All My Baggers Live in Texas?

Like writers everywhere, bloggers write to be read. This means they must have at least a working knowledge of the people for whom they are putting words on paper. What I've found is there is such a disconnect between me and those I assume could be readers that it's removed any desire on my part to take the time and make the effort. Still, as Milton reminds us, one voice stilled in one voice that plays no part in life.

What put me in this reflective mood is an encounter that I had with a fellow customer at Starbucks. I hadn't thought her particularly loopy before. She informed me as I got my coffee that they were considering a move to a place wherewhere she could get away from the partisanship and the yelling going on in the US. For a moment, I thought she was talking about Australia or Canada.

But no, she was talking about moving to Texas, encouraging the state to secede since  it has all the oil and can go it alone, and then getting rid of all illegals and, for good measure, any one with a green card.

Interesting.

My fall back position in such situations is to refer to Shakespeare to calm things down a bit. Mentioning his name usually resets the conversation as most people haven't read much of his work.

"Shakespeare says," I went on, "that you can't remove just a small part of bad things without losing good things as well." She looked at me a bit blankly so I continued. "If you want to catch someone doing ninety in a fifty-mile zone, you have to set the dragnet for everyone. So you'll catch everyone going anywhere over the limit at the same time. Now you can certainly argue that anyone doing any amount of speed over the limit deserves what they get. But are you prepared to give hundred dollar tickets to someone doing one mile over?"

What I didn't say, of course, that a lot depends on the net the police use because the principle is that same: exactly where do you draw the line? But I figured she'd get it.

"Now," I continued, "if you throw everyone out with a green card, you are going to deport families of US citizens who haven't had the required residence time to qualify for citizenship; you'll throw out people who need more time to learn the language; and you'll remove people who are good citizens but don't have the money to apply. It's not free, you know."

Her blank look of certitude turned into one of confusion. In the passion of the ,moment and easy answers, she hadn't considered the gray parts of the issue. From the perplexed look on her face, I could see she was looking to adjust the net she had cast so broadly over anyone with a green card. How could she get rid of the people she didn't like (Latinos) without doing the damage I mentioned.

I left before she found an answer. Perhaps I have given her pause. I hope so, because I was on a green card once and I feel I did a great for this country even before I took citizenship. But did I do any good? Or was I just sounding off?

Those same questions plague me with this blog. Does it do any good? Is anyone's mind open enough to be changed? At this point, I doubt it, and I personally look forward to getting beyond the personal animus that drives mindless yelling and primary certitude.

But maybe I'm wrong. Perhaps  it wouldn't be a bad idea for all like minded people to go to Texas.