Written by Nathan Moore on January 6, 2009 at 10:22 am and is filed under Nashville Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

5 Responses to “Headin' Out – Correct You Later!”

1. Jimmy Says:
   January 6th, 2009 at 2:41 pm

   Good to see you are on the right side of this issue, Nathan.

2. Jimmy Says:
   January 6th, 2009 at 2:55 pm

   It makes sense that the forms and such that are created in Metro are designed to save time and energy lest there be no necessity for the forms in the first place. Does it not make sense to translate the most popular forms into Spanish if that makes things more efficient?

   It looks like an 80/20 rule here where if the offices are without unnecessary political influence they’ll do what’s easiest and translate the most popular forms and deal with some type of translation as needed for the exceptions.

   Neither of the polar views: that all forms and documents should be translated or that no forms or documents should be translated; is correct.

   Common sense is what is correct and letting Crafton and others on both sides of the issue use it as a political football is ridiculous.

3. pellaboy Says:
   January 6th, 2009 at 4:05 pm

   This isn’t about common sense, Jimmy. This is about nativism, xenophobia, racism, fear, hate, prejudice, resentment, and pride. Jon Crisp has already said he hopes this will crack down on illegal immigration. It won’t. He’s said that this is about avoiding the problems being experienced by Texas, California, Arizona, New Mexico, etc. But we’ll never have those problems. We’re not a border state. He’s said that this is about protecting Nashville. It won’t. He’s said it’s about saving money. It won’t. The only real reasons to vote for English Only are: fear, resentment, prejudice, pride, nativism, racism, xenophobia, and hate. Period. And we need to stop the friggin smokescreens. Enough already. Just call a spade a spade and move on.

4. Jimmy Says:
   January 6th, 2009 at 4:35 pm

   That’s a fine list you’ve got there pellaboy; but you’re wrong. I’ve had this argument with a hundred different people on both sides of the ideological spectrum and the problem people have is rooted in ignorant protectionism. “They’re taking our jobs”, is the mantra that’s driving this emotion. Anything else is an offshoot of that… a symptom of the root fear.

   You’ll never solve the problem by polarizing it. This problem is best understood by the fact that American unskilled labor has priced itself out of the world market. The protectionist reaction is popular but it’s just going to lead to a more painful adjustment in the future. You may be right about the policy in this case, pellaboy; but you’re right for the wrong reason. And by not seeing the problem clearly you’ll never solve it.

   We’ve got unskilled and low skilled Americans who are afraid of losing their jobs to a hungry work-force that’s just plain out-working them. If they want to survive, it shouldn’t be through protectionism but instead by putting their relatively well-educated asses to work in fields where there’s a greater labor scarcity. If not, these hungry hard-working Mexicans are going to clean their clock either in American factories and industry or with American managed Mexican exports to the US and world market.

   Protectionism is just swimming against the tide… it adds no value… it’s inflationary and makes our products less competitive on the world market. The right solution is to give these people valid work visas so they’re not living in the shadows and so they can pay taxes and can participate better in a growing economy… that’s common sense.

   Labeling your opponents racists, prejudiced and xenophobic actually gives them a defensible position and continues the argument because they, for the most part, are demonstrably not any of these. They are simply afraid of losing their jobs and are ignorant about free-trade and economic.

5. Jimmy Says:
   January 6th, 2009 at 4:42 pm

   ‘economics’ that is…