Just read the article from USA today entitled Palin blasts Ill. school’s decision not to send hoops team to Arizona.
The rebuttal was that the school is obligated to admit every student regardless of immigration status. Therefore, if they went to Arizona it is now law that some of these players could be checked and deported. Of course that wouldn’t happen because there would be an enormous amount of outrage but it is possible.
Yet, Palin’s view is that whoever disagrees with this conservative Arizona law and takes action on it should be attacked.
As we all know Arizona instituted the law that says the police are allowed to check immigration papers for anyone they deem suspicious or have a “probable cause” to do so. I have already written a post about this at length from a much wider point of view so do not care to repeat myself here. What I would like to comment on however, is how much Sarah Palin reminds me of France’s Jean-Marie Le Pen.
According to Wikipedia, Mr. Le Pen is “a French conservativeand nationalist politician who is founder and president of the Front National (National Front) party.” Furthermore, “Le Pen focuses on immigration to France, the European Union, traditional culture, law and order and France’s high rate of unemployment. He advocates immigration restrictions, the death penalty, raising incentives for homemakers,[1] and euroscepticism. He strongly opposes same-sex marriage, euthanasia, and abortion.”
Except for incentives for homemakers (that would take taxes) I think I’ve found Mr. Le Pens twin in Sarah Palin!
In 2002 Le Pen knocked out Lionel Jospin (the main left candidate) in the first round of voting. This really sent Europe for a shock and most of the major intellectual magazines ran stories condemning his victory.
To be fair, Sarah Palin is certainly no Jean-Marie Le Pen. Jean-marie Le Pen is a fascist and adamantly dislikes foreigners. I don’t believe Sarah Palin dislikes foreigners at all, I just think she doesn’t know any. Even though it isn’t fair to compare the two apples to apples, I do think we could compare apples to oranges because even though they are different, they are both fruit!
If Jean-Marie Le Pen is a Humvee, Sarah Palin would be a tiny Prius. They both use gas, but Palin limits the amount of damaging exhaust by touting the benefits of electric energy while not mentioning that yes, there is some pollution there.
Let’s do some comparisons in how they are similar but one really says what the thinks, while the other isn’t sure what to think but will repeat what the populist conservative horde tells her to.
1. Immigration
– Mr. Le Pen – He does not like Islam period. He does not want any more immigrants coming into the country and makes no excuses for it.
– Sarah Palin – The fight is over “illegal immigrants,” with “illegal” being the key word here. For the conservative, ethnicity does not matter, it is enforcing our borders that is important for a variety of reasons with one of the most important being to protect against terrorism. Yet, this fear of terrorism is a scapegoat, the real reason is simply that too many have crossed over and certain um,,(non-mexican shall we say) residents are getting anxious. They are just too politically correct to state what the real fear is unlike Le Pen and use covers like “illegality” when people have been crossing the border both ways since the founding of the USA.
Again, Sarah is not racist, I just think she doesn’t personally know any Mexicans and she sure as heck doesn’t speak Spanish. (How to translate “You bet’cha in Spanish? – Claro que sí?) If we look at the broader picture, she is taking her cues from the white conservative population of Arizona and Midwest. These folks are not racist either and the problem is much less severe than in France where there is some serious trouble (riots and such). It is simply that there has been too much of an influx for some people to handle and that got people saying “Why are we letting these people in the country?” “Do we not have control of our own borders?”
This makes perfect sense and in their point of view they are absolutely correct. The blow would be softened however if the people spoke English and acted much more like Americans. If it were Canadians that were crossing over illegally I’m sure there would still be some folks that take issue with it but I highly doubt it would become a serious national issue.
2. Traditional Culture
– Le Pen – The Muslim culture is different and with so many immigrants coming into France they are afraid of losing their identity. As the two cultures (Christianity – Islam) do not mesh very well (and hasn’t for millennia) it is causing a lot of concern in France. Le Pen capitalizes on these fears and came dangerously close to winning the presidency. These fears were thoroughly explained in “The Clash of Civilizations,” by Samuel P. Huntington.
– Sarah Palin – She says for herself in the video below that “America is based on “Judeo-Christian values.” She is just not willing to go farther like Le Pen and outright condemn people of other faiths. In her mind, you can come here and you can follow your religion if you must but please be aware that the USA is a Christian nation so although all you other faiths are an annoyance she’ll just keep stressing that the traditional culture is Christianity and everyone else better know it.
The interesting thing however is that people from Mexico are even more Christian (Catholic) than Americans in terms of intensity! Yet, their culture is not similar enough so there are some issues.
In the case of Le Pen, it is outright hatred, there is no cover for it. But in the case of Palin I don’t think these things really ever crossed her mind until they became national issues. Then, like folks without much diversity or world experience in their lives they run to the familiar and want everyone to stay that way.
In conclusion, it would be much less agitating if Palin could just say what she feels á la Le Pen. And what would that be?
1. Mexicans – Stop coming here. Through our visa controls we can limit the intake but if you circumvent the system we do not have control.
2. Be Christian already! We are a Christian nation and will support other Christians.
3. America should create a Christian version of Sharia Law and everyone should follow it. America is based on the Bible, get with the program and quit being silly.
4. God should be president. If he is too busy then I should.
5. If you disagree with anything America does – Get out – America is all perfect except when the leaders are Democrats.
Unlike Europe and Le Pen, there is no outrage about the things Palin says even though they are eerily similar. I simply cannot put my finger on it but if I had to draw an analogy I would say Mr. Le Pen is a huge pile of manure sitting in the street for everyone to see. Palin would be more like a small turd enclosed in a pretty box wrapped with a bow.
BTW. Check out the photoshop work on Palin with Le Pen. One of my best works. 🙂