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squirrelwrangler · 1 year

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You've always interested me so much. Can I ask where you are from? :3 Are you American?

I'll admit, I'm a little befuddled by this ask, but as is obvious from my sporadic personal posts, yes I am American. I was actually born in Washington D.C., so I feel I can claim some weird extra US points by that. Both of my parents were officers in the US Navy, so while I have never lived outside of the US, as a child I moved frequently from one coast of North America to the other, so as far as which regional cultural subset, even though I currently live in Texas and have for the last 20+ years, I don't identify as Southern. (Plus if you know the sub-regions in Texas, living south of the Nueces River as I do means that my local area has some strong ties to Northern Mexico). I do have a Texan variant of the drawl but I talk fast and slur my words, so idk how recognizable it is. Also had to have some speech therapy as a young child (couldn't pronouce my Rs).

Family-wise at least maternally I have ties to the Pacific Northwest and upper Great Plains, but that constantly moving military family history means a strong disconnect from that intra-generational extended family in close proximity that is relatively common elsewhere. My paternal grandfather did immigrate to the States from what was then Czechoslovakia, and the village that he was from is still on the Czech Republic side, but ironically he was Slovak (and Hungarian). Other European ancestry is a mix of various German, Swiss, Romanian, English, and Swedish, and for some ancestors we can go back to canton records in the 1400s and others we're looking at a "Romanian" mercenary who entered the country less-than-legitimately through Alaska and worked for the proto-CIA, and he's not the only 'okay that's a fake name' dude. So yeah, overall am a pale-ass White American. (Family history claims a spec of Salish but also that it was so far back in the family tree that nobody pretends to have Native American ancestry).

Been to Italy once for a short trip, have hopped over the border to Canada and Mexico for afternoon trips once, and thanks to an aunt who lived there I've been to Hawaii as a very small child. But for the most part my entire life have been inside the continental US and almost always within a few miles of the ocean. That military brat history means government vouchers if you moved yourself aka every new base transfer my parents were driving us, U-hauls included, on a three to five day road trip across the US, so I've seen the roadside versions of most states. And quite a few state and national parks. And while I never lived in on-base housing, I grew up on Naval commissaries and Naval government hospitals and in areas outside of major cities - suburbs of Annapolis and north of Corpus Christi. San Francisco was the only really really big city I lived in, and D.C. the one I spent a lot of summer visits to. And if you know D.C., it doesn't have skyscrapers. Hate those. I have what I call the optimal seagull to pigeon ratio - it's better to live where the dominant parking lot flock is gull. You could not pay me to swim in the ocean; I don't like beaches. But I have to be within a 20 minute drive to said beach or else I feel miserable. Growing up I had no desire to enlist myself, but it's the closest thing to personal/familial culture above anything regional. I hated football long before I moved to Texas because I had to attend too many Army-Naval football games in shitty wet cold Maryland late autumn weather. (Also I hate most fish but will swear by crab and crab cakes).

As for religion- well my dad's family was staunchly Catholic, he was an altar boy- but he's the definition of lapsed, refuses to step into a church for fifty-odd years. And what I was raised as? Atheist but culturally Christian, I'd say. The sum total of my religious instruction was "God is 𝝅 because everything is broken down into circles including DNA" and then what history and especially art history books taught me. And yes, that makes living in the Bible Belt meets Latino Catholic region both amusing and extremely infuriating. Cis Female. Ace. Thirties.

Have owned dogs most of my life and most of those dogs have been sighthounds and the cats were Siamese, so I have a strong understanding and interest in domestic dogs while also thinking that the optimal hound should have a cat's personality and the perfect cat acts like a dog. As a teenager I did ride horses - English style, to break that Texan stereotype.

If you've never had tamales, you're missing out. Also Beef Stroganoff is served best on white rice, and there's no such thing as too much sour cream. And Hatch chilies are an abomination.

#personal history #personal rambling

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juliusschmidt · 7 years

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Someone sent me this ask: I'm getting a bit overwhelmed with all these things happening in the US. Tumblr and other social media are saying that what trump is doing is extremely wrong and unconstitutional, but one of my Republican cousins posted a video with Bill Clinton proposing a ban on illegal immigrants and on the lines what Trump was saying in his campaign. idk I've seen how people are reacting to trump, I'd say they have different approaches to same things. But i'm not so sure anymore. this sucks

Oh goodness. That's a lot.

I don't know about 'unconstitutional,' but I'm certainly of the belief that a lot of what Trump is doing is 'extremely wrong.' (In fact, I think part of what's frightening to people like myself is that a good deal of it isn't clearly unconstitutional.) However, you're right to notice that things are more complicated than social media portrays them to be.

This got super long. Topics covered: immigration policy, my opinion on these immigration questions, a note about citing politicians’ opinions, reactions to Trump and Trump supporters

ETA: It’s been pointed out to me that a huge part of the immigration conversation revolves around whether or not people are ‘illegal’ or ‘undocumented’, so I’ve added a bit about that.

Immigration Policy

Immigration is a hugely polarizing issue in the US and I’m no expert, but I’ll try to paint the picture with broad strokes.

People who oppose it are (openly) concerned about ‘cultural fragmentation’ (the idea that the English language, Christianity, and western dress are all essential to American Culture and worth defending to the point of imposing these norms onto newcomers), immigrants taking their jobs or their children’s jobs in a climate with relatively high unemployment, undocumented immigrants receiving benefits (schools, roads, healthcare, food stamps) without having their incomes monitored to see whether or not they should be paying taxes into the system that pays out for these benefits, and the arrival of terrorists and gangs/cartels from the middle east and global south.

People who approve of it say that immigration is an essential part of our so-called American culture (that before we are English-speaking or Christian, we are a nation of immigrants), that we live in a globalized world where trade and ideas are passing between borders and in which we need to allow for people to also pass between borders to facilitate commerce and science, that immigrants are good for the American economy bringing necessary labor and skills and innovations and ideas that boost the quality of life for all Americans, that we have a moral duty to open our borders to as many people fleeing violence or oppression or extreme economic hardship as we can reasonably fit.

Most Americans fall somewhere in between these two stances.

Neither position is essentially Democratic or Republican. Even though, currently, Democrats are for the most part pro-immigration and this sitting Republican president is ‘protectionist’ (xenophobic?), a lot of (wealthy) Republicans (like George W. Bush) have traditionally been pro-immigration and a lot of (labor) Democrats have traditionally opposed more open borders.

A lot of the conversation revolves around whether people are in the country legally or not, the preferred term for the latter being ‘undocumented.’ The question of how to deal with people who are not on the books in the US has, indeed, long been the biggest topic of debate.

Trump’s conversation and actions have affected both documented and undocumented immigrants.

So let’s separate out two related, but different hot topics.

1) Trump said a lot on the campaign about a building wall and about ‘illegal immigrants.’ He signed two executive orders dealing with this last Wednesday. (Summary here.) These comments and these orders are mostly directed at immigrants from Mexico, Central and South America and primarily undocumented immigrants. Democratic presidents like BIll Clinton (and even Barack Obama) supported similar measures (partly to appease their labor base who saw immigrants from south of the border as a direct threat to their jobs). People on the left didn’t like this, but it didn’t strike people’s hearts the same way the more recent immigration related executive order has. T

2) The more recent executive order has to do with immigrants and refugees from seven majority Muslim countries. (Summary here). Here is a comprehensive argument for why it’s unconstitutional. This affects many people with green cards and proper visas, well-documented immigrants. (It should be noted that because of this, the courts have put a stay on the ban, stopping it temporarily, until they can take it up and decide on its constitutionality formally.)

Also, there’s been a huge outcry from people who would otherwise support this order because it took effect so quickly and so clumsily. The people who had to enforce the order didn’t know exactly how they were meant to do it.

My Opinion on these Immigration Questions

Obviously, borders exist for a reason. Very simply: different nations have different governments with different laws and taxation systems and different citizen rights and benefits/resources (roads, policing, schools, health care, military protection). We need to monitor immigration to manage which laws and which benefits apply to whom and at what time (especially, imo, so that the people who hold all the $$$ like Bill Gates and *cough* Donald Trump don't move about in such a way that they are paying taxes to no nation and reaping the benefits of all the nations) (oh. fucking. wait.) (ANYWAY!). (Which, by the way, did you know that eight people hold as much wealth as the poorest 50% of people in the world?)

Additionally, immigrants and their demographics (where they come from, how much wealth they bring with them, and how educated they are) impact the local US economy (usually for the better, but not always and not for everyone). I believe that immigration policy (and trade policy) needs to be attentive to the American workers who are so often left behind, not by penalizing immigrants, but by helping out these out-of-work laborers, perhaps with tax benefits, extended unemployment benefits, and/or fully-subsidized new industry training programs.

But all that is background noise. Here’s the heart of the matter for me: immigrants, especially impoverished immigrants, and especially especially impoverished immigrants on the ethnic and cultural margins (who don’t speak the language, who don’t practice the same religion, whose physical appearance differs) are vulnerable people. And we have a moral duty as human beings to protect and free vulnerable peoples and to uplift their stories so that history does not repeat itself.

When a vulnerable person says, this policy hurts me and my family, we have to listen for the truth in that. And quite frankly, Trump’s most recent executive order re: immigrants has caused so much pain that it’s hard to miss it. Families have been ripped apart. People were literally being detained without legal access in airports around the world. People fleeing violence in their home countries, who have spent months and often years being vetted for entry, are now being turned away.

(Also, as a person of the Judeo-Christian faith, I believe I have a Biblically-based ethical imperative to fight for refugees and accept and protect immigrants. But that’s a whole different essay.)

Note about Citing Politicians’ Opinions

My feelings about Bill Clinton’s policies are lukewarm so I’m not inclined to bite on that video. He was a moderate in his time and I’m a progress now, at a moment when the progressive movement has (for the better, imo) moved even farther to left (I believe and hope through dialogue with and leadership of vulnerable and marginalized people). Bill Clinton also wanted to be ‘tough on crime,’ using approaches to criminal legislation, policing, and sentencing that have been proven to harm communities, not help them. He also drafted trade policies that protected CEO’s profits not workers’ well-beings.

It’s important for both progressives and conservatives to be careful not to agree with something just because it’s supported by someone we like. We need to make sure that our policies- no mater who supports them- are lining up with our values (mine being justice, compassion, and freedom for all).

Reactions to Trump and Trump Supporters

I’m of the unpopular opinion (unpopular in my progressive corner of the internet, at least) that we need to respect all human beings, even the most vile and oppressive ones. That does not mean condoning or allowing their abusive attitudes and behaviors. In fact, out of respect for their souls, we sure as shit should be confronting them.

I’m also of the unpopular opinion that not all conservatives or even all Trump supporters are equal. Not all of them white supremacist nazis. Some of them are, yeah. But not all.

People I love voted for Trump and guess what? I haven’t stopped loving them.

A lot of the people I know and love that supported Trump have been frustrated by the political system for years, feeling like the professional class, which dominates the media, disrespects their culture and their work. A lot of them volunteer with their churches’ homeless shelters and soup kitchens and a lot of them care deeply for the vulnerable in their communities.

The creation of conservative media silos and the gaslighting of those stuck in them has effectively changed their perspective on reality.

And it fucking sucks and makes me really angry at them, but it doesn’t change the fact that my dear family friend, who went on a loud pro-Trump rant in the middle of the hospital while his wife was having brain surgery, also gave me my first job and drove eight hours (roundtrip) in a day to cry like a baby at my wedding. It doesn’t change the fact that my Aunt Mary, who’s had a Trumbip sign proudly in her front yard since this time last year, babysat me five and sometimes six days a week until I went to kindergarten, showed me how to make mundane errands into an adventure, and taught me to laugh at myself.

Continuing to be in relationship with these people means confronting them about some things and it means letting some things go. I do recognize that I can continue to be in relationship because there’s nothing about my publicly known identity of which they disapprove.

But what it comes down to for me is this: I’m not going to let the right take those meaningful, life-affirming relationships from me, too. I’m just not.

So, in conclusion, yeah, it sucks. :(

#politics #wow i had a lot to say about this

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