I had lunch with a member of Congress today...

[brooklynite]

...she said the top issue in her district was "national security": specifically, ISIS coming across the Mexican border...

The second ranking issue was "immigration", eg. Mexicans coming across the Mexican border...

And people wonder why Donald Trump hasn't crashed and burned...

[villager]

1. I'm guessing her district was somewhere in the American southwest?

Curious to see how the regional imperative affects the perception of "critical issues..."

[hlthe2b]

7. Actually, I think it far less likely (though not impossible) for them to be from the southwest

We have large Latino populations throughout the majority of the west and southwest. Even along the US-Mexico border, I think there is a lot more general tolerance/acceptance.

[villager]

21. Yes, but in a red state in the SW, districts won't be drawn up to represent those populations evenly

On the other hand, I'm guessing it was likelier that Brooklynite was breaking bread with a Demo congressperson.

We will have to wait to find out!

[Octafish]

2. What did you tell her? Did it help enlighten her?

Was she receptive to new ideas?

[brooklynite]

12. Most of our chat was about district politics, but I gave her my perspective on the Iran deal...

Middle East engagement, etc.

[Octafish]

15. Thanks! Glad she got input from you!

Good Fighter, and all that!

[Bluenorthwest]

3. First, I'm so sorry to hear that. Second, you leave out all the important parts, Party, State etc

That House, it has many mansions.....

[pscot]

4. Not I

Intelligence has been leaking out of the electorate since 1980. Trump is just the ne minus ultra.

[snooper2]

5. did you buy or is it going on an expense report, meaning I paid for it-

Anything over $15 for lunch will be automatically denied

[brooklynite]

13. FWIW, her campaign paid for it...but a chicken sandwich and coke doesn't cost too much...

[Facility Inspector]

6. One on one?

Or was it a campaign/fundraiser type event?

[brooklynite]

11. One on one...

...but I get requests for both.

[Facility Inspector]

14. That's pretty cool

but I'd be turned off my food listening to a racist politician go on and on about Mexicans.

[brooklynite]

16. No, you don't understand...

...this is a Democrat telling me what her constituents tell her.

[Ed Suspicious]

19. Well then she ought to lead. . . Lead the ignorant toward the light and out of the cave.

[Facility Inspector]

27. This is in a NY metro district?

[brooklynite]

30. I never said that...

...although there are some upstate districts that would probably match the profile.

I engage with House and Senate members around the country.

[Facility Inspector]

31. Yeah

any time you get outside the population areas, it gets dicey.

I have noticed the "open season" on Latinos in many places. White racists have no compunction about turning the hate speech up to 11 about what they generically refer to as "the Mexicans."

It seems more prevalent up north (the Midwest). Although the majority of times its mostly working class whites who feel like they are losing their prestige in some way.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

8. She needs to turn off the Foox propaganda channel.

13,000+ people in Phoenix and a similar number in Dallas and Huston don't think it's the top issue.

[brooklynite]

10. Has it occurred to you that a Sanders rally might not be a demographic match for every District?

[OffWithTheirHeads]

23. Ya But Trump will capture those

[lpbk2713]

9. It's fine and dandy for megacorps to go for years without paying any taxes.

Link: http://www.ctj.org/corporatetaxdodgers/sorrystateofcorptaxes.php


Just don't let some undocumented manual laborer slip across
the Rio Grande so that he can keep his family fed.

Typical elitist RW asshole point of view.

[0rganism]

33. disagreement on half of this (re. laborers)

imho

the rightwingers dont dislike the idea of undocumented manual laborers coming to take menial jobs. quite the opposite: they count on it.

the rich established ones buy them up by the dozen to do shitty sometimes-dangerous work on the cheap.

the poor dense ones like having the undocumented workers around doing the ugly sweaty jobs so they can pretend they're somehow better than someone else, thus fueling the underlying rage that allows them to continue being authoritarian tools while avoiding any serious self-examination.

what they both really strongly object to is the notion that said laborers and their families could eventually be legitimized, as legal residents or (gasp!) citizens.

the rich ones don't want this because it will lead to migrants being less-willing to work super hard for next-to-nothing in the long-term. this will have the added undesirable effect of driving up wages across the board. less cheap labor to go around, and that's a Bad Thing to the RW rich.

the poor ones don't want this because it will give them less leverage to think of themselves as superior, while they work nearly as hard for not much more. they'll have to drop economic and legal justifications for their bigotry, falling back on less palatable (but possibly more heartfelt) notions like skin color and primary language, which are not nearly as fun.

[Shrike47]

34. IMO, poor and working class whites want to end illegal immigration to force blacks to take jobs.

They want to end welfare so all the 'lazy blacks' are forced to work. The facts don't interest them, of course.

[0rganism]

35. again, i think this is counter-indicated by the consequences of illegal immigration

it's one thing to talk big about ending welfare and stopping all illegal immigration, but do they really want it? i don't think they do.

when blacks have to compete with illegal immigrants for low-paying jobs, white trash gets to feel superior. do away with illegal immigration? (president Trump: Impenetrable!) you're scrapping one of the most effective mechanisms for propping up the insecure white authoritarian. if US blacks took the jobs vacated by the vanishing illegal immigrants, suddenly agribusiness has to start paying minimum wage for the manual labor they used to get at a fraction of that and it cuts into the "lazy black" myth.

keep the illegal immigrants coming? convict and incarcerate blacks at a much higher rate than whites? you get not one but two underclasses vying with one-another for the worst jobs, thus keeping the wages low and the minorities poor. use the welfare system to subsidize people living on shit wages, and you'll keep them dependent and down but not so bad off that they have nothing to lose. that works out for big business, who wants labor that's cheap and eager to handle the ugliest jobs, as well as insecure white authoritarians, who want an underclass they can point to as proof of their "natural superiority".

the poor and working-class whites may act like they want to end illegal immigration, but that's just them buying into the bullshit peddled by the RW elites (as authoritarians are wont to do). the elites know that ending illegal immigration is both difficult to the point of impossibility and inherently undesirable, as it counters their goal of ensuring the continuation of a large population of cheap labor. it is not necessary for the rank-and-file rightwingers to think about this, however, as they are instead to be told that immigrants and minorities generally are inferior workers and criminals.

"And a few, I suppose, are good people." - the Donald, unwittingly giving away the game

[oberliner]

17. People in Brooklyn are worried about Mexicans coming across the border?

That seems hard to believe.

[Ed Suspicious]

18. Good lord. Is there a bigger tool of oppression and distraction than the "national security"

issue as it pertains to ISIS? This congress member is either spinning or has been spun. How disappointing.

[arcane1]

26. It's the original tool, and still the most effective n/t

[geek tragedy]

20. Some districts are like that. Joe Arpaio wins re-election handily. nt

[former9thward]

22. My guess is Kyrsten Sinema CD-9 AZ.

I know you won't confirm it but I know her politics and her district's politics since she is my Congresswoman.

[seveneyes]

24. Two valid concerns

Allowing stealth jihadi to come here and kill innocents is never good and the concern over how many millions of undocumented immigrants America can absorb before it affects American citizens is valid.

[Ghost in the Machine]

25. When my nephew was stationed at Fort Bliss, about a year and a half ago I think, he called my sister

and told her that if she heard anything on the news, or hadn't heard from him, not to worry about it for now. She was sick with worry anyways after not hearing from him for a few days.

He finally called to let her know that he was ok, and told her "We had some threats, and ISIS had been spotted 60 miles away in Mexico, but we ended that quickly! That's all I can tell you." So I can see where the National Security issue and ISIS coming across the Mexican Border can be a BIG concern for some people.

Hell, I live 6 miles from a Nuclear Plant! If anything ever happened there, I'd be melted before I knew what happened!

Peace,

Ghost

[mmonk]

28. A nation in fear never thinks straight.

[nadinbrzezinski]

29. Sweet mercy... we agree on something

I am one of the few people that take Trump (and Sanders) very seriously in any media. Tough the Guardian joined me over the weekend regarding trump. It was nice to see.

The reasons are different... but I take both very seriously. I ran a story on that at the paper. but I fear I will not link to it from here. I do not flog my political coverage. Hell, I do not point to breaking news as it happens either.

[tenderfoot]

32. That'll put food on the table.