A little politics for you today, dear readers, courtesy of the Tim James for Governor campaign.
When I first saw the "English only" commercial, I'll admit that my knee-jerk liberal response was to fly off the handle and call James every derogatory term under the sun. Truth be told, some of those labels probably do apply to Timmy.
But, after reflecting on what James was saying and doing a bit of research, I've come to the conclusions that
a) James knew what he was doing here.
b) He will get votes for this.
c) Ultimately, he won't do anything to stop the usage of non-English languages for state documents and tests.
James knew what he was doing here just like George Wallace knew what he was doing when he stood in those schoolhouse doors. "English only" is James' version of "Segregation now, segregation forever."
Let me explain: George Wallace was no fool, nor was he as big a racist as he was portrayed to be. Wallace knew his electorate, and the people of Alabama who elected him expected him to stand strong on an issue they cared a lot about. Wallace knew the federal government could and would intervene to stop him from attempting to block segregation, so he got to score political points with his constituents by taking a meaningless stand.
James is doing the same thing. In this recession, people are worried about their jobs and livelihoods, so turning attention to recent immigrants to this country, people who are "taking our jobs," James can unify a Republican electorate that still doesn't really care for brown people.
Like Wallace, James knows he won't actually succeed in this crusade. If he did try to make Alabama's tests English only, he would cost the state millions of dollars in federal aid, negating the whole "It'll save Alabama money" aspect of his argument.
One of the first things new citizens must do in this country is find some sort of government ID in order to apply for job, find housing, and start their new lives here. They may not have yet developed the necessary English language skills to read a driver's license test or government form bogged down with legalistic, dense terminology.
We make accommodations for these people by giving them tests in their native languages to encourage them to continue the process of becoming American. A driver's license puts them on the road to becoming a productive, hard-working citizen of this country, something I would assume Mr. James, as a businessman, could appreciate.
Assimilation to our country's values and majority language (since it is not the official language... we have none) takes time.
This commercial is a meaningless ruse, designed to organize hate-based voters into rallying around a flagging, failing campaign.
It's more than a bit sad that this ad will strike a chord with some Alabama voters out there. For all the progress we've made over the last 50 years, we are still a state that is somewhat populated by a people who distrust or even hate people who look, act, or think differently from them. In some ways, we do still embody the redneck, racist stereotypes that the rest of the country has put on us for years.
Hate can be a great unifying force. The Know-Nothing party of the 1800s always included a strong anti-immigrant plank in its platform, and Strom Thurmond's States Rights party (Dixiecrats) carried 4 states in the 1948 election (Alabama included).
Tim James' commercial just reminds us that no matter how far we think we've come as a state, there will always be people and forces that try to drag us back to our intolerant, hate-filled past.
I pray Mr. James is unsuccessful in his bid for governor, but we shall see.
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