It's getting Ugly out there...

As we approach Election Day, any Republican facade of civility is sloughing off in the heat of the races.

Witness recent developments:

- A conservative astroturf group, "Latinos for Reform" released a Spanish-language TV spot that attempted to suppress Latino voter turnout...

- GOP/tea party operatives are running voter suppression efforts in Illinois, Texas, Wisconsin, and elsewhere that are specifically targeted at Democratic-leaning minority communities...

- Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce (R-National Alliance) has announced his latest effort to inflict his vision of ethnic purity on America - he's targeting the 14th Amendment and its provision that grants citizenship to children born in the USA.

It won't succeed, and I suspect Pearce knows that, but it keeps the conversation on a topic that the Rs think they can win on - demonization of the "other" - and may provide the fading Jan Brewer an SB1070-like bump at the polls.

- A Pearce clone in Florida, State Rep. William Snyder, has proposed a version of the infamous SB1070, one that carves out an exemption for white people in the form of a presumption that anyone from Canada or a "visa waiver" country is in the U.S. legally. 

The vast majority of the countries that are part of the visa waiver program are European; none are Latin American.

- Then just yesterday, Congressman Raul Grijalva's Tucson office was shut down and evacuated after someone sent it a swastika-covered package containing a toxic substance.

Lies, hatred, threats of violence - the Rs are pulling out all the stops this year, and the only way to stop them is to urge your family, friends, and neighbors to stand strong for their community against the Republicans, their contempt for civility, and their fear-mongering.

Everybody who can vote, *should,* and they should be able to exercise their rights free from intimidation and fraudulent attempts to stifle their participation America's political process.


Note:  The Arizona Humanities Council will present a screening of the documentary 9500 Liberty on Tuesday evening at the Arizona Historical Society Museum in Tempe.  9500 Liberty covers the effects (and failure) of an SB1070-like law in Prince William County, Virginia.

Details:

Tuesday, October 26, 2010


6:00-8:00 pm

Arizona Historical Society Museum

1300 N. College Avenue

Tempe, AZ 85281
 
 
Later...