Steve King (R-IA): JD with a job

You know, and it pains me to admit this, but sometimes I miss JD. No matter what kind of writer's block (or simple lack of motivation) that I might have ever gone through, he could always be counted on to snap me out of it.

Maybe it would be a self-serving press release or a bilious floor statement, or even something else, but he could be counted on to tick me off enough to shake off any writing doldrums.

Not that I've been suffering any recently. :)

But, fear not, while JD is gone, his spirit lives on in Congress in the person of Steve King, Republican Congressman from Iowa.

I saw him on CSPAN on Wednesday, but wanted to wait until his remarks were transcribed into the record to write about them, mostly to make sure I didn't mis-hear his words. He was supposed to be speaking about immigration reform, but it was mostly a screed; one against immigrants of non-Western European background.

It starts on page H2028 of the Congressional Record.

He spoke about many subjects related to immigration ("one language", "American exceptionalism" and the ilk); he even tried to explain how illegal immigration is screwing up congressional districting, citing that the typical CD size is approximately 600,000 people.(emphasis mine)-

And if there are 400,000 illegals in a single district, that means there are only 200,000 citizens.

One minor detail: not only have the Republicans done everything they can to make certain that undocumented immigrants aren't counted as part of the Census, over the years they've done everything they can to undercount poor citizens. After decades of undercounting, it's hypocritical of him to now turn around and say that immigrants are unfairly skewing CD demographics.

In a recent survey, 78% of people polled said friends shouldn't let friends cite statistics. :))

Anyway, back to the original point of my post - during his floor speech, King started talking about a community in his district that is mainly populated by people of Dutch descent, comparing its 'goodness' (measured mostly by the number of churches, apparently) to the "permissiveness" of their ancestral home.

He uses that as a lead-in to this little nugget:

And, Mr. Speaker, I tell this story because it identifies the source of American exceptionalism. The good Dutch came here. So did the good English, so did the good Spanish, so did the good French, so did the good Norwegians and Swedes and Germans and Irish and all the way down the line.

Umm, Mr. King?

The English who came here initially were religious fanatics who wore out their welcomes in polite society everywhere in Europe, not just England...

The original Spanish explorers to North America were soldiers of fortune...

The Irish were primarily poor farmers who had no clue how to survive in an urban environment and were subjected to vicious, bigoted attacks on their reputations, their religion, and their persons...

Similar stories could be told about each group of immigrants that color our history - to be sure, some were "good" people, already wealthy, or at least financially secure in their original countries; however, many, even most, of the members of those groups (particularly early on in the wave of immigration from their particular country) were considered 'less than desirable' by the societies of their home countries.

And once they got here, they were considered "wretched refuse."

The pattern of unwanted in the source country and reviled here has held true from the earliest non-English immigrants through to the Mexican immigrants of today.

Even much of the political rhetoric today is the same as was used as far back as the pre-Civil War era.

The Know-Nothings of the mid-1850's railed about the need for more "stringent and effective immigration laws" and supporting "our country, our whole country, and nothing but our country."

Today's Republicans talk about an "immigration policy that strengthens our borders [and] makes our nation more secure..."(from good ol' JD) and how immigration is "undermining" American character (King).

Not really much growth there.

Of course, it should be noted that when the Know-Nothing movement fell apart in the 1860s, many of its strongest adherents became Republicans, fueling the transformation of the party from the Party of Lincoln into the party of David Duke, Jesse Helms, and yes, Steve King.

So, on that note, I say "thank you" to the people of Iowa's Fifth District for repeatedly loosing Mr. King upon the whole country; you have performed a great public service for writers nationwide.

Good night!