Musings during a busy week...

This past weekend my family had their pre-Christmas Tamale-making fiesta and it occurred to me that this year went extremely fast. It seems like only a couple of months ago that I was marching alongside thousands of humanitarians in downtown Tucson for equality and dignity to be shown the immigrant community - regardless of status.

I've been pensive lately, especially with regards to identity. The midterm elections were a huge shift of power away from the far-right bigots light JD Hayworth, Tom Tancredo and Randy Graf. The Minutemen candidates were, for the most part, shown the door. It is definitely a step in the right direction, but there is much, MUCH work to be done.

The thing I've been pondering is this - what does it mean to be a productive citizen in the United States? If you believe the bobble-heads on T.V. it means to support the government's decrees without question otherwise you're "weak", or worse, a traitor.

I find that to be completely and utterly full of mierda.

I also hear alot of talk about the economy being strong. I also think that's a load of crap. Sure, it might be Sunny Days for the top bracket of income-earners, but what about the rest of us? For me, I know that I haven't had a raise in over a year, yet my expenses have risen exponentially. That is played out constantly throughout this country.

I resent the fact that people like Lou Dobbs blames the "illegal invasion" for these woes. That's not it at all. The blame lies in board rooms and political maneuvering in the halls of power that look the other way when it comes to health care cost, tuition, living wages, worker protections, etc. Why do we choose the easy way out and blame those who have little impact on the real problems?

That's a rhetorical question, but one that perhaps has an answer that will unlock the gridlock that exists politically in this country. The power may have shifted in November, but the problems remain, as well as their disastrous impact.

I find myself at a loss. While I write at this site as a Latino, I'm not foolish enough to think that I'm the only Latino that feels this way, let alone the only human. These are issues that transcend race and nationality.

So what do we do about it?