DON'T VOTE, SHOOT

Gov. Corbett and Republicans across the land would have us believe the American dream is safer when it is more difficult to vote than to buy a gun.          In Pennsylvania, while new photo id requirements limit access to the polls by those without a photo card, appropriate background checks on gun purchases are considered an affront to basic freedoms.

 I am trying to remember the last time I heard of voter fraud in the Commonwealth.  It seems to me that older folks and the poor have enough angst struggling to survive, now that the Governor has taken away their benefits.  How would they find the time or energy to vote twice?  Obviously, the Republicans want to ensure they don’t vote once.

On the other hand, every few weeks we have another act of senseless gun violence.  Most incidents appear preventable by putting in place gun laws that the rest of western civilization adopted when the industrial revolution started.  The Republican supported gun lobby will continue to ensure that every mentally ill citizen can turn a suicide into a headline.

Republicans claim “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” as their creed.  That is unless you do not drive and want to vote, want to have control over when you give birth, or espouse a non heterosexual lifestyle.  At least Ron Paul is right about something.  You guys in the red party cannot have it both ways.

OUR DESERT ADVENTURE

A change of scenery always provides a new prospective.  Our trip to Southern Arizona not only erased every ache and pain of this aging boomer, it also provided a different view of our pluralistic society.  In the desert below Tucson, in Patagonia Az., where we were guests at a ranch, the green border patrol vehicles appear every half mile.  The National Guard is out in full force with the same armor seen on the nightly news in Afghanistan .   In Nogales, that town half in Mexico, half in the States, a fence stands 30 feet tall and is grounded by a six-foot deep concrete slab.  Ranchers talk of when to use deadly force in protecting their homes and livestock.  Clearly we were as close to a combat zone as has existed in our country since the Civil War.

 The Latino residents seem resigned to and mostly supportive of this show of force against their southern neighbors and in many cases, extended family.  They know the problems of drugs, smuggling and illegal immigration are real.  They also know that Arizona has been their home for many generations.  Almost every Anglo resident I met was from somewhere else.  Every Latino was born in Southern Arizona.  They are proud of their heritage and proud to be Americans. Moreover, boarder security is a big business and provides thousands of direct and indirect jobs for the locals.  Latino citizens want fair immigration policies, not a sieve at the border.

From Tucson to the border, everyone had a Gabby Giffords story to share.  Before the shooting and her retirement, she was truly a new breed of politician.  She saw her role as facilitating projects for her district, not prolonging her tenure in Congress.  Giffords embodied the Latino mindset, pragmatic not ideological.  In the next election, the ever more important Latino vote will go to the presidential candidate who tells it straight and does not pander. ( In a recent poll, 60 percent of likely Latino voters believe the Democrats will help them achieve the American Dream, while only 10 percent said the same for Republicans.)

Until recently, South Western Pennsylvania has not seen the influx of Latino families that the North East has experienced.  Drilling ventures with new workers from the West will slowly change this equation.  We should welcome Latinos as hard working, family oriented individuals who will bring a young and vibrant population to our aging communities.  Like the Irish and Italians before them, Latinos will change and enrich our local culture.  One can only hope that this will include an eatery with a decent tamale and mole sauce.