Contempo Magazine Blog

Congressman Tom Tancredo of Colorado, a failed Republican presidential candidate and zealous sponsor of the Border Fence, was in Brownsville giving a sanctimonious deaf ear to local leaders. The self proclaimed patriot has had an interesting past. While still in college during the Vietnam War, Mr. Tancredo was an vocal and fervent supporter of the War but when it came time for his physical prior to induction for military service he claimed “depression” which barred him from military service. Apart from being the poster boy for anti-immigration paranoia, his career has been noted for many odd behaviors including surrounding himself with men dressed in Confederate uniforms and holding a picture of Robert E. Lee, while decrying the evil of immigration ( a very strange behavior for a man whose grandparents were Italian immigrants). In 2006 his scheduled speech before the Miami Rotary Club was cancelled because he proclaimed Miami was a city taken over by “thugs and separatists” and said there was no difference between Miami and Havana. He stated that Miami was a “third world country”.Many noted Republican leaders such as President Bush and former Representative Tom Delay have rebuked him in public and made him persona non grata. He was a “Catholic” until he proclaimed the Pope was not showing sufficient anti-Muslim sentiment and further stated that the Catholic Church wants illegal immigration in order to increase their membership roles after which he became a protestant evangelist.

A review of his most recent financial campaign reports indicates that he raised almost 2 million dollars in the last election cycle. According to records from Federal Election Commission and other watch groups, Mr. Tancredo has raised over 7 million dollars with his hate messages. Interestingly about 90% of his campaign contributions come from single issue voters of which about 50% are from Colorado and 50% out of state. So from a financial point of view, it is clear that he uses this zealous anti-immigration rhetoric as his meal ticket for without it he would have no funding.

An interview he gave to M.E. Sprenglemeyer of the Rocky Mountain News on June 24, 2007 is very revealing of his true motivations. When asked why he was running he answered:”here’s one reason: because we will not be able to get any money to stay in the race for any length of time if that’s the case. You know, you do have to have some money to make this thing work. Certainly, the immigration issue has helped out. In the last week, it would be actually, not this last week but the week before, we raised over $200,000 in one week, and much of it of course was as a result of what was happening in the Senate with that immigration bill. So… And that all can happen because people are mad and they see you as the champion. And who knows, maybe even if you’re still polling at this level, they still see you as the champion, the person that’s gonna make that issue all the way through, and you can continue to do it. I don’t know. Certainly, if you don’t have the money we can’t even make the plane ticket, the plane fare to Dubuque.”

The Congressman gave an interview with The Right Wing News to John Hawkins in which he said about South Texas:” There are places right now in East LA & Southern Texas that you would not honestly — there is absolutely nothing that you would say makes them part of the United States of America. They are a separate country — it is (like a) separate country — right now, at this moment.”

A political con-man using anti-immigration sentiment as a ticket for political gain. The Congressman should have visited the Vietnam Memorial in McAllen on his last visit to the Valley.Why am I not surprised?

We tried to contact Mr. Tancredo but were told at his Washington office that his press secretary was off in Colorado.

Today the FDA was holding hearings on the safety of Lasik surgery spurred on by only 140 complaints from the estimated 10 million people who have undergone the operation to date. By most accounts, this surgery is successful in improving vision without complication in at least 95% of the time.  No doubt there are going to be some people who have a bad result even if its just a very small number.  Thinking about this issue as well as the ongoing mortgage crisis made me wonder about the changing role we as individuals have in making decisions for our lives.

A decision by definition is a choice between potential courses of action. Freedom by definition has always been the ability of that choice to be made solely by the individual. Inherent to this principle was the concept that the individual knew best what choices were best for him rather than any government entity.  At the same time, most contemporary views of a capitalistic economy have recognized that this freedom of choice will allow experimentation and innovation for some to the benefit of the whole whilst some will make decisions which result in worse personal circumstance.

Our value of the individual concurrently has caused society to develop safety nets for those that do make bad choices. Bankruptcy court, probation, divorce court, credit counseling, adult education, substance abuse rehabilitation, and welfare exist because we recognize the process is not foolproof.

It seems we are always trying to balance our freedom of choice with our chance to fail.  Many of the issues we face today deal directly with this conflict.  Should the government tell us exactly what medical procedures we can have and under what circumstances or should we only be allowed to borrow money if some government official approves it?

It is obvious that one role of government should be to remove the possibility of intentional deception by those who would take advantage of individuals.  However, the more we rely on government to be our filter of information and less on our own life experience and education the more we will be relinquishing our freedom.

Perhaps even more important is that we have to learn to accept the concept of uncertainty and probability.  Our society wastes millions of dollars on evaluating low probability risks that are politically popular while ignoring common sense concerns.  Research in diseases and illness of children ,for example, has been side tracked by news media hype about things like power lines and immunizations.  Instead of focusing on losing weight and exercising, people become obsessed with the latest trace pollutant reported on the evening news.  We must learn that collecting information is not the same as coming to conclusions.

A part of the education process of our young people has to include how to make decisions in life. To understand there will be mistakes made and to accept uncertainty.  They should not grow up in a world where the government assumes the whole burden of decision making in their everyday life.

Congressman Hinojosa of the 15th Congressional District has proposed adding financial literacy to the education process.  This is a good start.  A local clothing merchant used to say in their commercial “An educated consumer is our best customer.”

A review of the formal waiver submitted into the Federal Record by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff on April 1, 2008 is really shocking. The Secretary is saying in the waiver that on his sole authority alone for what is likely to be the largest construction project ever to be done in the Rio Grande Valley basically no federal regulations will be in place. The waiver does much more than give a few environmental waivers. Historic buildings, farms, burial grounds, waterways, drinking water, clean air, parks and other structures may be destroyed or disrupted. A quote out of the document is below. The full document may be found at http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/highlights/dhs_waiver/
“In order to deter illegal crossings in the Project
Area, there is presently a need to construct fixed and mobile barriers and roads in
conjunction with improvements to an existing levee system in the vicinity of the border
of the United States as a joint effort with Hidalgo County, Texas. In order to ensure the
expeditious construction of the barriers and roads that Congress prescribed in the IIRIRA
in the Project Area, which is an area of high illegal entry into the United States, I have
determined that it is necessary that I exercise the authority that is vested in me by section
102(c) of the IIRIRA as amended. Accordingly, I hereby waive in their entirety, with
respect to the construction of roads and fixed and mobile barriers (including, but not
limited to, accessing the project area, creating and using staging areas, the conduct of
earthwork, excavation, fill, and site preparation, and installation and upkeep of fences,
roads, supporting elements, drainage, erosion controls, safety features, surveillance,
communication, and detection equipment of all types, radar and radio towers, and
lighting) in the Project Area, all federal, state, or other laws, regulations and legal
requirements of, deriving from, or related to the subject of, the following laws, as
amended: The National Environmental Policy Act (Pub. L. 91-190, 83 Stat. 852 (Jan. 1,
1970) (42 V.S.C. 4321 et seq.)), the Endangered Species Act (Pub. L. 93-205, 87 Stat.
884) (Dec. 28, 1973) (16 V.S.C. 1531 et seq.)), the Federal Water Pollution Control Act
(commonly referred to as the Clean Water Act) (33 V.S.C. 1251 et seq.), the National
Historic Preservation Act (Pub. L. 89-665, 80 Stat. 915 (Oct. 15, 1966) (16 V.S.C. 470 et
seq.)), the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (16 V.S.C. 703 et seq.), the Clean Air Act (42
V.S.C. 7401 et seq.), the Archeological Resources Protection Act (Pub. L. 96-95, 16
V.S.C. 470aa et seq.), the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 V.S.C. 300f et seq.), the Noise
Control Act (42 V.S.C. 4901 et seq.), the Solid Waste Disposal Act, as amended by the
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (42 V.S.C. 6901 et seq.), the Comprehensive
Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (42 V.S.C. 9601 et seq.), the
Archaeological and Historic Preservation Act (Pub. L. 86-523, 16 V.S.C. 469 et seq.), the
Antiquities Act (16 V.S.C. 431 et seq.), the Historic Sites, Buildings, and Antiquities Act
(16 V.S.C. 461 et seq.), the Farmland Protection Policy Act (7 V.S.C. 4201 et seq.), the
Coastal Zone Management Act (Pub. L. 92-583, 16V.S.C. § 1451 et seq.), the Federal
Land Policy and Management Act (Pub L. 94-579,43 V.S.C. 1701 et seq.), the National
Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act (Pub. L. 89-669, 16 V.S.c. 668dd-668ee),
the Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956 (Pub. L. 84-1024, 16 V.S.C. 742a, et seq.), the Fish and
Wildlife Coordination Act (Pub. L. 73-121, 16 V.S.C. 661 et seq.), the Administrative
Procedure Act (5 V.S.C. 551 et seq.), the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 (33 V.S.C.
403), the Eagle Protection Act (16 V.S.C. 668 et seq.), the Native American Graves
Protection and Repatriation Act (25 V.S.C. 3001 et seq.), the American Indian Religious
Freedom Act (42 V.S.C. 1996), the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (42 V.S.C.
2000bb), and the Federal Grant and Cooperative Agreement Act of 1977 (31 V.S.C.
6303-05).
I reserve the authority to make further waivers from time to time as I may determine to be
necessary to accomplish the provisions of section 102 of the IIRIRA, as amended.”