Is America Ready For A Mormon President, Specifically Mitt Romney?

Not all people who are serious evangelical church goers are right-wing fanatics. An old friend of mine structures much of her life around her church and she takes it really seriously. Mostly what she takes seriously-- and I mean really seriously-- are Jesus' message and his words. This has led her to being a consistent voter for Democrats, although she's a registered independent (Decline To State) and to be an unrelenting advocate for equality for society's most vulnerable groups, particularly racial minorities, gays, the poor and immigrants. I think she must drive some of the other church-goes in her rural, very Republican hometown up a pew wall. But she's intrepid and determined... determined to carry Jesus' word forward. This week she told me about a horrible racial discrimination suit in Big Bear, where she lives.

Bear Valley Unified School District, the school board, a teacher, principal and interim superintendent of schools have been named in a federal law suit. The suit charges that the defendants violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the equal protection clause of the 14 Amendment.

The suit was filed July 20 in U.S. District Court by MALDEF on behalf of Coral Aviles. The Latina student claims she was harassed publicly and suffered racial discrimination in 2010 by a teacher at Big Bear Middle School. MALDEF is the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

During a press conference July 21, the student, her mother and representatives of MALDEF talked about the suit and the environment for racial discrimination in the country today.

Coral says she wore a Mexico T-shirt to school during the final days of the school year in June 2010 to show her support for Mexico playing in the World Cup soccer tournament. She said her teacher, Suzy Carpenter, after asking her if she was Mexican, asked Coral what the girl was doing in her country. Coral claims Carpenter said it was because of people like her (Coral) that she had to pay high taxes.

The incident sent Coral to then-principal Julie Chamberlin’s office. The matter was not resolved entirely, according to the suit. The girl didn’t return to the classroom for the remainder of the school year, instead she spent one day with the custodian picking up trash and another in the yearbook staff class.

When we talk about politics, we mostly talk about that kind of on-the-ground politics that touches peoples' lives in very direct and visceral ways. Sometimes we wander into national politics, though. Her biggest worry on that front is that Mitt Romney could become president. It fascinates me to hear her talk about the Mormon cult, a discussion which is always preceded by assurances that she knows some really nice Mormon people-- California has more Mormons, by far, than any state other than Utah-- and that they are kind and neighborly.

But she worries that the Mormon power structure wants to take over the country. And that their version of Jesus has one thing in common with the actual Jesus-- the name. The Mormon "Jesus" was born on another planet and is the brother of Satan and... whole other crazy trip than the Christian Jesus. But Mormons love to point out-- and they always do-- that they believe in Jesus too. Turns out there are other Americans who have the same paranoia about Mormons-- and about Mitt Romney in particular.

The day after last seeing my friend from Big Bear, a journalist turned me onto a website about a new film, A Mormon President. I posted the trailer below and the film purports to be about Joseph Smith, who ran for President, although the website has prominently-placed photos of Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman and seems to be offering a "Bonus DVD Feature: Mitt Romney and Modern Mormon candidates."

I have an entirely different set of reasons about Romney's lack of fitness to me president and they have to do with his clear record as an economy destroyer and someone who has built a fortune around systematically devastating companies and jobs for quickie profits for himself. You think Hoover, Bush and Obama were bad? Mitt Romney-- Mormon or not-- would make both of them look good.

Right-Wing Immigration Policy: Quick Pull Up The Ladder!

Yesterday's Guardian reported that Alabama Republicans, in control of the state legislature and governorship for the first time in 136 years, passed the toughest illegal immigration law in the U.S., tougher than the law everyone was so appalled by that Arizona passed. Republicans in right-wing bastions like Utah, Indiana and Georgia have passed similar laws. (Georgia's agricultural sector, heavily dependent on migrant farm workers, is already in turmoil.)

The crackdown will require public schools to determine the immigration status of students – an aspect not covered in an Arizona law that has been at the forefront of attempts by several US states to crack down on illegal immigrants.

Under the Alabama law, police must detain someone they suspect of being in the country illegally if the person cannot produce proper documentation when stopped for any reason.

It also will be a crime to knowingly transport or harbour someone who is in the country illegally. The law imposes penalties on businesses that knowingly employ someone without legal resident status, and business licences could be suspended or revoked.

Backward, reactionary parts of the country, like Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Utah and Arizona have always feared change and always been virulently anti-immigrant-- no matter what group the immigrant was from. The Know Nothing mentality has been, historically, anti-Irish, anti-German, anti-Catholic, anti-Slav, anti-Italian, anti-Asian, anti-Jewish. In 1924 Republicans passed a bigoted immigration law, gleefully signed by racist Calvin Coolidge, targeting "inferior groups." A quota for Italians, for example, was reduced from 42,000 a year to 4,000. One has to wonder how prominent Italian-American Republican immigrant haters like Tom Tancredo (CO), Lou Barletta (PA), Rick Santorum (PA), Steve Palazzo (MS), John Barrasso (WY), and John Mica (FL) deal with the collective memory.

As we've been seeing in The Nazi Hydra in America, the Republican Party, conniving with Hitler's government in Germany, played up this fear and hatred of foreigners-- especially Jews-- in the 1930s to sow discord in America.

To understand how the Republican Party could run election campaigns based on intense and vicious racist platforms; one needs to understand the attitude of the country towards Jews at the time. A few days after Kristallnacht, Roosevelt spoke out publicly expressing his anger and horror. A Gallup poll that month revealed that 94% of the people disapproved of the Nazi treatment of Jews, but 97% of the people also disapproved of the way Nazis treated Catholics. A Roper poll that same month revealed the deep anti-Semitic views in America. The poll found that only 39% of the people believed that Jews should be treated as everyone else, 53% believed that Jews were different and should be restricted, and 10% believed Jews should be deported. In the winter of 1938-1939, many had denounced helping "refu-Jews." Polls revealed 71-85% opposed increasing immigration quotes; 67% opposed admitting any refugees and 67% opposed a one-time admission of 10,000 refugee children.

Turning away the refugees aboard the St. Louis was a low point in the Roosevelt administration and perhaps indefensible in light of the Holocaust, but Roosevelt hardly acted in a vacuum. The public opinion was decidedly against admitting Jews. One can only guess at how much of the anti-Semitism prevalent at the time, was the direct result of the various anti-Semitic campaigns conducted by the Republican Party. It could not be a minor factor, as many of these anti-Semitic campaigns ran by Republicans equated Judaism with communism, as in the example of the 1938 Minnesota election.

Today Know Nothing Republicans like Sarah Palin can wear a Star of David while visiting New York City or a deranged bigot like Michele Bachmann can campaign against Barack Obama based on supposed love and devotion to a right-wing vision of a militaristic Jewish state. It may take some time, but in just a few generations, right-wing Republican hatred for Latinos will go from a high boil to a low simmer. Yesterday Congresswoman Yvette Clarke of Brooklyn released the following statement: "I am deeply saddened and disappointed that the Governor of Alabama has decided to enact such egregious anti-immigrant provisions in order to address our broken immigration system. Using our nation’s education system as a conduit to enforce immigration laws is highly inappropriate. It is my concern, that this will spread fear among students, hindering them from pursuing an education. Ever since the state of Arizona has enacted its harsh immigration laws, many states have followed suit, enacting provisions that often time over step their jurisdiction. This is a clear indication that our nation needs to address Comprehensive Immigration Reform at the federal level. Our national security is at stake; our moral standing in the world depends on it; and the American people, many of whom are first and second generation immigrants, demand it.” I'm sure you can guess why I want you to listen to Pete Seeger... keep listening: