What Did You Say?

Newspapers simply won’t publish letters to the editor which they either deem  politically incorrect (read below) or which do not agree with the philosophy  they’re pushing on the public. This woman wrote a great letter to the editor  that should have been published; but, with your help, it will get published  via cyberspace!

From: “David LaBonte”

My wife, Rosemary, wrote a wonderful letter to the editor of the OC Register  which, of course, was not printed.  So, I decided to “print” it myself by  sending it out on the Internet.  Pass it along if you feel so inclined.
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Written in response to a series of letters to the editor in the OrangeCounty  Register:

Dear Editor:      So many letter writers have based their arguments on how  this land is made up of immigrants.  Ernie Lujan for one, suggests we should  tear down the Statue of Liberty because the people now in question aren’t  being treated the same as those who passed through Ellis Island and other  ports of entry.

Maybe we should turn to our history books and point out to people like Mr.  Lujan why today’s American is not willing to accept this new kind of  immigrant any longer.  Back in 1900 when there was a rush from all areas of  Europe to come to the United States, people had to get off a ship and stand  in a long line in New York and be documented.  Some would even get down on  their hands and knees and kiss the ground.  They made a pledge to uphold the  laws and support their new country in good and bad times.  They made  learning English a primary rule in their new American households and some  even changed their names to blend in with their new home.

They had waved good-bye to their birth place to give their children a new  life, and did everything in their power to help their children assimilate  into one culture.  Nothing was handed to them. No free lunches, no welfare,  no labor laws to protect them.  All they had were the skills and  craftsmanship they had brought with them to trade for a future of  prosperity.

Most of their children came of age when World War II broke out. My father  fought alongside men whose parents had come straight over from Germany,  Italy, France and Japan.  None of these 1st generation Americans ever gave  any thought about what country their parents had come from.  They were  Americans fighting Hitler, Mussolini and the Emperor of Japan.  They were  defending the United States of America as one people.

When we liberated France, no one in those villages were looking for the  French-American or the German-American or the Irish-American.  The people of  France saw only Americans.  And we carried one flag that represented one  country.  Not one of those immigrant sons would have thought about picking  up another country’s flag and waving it to represent who they were.  It  would have been a disgrace to their parents who had sacrificed so much to be  here.  These immigrants truly knew what it meant to be an American.  They  stirred the melting pot into one red, white and blue bowl.

And here we are with a new kind of immigrant who wants the same rights and  privileges.  Only they want to achieve it by playing with a different set of  rules, one that includes the entitlement card and a guarantee of being  faithful to their mother country.  I’m sorry, that’s not what being an  American is all about.  I believe that the immigrants who landed on Ellis  Island in the early 1900’s deserve better than that for all the toil, hard  work and sacrifice in raising future generations to create a land that has  become a beacon for those legally searching for a better life.  I think they  would be appalled that they are being used as an example by those waving  foreign country flags.

And for that suggestion about taking down the Statue of Liberty, it happens  to mean a lot to the citizens who are voting on the immigration bill.  I  wouldn’t start talking about dismantling the United States just yet.

(signed)      Rosemary LaBonte