Ashe County Wisdom

As we already know, don't look to the Democratic nor the Republican candidates for governor of North Carolina for any positive leadership contra the current witch-hunt against immigrants. Don't look to Madam Foxx. Most of our political figures have either gone completely to the dark side of immigrant-bashing to curry favor with an ignorant and bigoted minority of voters, OR they're too afraid to say anything at all except "me too, me too, me too!"

But you can look to Jim Thompson at the Jefferson Post ... for sanity, actual Christian values, not to mention economic reality. From today's editorial:

We can debate immigration all the way up to Election Day 2008. But for all the brave talk of roundups and border-long fences, our county will be damaged, and damaged badly if the Tom Tancredos of the world have their way. We will wake up to find our tree industry a memory, and our retail commerce staggered by a loss of customers. Every Ashe County resident needs to remember this before signing on to Tancredo-style of rhetoric.

If the average Ashe County worker wants to see their enemies, they will not find them among our Hispanic citizens and workers. The enemy sits in board rooms, closing factories, shipping jobs overseas and moving unsafe products into the country that poison our families. They may look like "us," but -- to borrow a biblical word -- their hearts belong to Mammon, the ancient god of money. Be cautious of what they want you to believe.