How dare progressives call themselves “Patriots for American Values”!

by David Safier

The gall! A group of people who oppose Russell Pearce's anti-immigrant hysteria is calling itself East Valley Patriots for American Values. Don't these people know conservatives own the terms "patriotism" and "American values"? They should be sued for copyright infringement.

More seriously, this is a good thing we need to see more of — a group of people advocating a sane immigration policy banding together and making a sensible, moderate proposal, in this case to the Mesa City Council.

East Valley Patriots for American Values believes Pearce is harming Mesa and the state as a whole with his tough policies on immigration and the budget, organizer Brian Barabe said.

Barabe, who taught English and Spanish at Westwood High School for more than 31 years, was one of two speakers who addressed the council Monday night. Another 20 or so members sat in the audience

Daniel Martinez of Gilbert said the group draws its members from Mesa, Chandler, Gilbert, Tempe and Ahwatukee Foothills. He is a former faculty member at Mesa Community College.

Another organizer is Randy Parraz, who ran for U.S. Senate this year but lost in the Democratic primary.

I don't know the other names, but I'm very happy to see Parraz involved. In my opinion, he wasn't ready for prime time when he ran for Senate, but he's a very good man who I hope to see lots more of in the future. A bit more polish and some speech coaching (Don't talk so fast, Randy. Breathe.), and Parraz could be a big part of the Democratic future in Arizona.

The group wants to present "an alternative vision for the city of Mesa, the East Valley and Arizona as a whole." Barabe wants the Mesa City Council to adopt the Utah Compact, which I posted about earlier, advocating a caring, humane approach to immigration.

Russell Pearce, not surprisingly, is bulging-eyeballs furious about the group. He hates their name, of course, saying it's deceptive. Translation: Hey, you folks are supposed to stay away from hyper-patriotic terms. They belong to us! Pearce went on to say, "These folks would destroy the republic."

Yes, once again, we are reminded, Pearce and those like him are the only true American patriots. I wonder what he thinks about the Mormon Church's statement of support for the Utah Compact. Does Pearce's own church want to destroy the republic?