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| La Guia The Guide, by Rigoberto A. González (National Portrait Gallery) |
There are a lot of heartless people. They held a festival on social media after I wrote Monday about how Chicago could do a better job housing refugees shipped here from Texas. I wish I could address the top 25 reactions. One will have to do:
“Multiply all this by hundreds and you have what Texas has put up with for years,” a reader from Murphy, Texas, — let’s call him “Murph” — wrote on Facebook. “Sorry, but BS. I’ve had my car struck twice by uninsured motorists with no papers. More than half the patients in the Dallas County public hospital were undocumented. The strain is enormous, on all services and neighborhoods.”
A lot to unpack. First savor “had my car struck twice by uninsured motorists with no papers,” a version of what I call the “an immigrant peed in my alley” argument. And I heard Spanish spoken at a McDonald’s once. We all carry our private crosses.
But let’s try to be sympathetic, the liberal superpower.
Gosh, struck twice?!?! That’s terrible Murph. All these undocumented immigrants so busy greedily gorging at the public trough they can’t even be bothered to insure their luxury vehicles. What’s wrong with them?
Hmmm ... could it be they can’t buy car insurance in Texas? Why sure they can. All they have to do is produce a valid driver’s license. And how do they get that? Easy, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. Merely “present proof of lawful presence in the US.”
Ooh, kind of a deal-breaker for the undocumented, huh?
Shame Murph doesn’t live in a civilized state, like Illinois, where not only do we show Christian sympathy to the families drop-kicked here, because his governor is awful, but Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a bill last June — HB 3882 — allowing undocumented residents to get Illinois driver’s licenses. So they can buy car insurance. Like regular people.
Speaking of regular people, another go-to move of haters is to damn the group they scorn for doing the exact same things that they do themselves. Like getting sick.
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If TexAss wants to secede, I doubt there'd be much of a fuss this time. Bless their hearts and "buh BYE!"
ReplyDeleteDon't you think sometimes that it might have been better if the south HAD left the union? Today, they'd be a third world country. WE had the misfortune of having lived for very short times in TX, GA and VA. Not for this Yankee.
DeleteRemember their snarky 70s refrain? During the energy shortage? It was "Let the Yankee bastards freeze in the dark." This Yankee bastard has not forgotten that. Nor have I forgiven them for it. That catchy little slogan of theirs was especially memorable in the winter of 2021, when Texans were the bastards who were freezing in the dark.
DeleteI am in favor of any secessions from the Union, as one comment here suggested. I don't see how we go on as one country much longer. Let's figure it out! And to all the Murphs in the country, all I can say is ... UGH!
ReplyDeleteA neighbor of mine moved to Texas to get away from the horrifying scourge of Illinois taxes. After a couple of years in paradise he came back for a visit and whined about how Texas has low income and property taxes, but uses "fees" i.e. "taxes" to make up the difference. The "fees" on things like toll roads, fishing licenses, etc. hammer working people and are barely noticed by rich people. He learned that the secret to low taxes was to call regressive taxes that hurt the poor - fees. It's a semantic game to shift the tax burden from the rich to the poor and middle class. He was moving back to Illinois.
ReplyDeleteAnyone else remember their ad campaign? "Texas: It's a Whole Other Country."
ReplyDeleteThat can easily be arranged. Can't we just boot their Tex-asses out?
Then we could invade them and civilize them..like we did in Vietnam.
Some sarcasm there?
DeleteIn 2021, three percent of the total population of Massachusetts was uninsured, the lowest of any U.S. state. The largest part of Massachusetts's population was insured through employers.
ReplyDeleteThe statement hear is very clear - to solve the problem, you actually have to WANT to solve the problem.
ReplyDeleteThis is, by far, my favorite EGD column of all time because it perfectly put Texas Murph in his pathetically simple place. BTW, has Texas Murph responded to this column? I'm sure he won't but I hope you "cover" his response if he does respond with more of his simple-mindedness. Thank you.
ReplyDelete