For Pinal County's sensible voters and residents, it was heartening to see this letter in today's New York Times:
To the Editor:
Re “Judge Blocks Arizona’s Law on Immigrants” (front page, July 29):
Americans should applaud Judge Susan Bolton’s rejection of the more inflammatory parts of Arizona’s immigration enforcement law and the racist undertones it represents.
Gov. Jan Brewer’s groundless generalizations about the undocumented population foment fear of the unknown among her constituents, making for good politics but bad policy. The sudden surge in scapegoating of undocumented immigrants diverts attention from the real, well-documented problems currently facing the nation.
Rather than using money and sound bites to take aim at a demographic that boosts economic development and has no correlation with criminal activity, Ms. Brewer and other governors should be rallying support to address issues that actually pose a threat to the stability of American democracy: an eroding public education system, unprecedented global climate change and, perhaps most important, a broken political system that prizes sensationalism over sensible reasoning.
Jeffrey D. Stein
Florence, Ariz., July 29, 2010
Congratulations to Mr. Stein on his articulate, intelligent letter.
