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Freedom is a Constant Struggle

I noticed this lovely little tidbit this morning, in the daily roundup of Sacramento activities. It's the language of an initiative now in circulation for the statewide ballot:

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS. DRIVERS' LICENSES. COLLEGE EXPENSES. PUBLIC BENEFITS. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT. Prohibits illegal immigrants from obtaining: drivers' licenses or government-identification cards; college-fee or tuition exemptions; government grants, contracts, or loans; professional or commercial licenses; or any other public benefits not required by federal law. Authorizes state citizens to sue to enforce prohibitions, requires State to defend initiative, and provides costs and attorney's fees to prevailing party. Imposes personal liability for litigation costs, attorney's fees, and actual damages on any elected or government official who willfully violates prohibitions. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local governments: Program savings to the state and local governments due to reduced expenditures for certain public services. These savings could be in the low hundreds of millions of dollars annually. Proponents - Jeff Evans, Mike Spence and Richard Mountjoy, 916 858 8190 - must collect 598,105 valid signatures by Feb. 20, 2007.

So even as we are in the fight of our lives this year, against horrible immigration policy at the federal level and against a Republican Governor who chooses to ignore the rabidly racist forces within his own party, our opponents do not relent one single bit. They are circulating more anti-immigrant rhetoric, continuing to make life harder for California Latinos who are already feeling heightened levels of discrimination whether they came here legally or not.

I wish I could say that something like this would never get enough signatures in a state as progressive as California to make it onto the ballot. But I know that is the work that needs to be done, and that PowerPAC is doing. So I keep repeating the phrase in my head that I have heard PowerPAC President Steve Phillips say so often: Freedom is a constant struggle.

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