The Bulldog Manifesto

Have you ever heard of "La Reconquista"? Odds are, if you aren't a raging bigot or a member of the Minutemen Project, you probably haven't heard of it at all. But perhaps its time to learn about it. After all, notions of "La Reconquista" are being used to fuel racism and promote vigilantism in America.

You see, La Reconquista is a theory which contends that Mexico and Latin America, at large, are conspiring to conquer the American southwest. However, unlike some other conspiracies, the proponents of La Reconquista offer no piece of evidence to support their accusations other than the fact that many Latin Americans are entering into the country. (Curiously, was the influx of Irish immigrants in the 1860's proof of a secret Irish invasion to conquer America? Oh wait, those guys were white....my bad.)

Relying on good ole' fashion American xenophobia and red neck bigotry, groups like the Minutemen Project are espousing the notion of "La Reconquista" to get xenophobicaly minded and perhaps bigoted people to support their cause. And what, you may be asking, do the Minutemen people want to do with the people who illegally cross the border into the United States?

Shoot them, of course!

"It should be legal to kill illegals," said Carl, a 69-year old retired Special Forces veteran who fought in Vietnam and now lives out West [and part of the Minutemen Project]. "Just shoot 'em on sight. That's my immigration policy recommendation. You break into my country, you die." Southern Poverty Law Center, Summer 2005

Unfortunately, Carl is not alone. It seems that this belief is rather common among Minutemen Project militiamen.

"I agree completely [said another Minutmen Project militia man]....You get up there with a rifle and start shooting four or five of them a week, the other four or five thousand behind them are going to think twice about crossing that line....The thing to do would be to drop the bodies just a few hundred feet into the U.S. and just leave them there, with lights on them at night....That sends the message 'No Trespassing,' in any language."

You see, if you can convince nationalistic xenophobic racists that their country is being invaded by the brown man for an eventual conquest of America, murder is justifiable because 'we are at war against the invaders'. Brilliant scapegoating, wouldn't you say?

This is why it's important to understand the Reconquista pitch, because they use it to create a heightened state of emergency.

'We are under foreign attack! Kill dem Mexicans!'

And in case you haven't been keeping score at home, lately the Minutmen have also come out of the closet, so to speak. At a recent event, they unfurled an American flag alongside the Southern Cross Flag next to, you guessed it, the Nazi Party flag! (Finally, some people on the right wing who are actually honest...sick and twisted, but honest. Kudos to the Nazi Minutemen for setting an example all right wingers can follow.)

Yup, so if your keeping score, they believe in La Reconquista, Naziism, and murdering people who are, at worst, committing a petty offense. So, as hateful as these people are, you would think that our government wouldn't want to promote their cause, right? WRONG!

On July 28, U.S. Rep. John Culberson of Houston, Texas introduced a federal bill to fund armed militias to catch people trying to illegally cross from Mexico and Canada. (Yeah, I'm sure these guys are really bothered by the Canadian illegal immigrants...yeah right.) The bill would authorize the use of $6.8 billion dollars for militias. Thats right, billion, not million. So its kind of substantial in scope, you could say. Oh yeah, the bill already has 48 Republican co-sponsors.

In case you forgot, "scapegoating" is just one of the 14 elements of a fascist regime.