By Shara Esbenshade
Gargoyle contributor
Posted Friday, April 7, 2006, The OG, opinions

Democracy begins to deteriorate when the rulers neglect to take care of their people. Any true patriot, anyone who really cares for their country, will take action at this point.

The opinion has been expressed that demonstrations have no real impact on communities. One should, especially when one enjoys the privileged lifestyle we at Uni all do, give back to the community through working with underprivileged communities directly, but that sort of work runs in a completely different vein from acting through demonstration to affect our laws.

It is the government's duty to take care of the people. That means that when we have rising unemployment, nearly 40 million living in poverty, corrupt corporations with total disregard for human rights, participation in an immoral war that kills thousands of our soldiers, or a bill in the process of becoming law that has the potential to turn 12 million of our people into criminals, then these are drastic failures on the government's part, failures which are extremely harmful to our country.

There are many ways one can act within the community to improve the lives of those directly affected by these failures: tutor underprivileged children, raise money for poorer communities, cook for those who are missing a meal.

However, I believe to make a long-lasting impact, in addition to such work, one must go to the root of the problem: the system and the laws that cause our society to have such suffering. This is where marching in the streets, economic boycotts, petitioning our congresspeople — whatever way we choose to show our dissent — become absolutely essential to a healthy, safe, and stable society.

When Martin Luther King Jr. marched on Washington, when the people of Montgomery, Ala., boycotted the buses, when students across the country held sit-ins, these achieved results. It is generally agreed that Dr. King was an extremely effective activist, and such forms of demonstration can without question make a real impact.

This Monday will be a national day of protest against HR 4437, a bill that would make illegal immigration a felony and impose penalties on those who offer aid to illegal immigrants. Introduced by Republican Rep. James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin, the bill passed the House of Representatives 239-182 on Dec. 16. The Senate unsuccessfully tried to come up with its own immigration bill this week.

If signed into law, HR 4437 would turn the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in this country into felons. Those of us who help to improve the lives of illegal immigrants would become criminals. Stopping this bill is obviously the priority.

Sadly, here at Uni, it is difficult to inspire other students to come out and protest. When I mention the issue among my peers, I'm usually met with excuses about why they don't have the time to act, or from more straightforward students, the explanation that they simply do not care. Such straight-up indifference is the devastating reality of this school.

It is indeed our duty to stop such legislation from passing. If anybody in this country should be accused of being unpatriotic, it is those who, when confronted with issues such as this, respond that they don't care, or that they need to get back to their math homework.

[Note: Any students interested in participating in the National Day of Action for Immigrant Justice should meet in the senior alcove at lunch 11:40 a.m. on Monday for a march to the Quad. Participants will rally at noon and be back in time for fifth hour.]