If the debate continues as it is going, the radical immigrants (La Raza) and the isolationists will create such an atmosphere of emotion it will never be resolved. Victor Davis Hanson has the right take on this, which is the immigrants who marched were not necessarily hurting their cause – until they waved Mexican flags and began ‘lecturing their hosts’. I really enjoyed this summation from a California resident:

Most Americans I talked to in California summed up their reactions to the marches as something like, ‘Why would anyone wave the flag of the country that they would never return to–and yet scream in anger at those with whom they wish to stay?’

My wife is from California and all her family is still there. My sister has been in southern California for decades now (sorry Sis), so we here the frustration and the issues. It is not nationalistic, it is more like the exasperation one sees with dead beat guest who won’t get on their own two feet. Sadly, this image probably applies to a minority of the immigrants. 11 million dead beats would be impossible to miss. 11 million folks waving mexican flags would be tough to miss.

Let me put this in perspective, since large numbers are hard to get the mind around. Cuban exiles are a large portion of the Florida population. But they are a fraction of the Cuban population back in Cuba – and Cuba is estimated to have a population of 11 million people. Don’t you think we would notice the entire Cuban nation roaming our streets in an uproar given how prevalent the exiles are in southern Florida? Obviously most of the immigrants are NOT taking to the streets or radicalism.

The Hispanic minority in this country is extimated at 35 million (how many are illegal is unknown). They are now our largest minority in America. If the vast majority of them were radical we would know it. So two things need to happen. (1) The nationalists need to stop pointing at the radicals and stop smearing some 35-46 million people through racial associations with these radicals. (2) The majority of legal aliens, illegal aliens and Hispanic Americans need to distance themselves from these radicals so the nationalists have no way to gin up xenophobic fears.

But we don’t have a lot of time. The impact of mob mentality in the modern information age is still be ‘explored’. In other word, we are playing with fire and some one is already getting burned.