AMERICAN ARROGNANCE ON DISPLAY

It happened again; the police captured an illegal alien caught violating the law. It is the same old story. Although he was driving a pickup truck with foreign license plates, the driver crossed the boarder, into our country, and was driving around impeded. The police stopped and searched his truck because of his unsafe load—unsecured mattress flopping around wildly in the wind. Authorities searched the vehicle and found not one, but three guns, in fact they were not only guns but were loaded guns. Nothing about the person or his activity was legal. Although he was acting strangely, they arrested and jailed him. What was unusual is that his family contacted the government; the mother begged for leniency because although he was now mentally unstable because of his recent experience fighting what amount to a gang of outlaws, he had served valiantly. This made no difference to Government authorities; they refused in intervene. Time dragged on for 214 days but eventually a local judge dropped all charges against him, released the individual, and sent him back to his country as a free man—no punishment at all—zero.

This all seemed strange; how could anyone think that it made sense to plea mental instability as a defense for a person driving around in an illegally licensed vehicle with loaded guns in clear violation of the law. This entire story is true; however, I intentionally distorted it in a simple way; it was not, as implied, a Mexican National who crossed unimpeded into the United States. Rather, an un-uniformed American marine named Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi who entered illegally into Mexico. It was not the cruel drug war being fought in Mexico that lead to his mental instability but the war against the gang referred to as al Queda in Afghanistan; it was PTSD, which without question, is still mental instability.

When the “shoe is on the other foot” this is a clear case of right wing American arrogance—the mistaken belief that we are Americans which makes us better then anyone else. It may be legal to carry guns in your private vehicle in the United States but it is clearly not legal in Mexico. Who among us do not believe that PTSD is mental instability? Who among us think it is OK for a mentally unstable individual to carry loaded guns? To point out how absurd this whole situation is think of a PTSD victim with three loaded guns in a place in the United States where it is illegal to carry guns, such as in a school or in congress—how many politicians would line up in his support? Who among us refuse to accept that idea that a negative Latino bias has charged our political atmosphere? For example, what would you think of finding a mentally disturbed Mexican with three loaded guns driving in an unlicensed pickup in Texas? Who among us do not understand that politicians, both Republican and Democrat, who were there to welcome the released prisoner at the boarder, were there for the photo opportunity? All of a sudden, serving in the military is an “excuse” for breaking the law—it is not. War may be a cause for metal illness (PTSD) but never an excuse for illegal behavior. All of a sudden, the belief that the government is not doing what the radical right wing wants them to do, what ever it may be, is a cause célèbre. Sgt. Tahmooressi violating the law of a foreign government is like rancher Clevin Bundy, who was stealing from our government, the right wing made him into a hero for political advantage. 

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