Both my grandfathers came to this country looking for religious and economic freedom.
Manuel, my Mexican abuelito came Circa 1900 from Nogales Mexico and made a beeline to Waco Texas to attend Baylor University. His wife Cerita ( grandmother ) and his family participated in The Mexican Revolution. Grandfather eventually went to Kansas City where he received a Divinity Degree and became an Evangelical Minister all over the Southwest United States. My Great Great Great Grandfather Thomas Griffith Jones came from Wales to the US around 1799 -1800 and settled in New York. He then studied to become a Baptist minister and was a co-founder of the First Welsh Church in Pennsylvania. He was an abolitionist, a State Legislature and Bank President.
They both came with a sacred dream of America. A dream that is so precious and fragile that it can be blown away like a wisp of cigarette smoke.
The Democracy we live in is an experiment that has lasted since 1776. The Founding fathers put in checks and balances so as to allow us to self-rule without the system being thrown out of balance. There are those misguided politicians who would seed dissention between the various ethnic groups that make up this great country. In doing so they are attempting to undermine the heart of our Democracy—the right to vote. If the vote is limited then the Democracy slowly moves in the direction of an Autocracy ( One person with all he power ). The right to vote was fought over at the beginning of the birth of this country. Early on only people who own property could vote. The Suffragette movement at the turn of the century gave women the right to vote and a place at the table. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 sought to remove the impediments to voting and guarantee the right to vote through the 14th and 15th Amendments.
We are now at a point in history where we will be remembered for either restoring those rights or have them disappear like a wisp of smoke from a cigarette.