Barking at the Wind

an open letter to the members of the United States Congress

For several years now I have been a proud resident of a certain mill town in New England. Along with many of my fellow residents I think it is a lovely city. Some would disagree. They see it as a rotten city, spoiled by one of the crucial features that makes it so appealing to the rest of us: a substantial population of immigrants. On a warm summer night I like to walk along the lamp lit river esplanade for there I find a parade of people from the four corners of the world, strolling and quietly chatting in their native tongues. Everyone smiles as you pass; we are pleased to share in this conspiracy, this fine privilege known only to a few places, a few precious times in history.

I suppose that you would say that some of these immigrants are here ‘illegally’. What a stupid notion! Who can tell another man where to hang his hat? They show no desire to evict us, to seize our parcels for themselves – you will remember that our forebears were not so courteous when they immigrated here. There is a glut of property available, and in fact we need immigrants, desperately.

Since its inception our nation has ridden on their steam. It takes people with tremendous gumption to transplant their lives to this land of mad outcasts. Thus, in spite of ourselves, we siphon off the most intrepid and resourceful of the other nations. We should be welcoming these exceptional new neighbors with apple pie for it is their will to make a new life that gives our nation its best advantage. Those of us whose families have resided here for more than a few generations mysteriously feel some grand sense of entitlement by contrast, and yet we offer very little. All the adventure has been bred out of us. We have none of the constitution of our immigrant ancestors.

If there is disproportionate crime and poverty among the caste of immigrants, it is most certainly due to their lack of that most essential right, hard won by our own immigrant forebears: representation. Yet before long, much like the wolves that came before, these immigrants will find the way into your peerage, and though some of your colleagues are doing everything they can to drive them off, they will prevail certainly, for they come from better stock. Take heart! Like us, once fed they will domesticate, and together we can bark at wind that stirs in the bushes.
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