Tom Tancredo for President

One of the coolest things I've enjoyed telling people lately is "my best friend's Dad is running for President." There's not many times in life when you could expect to say that to someone, but for me it's true.

I've known Tom Tancredo since I was in junior high school. He's one of the best men I've ever met: honest, hardworking, a loving husband, father, and grandfather. He's also been a U.S. Representative from the State of Colorado for at least a half dozen years now, with strong support from his district.

I really love Tom, but I don't agree with him on almost any issue. I think he is right about many things, but I'm cynical enough to think some problems cannot be solved because it's too late. For example, Tom strongly supports the "English only" mentality. Even if we stopped all immigration (legal and otherwise) immediately, the Spanish language would continue to grow in popularity in this country. Just watch any current children's program on public television and you'll see that practically every character speaks English and Spanish interchangably.

It's a matter of mathematics at this point. The white population is simply not reproducing as rapidly as the Latino population. I see this here in Los Angeles already. We're currently 50% Spanish-speaking, and 40% of our citizens were born in another country.

I don't see that many pure-blooded whites anymore, especially not the young people. Racial groups have been mixing significantly for at least a couple of generations out here so almost everyone has a little "color" in them, and that seems very appropriate and natural to me. Most Latino youngsters speak Spanish with their families and English with their classmates and friends.

Tom is right, though, about the lack of assimilation by immigrants into "American" culture. I feel like a foreigner in an exotic country in some neighborhoods of Los Angeles. You can go for blocks, if not miles, without seeing any signs in English, except the street signs. This variety can be quite exhilirating; however, I do feel disappointment at the isolationism going on, the tribal-cultural bonding amongst newcomers which is also a natural process, particularly among Asians. I have actually felt the sting of prejudice a few times, a bitter reflection on the hardship suffered by minorities.

I only wish there was more blending of cultures. At least it's happening with food: Los Angeles is rich in fine restaurants serving every cuisine imaginable to a diverse cross-section of patrons. It's not uncommon for the average Angeleno to have sushi for lunch and enchiladas for dinner. However, language differences continue to be a barrier against socialization and commerce between various ethnic groups in this community. We're a huge mosaic of cultural enclaves woven together like a tapestry across the desert.

Sadly, Hispanics continue to labor as the servant class, not only for WASPS, but for Asians, Middle-Easterners, and Jews as well. Besides farming our food, Latinos wash our cars, mow our lawns, clean our homes and offices, construct new buildings, maintain old buildings, and raise our children. Most of them ride the bus because they can't afford a car. But guess who drives the buses? The blacks.

It's an odd socio-economic caste system we've developed here. I'm not quite sure what to make of it yet, except that only very few of us are upwardly mobile anymore. Most of us are moving downward. I see more and more people living on the street every day. It's saddening and sickening.

Tom Tancredo would say sealing the borders would help solve that problem. He's probably right. I just doubt that the government or the public have the insight or the will to take meaningful action to stop immigration, even if it could be morally defended. The influence of immigrants is an important part of our cultural fiber, and it should be managed much better than it has been for the past 40 years. Our country has grown so large, so quickly, there's not much we can do at this point to change things.

Check out Tom's YouTube page and watch some of his comments about immigration, and his brilliant and scathing criticisms of Bush and his mob of crooks. Tom is completely unafraid to rip Dubya a new one. He's way more harsh than any Democrat I've heard. You rock, Tom!

Congressman Tancredo, I hope you become the next President of the United States. At least I'd know an honest man had finally won.