Daley Puts Immigration Issues In The Context Of Miller's "The Crucible"

I can generally find many good things to say about Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, not the least of which is that he has the guts to stand-up to some of the leftwing lunacy emitting from certain members of the Chicago City Council.  I do, however, have to take umbrage with his efforts to link Arthur Miller's "The Crucible" with the contemporary immigration debate:

"After 9/11, a lot of people have looked at the Muslim community, the Arab community in a completely different way and that's really unfortunate. Also, many people are looking at the immigrant community in a completely different way, which is really unfortunate. We can learn from our lessons in history-and maybe we haven't," Daley told a news conference Thursday at the Harold Washington Library.

One of the primary lessons one must learn is how to determine if history or literature is analogous to a contemporary event, and if so why.  Miller's play was written during the "Red Scare" of the 1950s and was intended by the author to have some bearing on those events.  Later historical records, many of which were discovered in the since opened Soviet Archives, validate much of the concern about the infiltration of Communists within American institutions.  In this respect, Miller's analogy turned out to be less appropriate than many believed.

Even if one were to grant the "witch hysteria" and "Red Scare" analogy, what does either have to do with the present immigration debate?  Is it hysterical to insist that the immigration laws already on the books be enforced?  Are prominent United States Congressman holding hearings and outing individual immigrants for being here illegally?  Are Americans in a frenzy to turn in their immigrant neighbors and accuse them of being undocumented?  One could actually argue that immigrants are generally treated much better today than they used to be.  Mayor Daley should be acutely aware of this as a descendent of Irish ancestry.   The debate today often revolves around what rights and benefits the immigrants have in the United States.  Illegal immigrants are free to rally for their cause without  being assaulted or rounded-up and deported.  Can one say the same about what would have happened had undocumented immigrants marched for their  "rights" in the mid-to-late 1800s?

Now perhaps Mayor Daley is using the choice of "The Crucible" for Chicago's "One Book, One Chicago" campaign to curry favor with the immigrant groups that congregate in large urban centers like Chicago.  The real issue though, is what the Mayor's statements reveal about how the political left and their supporters on immigration policy view those of us who demand that laws pertaining to our sovereignty be both respected and obeyed.  In the eyes of our opponents, the law-abiding have descended into out-of-control hysteria, manipulation and lies.  After all, isn't this the modus operandi of the Abigail Williams character in "The Crucible?"  It's certainly the way the Left views Joe McCarthy.

It's unfortunate that those on the "progressive" side of the immigration debate seem so motivated by the need to cast aspersions about the character and motivations of those who disagree with them on an issue as serious as border security.  Most of us don't have a fear or dislike of somebody because they happen to be from another country or another culture.  What we find so objectionable is a disorderly process that not only allows almost anyone to enter indiscriminately, but rewards them with citizenship even though they are here because they elected to break our laws in the first place.  The seeming inability to grasp actual motivations as well as the nature of electoral politics makes it difficult to engage in a rational and high-minded debate on this subject...and that's a real shame.