You were elected because we wanted meaningful change from the disastrous 109th congress. It’s not too late to set yourself up in this position, but you must be a hope-leader, not a fear-leader.
Best regards,
Kathy LaMotte
Asheville, NC
828-230-7185
Labels: politics
posted by kath at
07:42
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