Nothing New Under the Sun

From a letter to the Earl Fitzwilliam from Edmund Burke, 1795, on the prospect of peace with the French revolutionary regime:

But, after all, for what purpose are we told of this reformation in their principles, and what is the policy of all this softening in ours, which is to be produced by their example? It is not to soften us to suffering innocence and virtue, but to mollify us to the crimes and to the society of robbers and ruffians! But I trust that our Countrymen will not be softened to that kind of crimes and criminals; for if we should, our hearts will be hardened to every thing which has a claim on our benevolence. A kind Providence has placed in our breasts a hatred of the unjust and cruel, in order that we may preserve ourselves from cruelty and injustice. They who bear cruelty, are accomplices in it. The pretended gentleness which excludes that charitable rancour, produces an indifference which is half an approbation.

They never will love where they ought to love, who do not hate where they ought to hate.

The Oregonian Engages in Self-Parody

Today's Oregonian greets us with a banner headline:

HUNT FOR ID FRAUD HITS LATINOS

Oregonian reporter--completely unbiased and quite professional, mind you--Esmerelda Bermudez reports the facts:

Workers at Oregon's Driver and Motor Vehicle Services have turned in nearly 200 people to police for suspicious documentation, an effort that overwhelmingly singled out Latinos.

This summer, the DMV changed a long-standing policy: Rather than simply refuse service to customers suspected of presenting phony or altered documents to obtain licenses or identification, employees began to alert police.

From June through August, 140 people were turned in to police -- roughly 94 percent of them with Latino names, according to DMV records obtained by The Oregonian.

Oh, no! You mean to say that enforcing the law resulted in revealing what everyone already knows, that the Latino "community" in Oregon is largely composed of people here illegally, using fraudulent documents to obtain government licenses and benefits? And that, by contrast, the European-American community is largely playing it straight and by the rules?

This must be stopped! Bring us banner headlines and graphics highlighting the obvious discriminatory effect of 94% of such names being Latino! We must at all costs stop this bigotry!

And, as usual, it looks like the Oregonian has scared the ferrets who run our state government into their usual supine position:

"We, too, are in the process of analyzing this to see what have been the results," said Lorna Youngs, administrator of Oregon Driver and Motor Vehicle Services.

She said the agency will evaluate the new procedure after it has been in effect for at least six months. The review will include how DMV employees followed protocol and what police agencies did with referrals. If Latinos make up the bulk of suspects, state officials will investigate further, Youngs said.

Yes, of course! Should the investigation reveal wide-spread lawbreaking by a minority, this is a problem that requires.....additional investigation of the state!

This is not just liberalism, it is liberalism on steroids. Note that the author and the people quoted meekly accept our new civic religion: any wrong-doing found to be committed by Latinos is simply evidence of state misconduct. Any overwhelming evidence of wrong-doing by Latinos is simply powerful evidence of massive state misconduct. At all costs, the state must stop this disparate treatment.

The crackdown has caused concern among critics, including the Mexican Consulate, immigrant-rights groups and lawyers, especially when it comes to cases where they contend the DMV wrongfully accused customers.

"Before they take steps that affect people's lives, they should look at other solutions and have other methods to verify documents," said David Simon, acting consul of the Mexican Consulate in Portland.

You may ask yourself what business it is of a foreign government the workings of a department of motor vehicles.

Liberalism has decayed our governments so badly that the Mexicans don't even feel the need to pretend any longer. No doubt El Senor Simon's phone calls are answered and responded to promptly by Oregon DMV officials.

How about your phone calls, taxpayer and citizen?