Liberty

 

I received this in an email and I really have to completely agree with it...feel free to pass it on like the man says...

 

       From: "David LaBonte"
 
   My wife, Rosemary, wrote a wonderful letter to the editor of the OC
   Register which, of course, was not printed. So, I decided to "print" it
   myself by sending it out on the Internet. Pass it along if you feel so
   inclined.
 
   Dave LaBonte (signed)
 
   Written in response to a series of letters to the editor in the
 Orange
   County Register:
 
   Dear Editor:
 
   So many letter writers have based their arguments on how this land
 is
   made up of immigrants. Ernie Lujan for one, suggests we should tear down
 the
   Statue of Liberty because the people now in question aren't being
 treated
   the same as those who passed through Ellis Island and other ports of
 entry.
 
   Maybe we should turn to our history books and point out to people
 like
   Mr. Lujan why today's American is not willing to accept this new kind of
   immigrant any longer. Back in 1900 when there was a rush from all areas
 of
   Europe to come to the United States , people had to get off a ship and
 stand
   in a long line in New York and be documented . Some would even get down
 on
   their hands and knees and kiss the ground. They made a pledge to uphold
 the
   laws and support their new country in good and bad times. They made
 learning
   English a primary rule in their new American households and some even
   changed their names to blend in with their new home.
 
   They had waved good bye to their birth place to give their children
 a
   new life and did everything in their power to help their children
 assimilate
   into one culture.
 
   Nothing was handed to them. No free lunches, no welfare, no labor
 laws
   to protect them. All they had were the skills and craftsmanship they had
   brought with them to trade for a future of prosperity. Most of their
   children came of age when World War II broke out. My father fought along
   side men whose parents had come straight over from Germany , Italy ,
 France and
   Japan . None of these 1st generation Americans ever gave any thought
 about
   what country their parents had come from. They were Americans fighting
   Hitler, Mussolini and the Emperor of Japan. They were defending the
 United
   States of America as one people. When we liberated France , no one in
 those
   villages were looking for the French-American or the German American or
 the
   Irish American. The people of France saw only Americans. And we carried
 one
   flag th at represented one country. Not one of those immigrant sons
 would
   have thought about picking up another country's flag and waving it to r
   epresent who they were. It would have been a disgrace to their parents
 who
   had sacrificed so much to be here. These immigrants truly knew what it
 meant
   to be an American. They stirred the melting pot into one red, white and
 blue
   bowl.
 
   And here we are in 2007 with a new kind of immigrant who wants the
 same
   rights and privileges. Only they want to achieve it by playing with a
   different set of rules, one that includes the entitlement card and a
   guarantee of being faithful to their mother country. I'm sorry, that's
 not
   what being an American is all about. I believe that the immigrants who
   landed on Ellis Island in the early 1900's deserve better than that for
 all
   the toil, hard work and sacrifice in raising future generations to
 create a
   land that has become a beacon for those legally searching for a better
 life
   I think they would be appalled that they are being used as an example by
   those waving foreign country flags.
 
   And for that suggestion about taking down the Statue of Liberty, it
   happens to mean a lot to the citizens who are voting on the immigration
   bill. I wouldn't start talking about dismantling the United States just
 yet.
 
 
   (signed) Rosemary LaBonte
 
 
   KEEP THIS LETTER MOVING. FOR THE WRONG THINGS TO PREVAIL THE
 RIGHTFUL
   MAJORITY NEEDS TO REMAIN COMPLACENT AND QUIET!! LET THIS NEVER HAPPEN!!
 
 
   I hope this letter gets read by millions of people all across the
   nation!!