NOT A MANDATE As we move away from the pomp and circumstance of the inaugural and the peaceful continuation

of a presidential term of office, without the turmoil so often witnessed throughout history of the species, we need to reflect on the facts at hand: This particular election was not a mandate it was an unfortunate moment, made possible by a lot of mistakes in so many ways: poor choices, procrastination, and in general a lack of focus representing a lack of indepth understanding of the sustaining human purpose. A cobbled together critical mass made up of a few here and a few more there, made the difference. To this we must turn our attention. From all these groups the left put together sufficient numbers to have a win. This was a win that could in no way be called A Mandate, that assessment could only come from the minds of entrenched ideologues who actually believe what he, she, or they say even if what is said makes no sense, has no enduring precedent, and is described as impossible by those who have a better understanding even professional standing such as the CBO {Congressional Budget Office} and the GAO {Governmental Accountability Office}. Both entities have indicated that federal spending is going to wreck havoc on the United States of America, destroying its essential character. In this vein, maybe it could be referred to as a mistake of perception or a Mandate of destruction.

It does not take a genius, a historian, or an economist to have a measure of concern about our national and international well-being, the well-being of the parts and of the whole of the world. These are difficult times for many in this nation and across the globe and while we have leaderless political moments in the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of government, other governments also have their difficulties. They are all dysfunctional, precisely because they are dishonest. Tell me, where in all of this is there sufficient courage to say, Stop! We need to cut spending and take care of our personal and communal responsibilities both domestic and foreign? Now, while it is obvious that our current problems did not appear overnight or in the last few years there has been a growing cultural and political vacuum that has added to the growing stagnation, deflation, inflation, and the downright debilitation of the greatest country in the world and the best beacon of hope for the entire human family. I would like to address this problem that not only affects the culture and politics of this nation but the entire global family of nations. To put this in some context I want to take a universal tool and truths that are being used and really do matter; numbers and perceptions. The fact that there are more of us here, there, and everywhere and the indisputable fact that technology has succeeded in penetrating every culture and

country in the world. To put it simply, we are, we matter, and also math matters. In those statistical enclaves, those groups, we discover the famous bell curve where we find less thans and more thans, unemployed and employed, rich and poor, educated and uneducated, atheists and believers, liberals and conservatives, and everything in between, the all in all of the famous curve. It is indeed true that some are always more this or that and yet we categorize them as this or that. We forget or choose not to know that the organic is always 24/7 and always, in the very long run, always more than. And we can, in our honest reflections, agree that this curve does help us identify similarities and differences as well as the gradations of those differences and that the knowing of those differences helps us to develop essential cultural cohesion. In order to elucidate these facts I would like to use as an example: Immigration, (Health-Care and Education would also serve as examples).1 I think we can find in the whole of immigration a sufficiently broad field of facts and figures to gain some understanding of our current milieu. In saying this, I would like to think that upholding the laws of a countrys constitution is paramount in protecting the citizens of any country and that this is one of the major responsibilities of government.

The reader may wish to view the essays on immigration and education in the collections of Sign Posts at: pathtotheself.com/allpostingvols.html

I will focus on the kinds and numbers of the Mexican Moment in the U.S. as an example of these groups and the parts of the groups and the individuals (all of them) that have found their way, through the media of the day, on to the stage of the whole. The statisticians and the political gurus have now found them and they target them with insightful delight and many times with dishonesty downright lies recreating and abetting the age-old nemesis of class warfare: us against them (the U.S. against the world) or whoever the aggrieved may be, whatever the fringe elements that have managed to catch the attention of some eager beavers (unseasoned news technicians) to whom we cannot apply the term reporters. They are creators, Masseuses of information. We also must now add advocates either for themselves as an adolescent I or Me who desperately wants and actually really needs to be noticed and will do anything in order to get noticed. The 24/7 news cycle, glorified by the entertainment industry, has been swept up in the numbers of illegal immigrants, and I choose the use of these terms Illegal Immigrants for a reason; that is what they are. Every county has laws and they have them for a purpose: to protect the general populace and maintain a productive social order in which the citizens, I use that word also on purpose, can enjoy their inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I would like to add here that this is what we espouse as a nation and what we advocate and have been willing and are willing to spend life and treasure to help bring to the rest of the world. That we have been, at times, remiss in doing this is the subject of another essay. Here, I want to only point out the fact that as a

nation we have been at the leading edge of promoting the recognition of these same just inalienable rights for all the people of this world. So, what is it that we need to know? When people ignore another countrys laws to enter that countrys sanctuarial space undocumented and then continue that disobedience by some not all by driving without licenses, without insurance, and accessing goods and services that are supported by a legal infrastructure created to protect and serve the citizens of that county, they do not merit the privilege of the protection of that county; they are law breakers and should be treated that way. Now, before we go any further in this discussion, I want to share something with my Mexican brothers and sisters and everyone else for that matter. Pues, soy Mexicano de corazn, norteamericano de nacionalidad. (Well, Im Mexican at heart, North American by nationality.) This is not only a sentiment of nationality. That while it is a sentiment that was gained after spending years in their midst, is true it is also true that I married a Mexican (We are working on some 48 years of the miracle of marriage.) It is also a fact that I attended a university in Mexico, graduated from a university in Mexico, taught at a university in Mexico, was a Dean of Men at a university in Mexico during which time some of my responsibility was dealing deal with the Mexican judicial system. I know something of Mexico. I say this because I want you to know that it is the similarity of our personhoods that matters and we need to wear them as a personal and social responsibility.

Now, to get back to the subject of Not a Mandate, for some of the fringe elements of the Obama Mexican-American votes there is a mentality that each and every country has, that has distilled over time and come to some fundamental synthesis of values. (All laying somewhere on our famous curve.) The U.S. is no exception neither is Mexico. I ask my Mexican compatriots to examine Octavio Pazs insightful work, The Labyrinth of Solitude. It is a historical analysis of the psyche of the Mexican people. It is a description of their collective and individual consciousness it is a window into their soul it provides an understanding of their collective motivations and behaviors. In short, it describes why they would support a Patrn who would mouth platitudes about a social conscience the gilded rhetoric while stealing freedoms from the most vulnerable among us. This is why they, in their beautiful familial standpoint, without the additional understanding of the importance of laws in their new cultural milieu, would justify lying, cheating, and stealing from the basic constructs of a civil society that they, themselves, want so desperately to be part of, is not without understanding. Integrity of purpose at the individual and social levels is the glue that gives opportunity to individual presence and social cohesion. To live in a society that at its heart and soul has set as fundamental goals the mandates and truths of our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution requires sufficient knowledge of the freedoms and subsequent responsibilities that are concomitant with those freedoms. There are also those U.S. citizens who also do not

understand these responsibilities or the freedoms for different reasons. This is also a subject for a future essay.2 The greatness of the U.S., this Beacon on a Hill,3 is precisely that it provides opportunities to give expression to each one according to their talents and abilities within the construct of a civil society governed by laws and customs. To have not known enough about either, is an indictment of those who did not know enough to protect themselves from the Patrn who has as an agenda; the fundamental transformation of what they came here to enjoy, to offer to their children, is their greatest sin of ignorance. Therein, lies the great tragedy of their nave participation in this last election. It was a perpetuation of a consciousness that, while given birth in Mexico, that by the way has an excellent constitution, also has a society that says, Cumplo, pero no obedezco. {I will comply but not obey.} And here, does this remind you of anyone? Executive orders, perhaps? Multiply this by the statistical fringes of the ill-informed, the elitists and their destructive intentions, and the ignorant and you have a win but you certainly do not have a mandate, much less a coalition of sufficiently prepared
2

Again I refer you to Sign Posts for essays on these subjects. You may wish to read A Beacon on a Hill in Pebbles on the Shore: A Collection. This is a collection of poetry. It may be found at: http://amzn.to/gpHPRB
3

participants to enhance this countrys potential in order to take care of current and future generations. The challenges for my Mexican brothers and sisters as well as those other citizens is to understand sufficiently the constructs and opportunities that this great nation has to offer and to participate in its maintenance and as well its growth by protecting the laws and other attributes that make it the greatest county in the world. If we were to multiply this description of the edges of the curves, of the many bell curves of U.S. society, we could see how many there were who believed the rhetoric, bought into the message, and participated in the win and lost because they didnt know or couldnt understand the deceit inherent in the message, we would have a better idea of those who helped create the win that gave birth to the supposed Mandate. We have all lost a measure of the freedoms that they purport of defend and that so many on both sides of the border have labored and died for. There are many that must rethink their future and the future of their children and, as well what this country is all about. History, in its inexorable bending trends toward the freedom of humankind, must be protected by those few who in the making of new history, knew and know and choose to defend those freedoms while others grow in their strength and understanding of the very nature and purpose of those freedoms.4 There is much to do. Game on!

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For some specific suggestions of what to do about our current immigration problems, and there are many, see again, Sign Posts. All vols. are available free at: pathtotheself.com/allpostingvols.html