Gov. Jerry Brown recently said, “While Washington waffles on immigration, California’s forging ahead. I’m not waiting.”
That galvanized me to action. Before hearing those words, I was sleepily wondering what to do about this crazy country I live in. Afterward, I leapt up and made breakfast.
Boy, do I love waffles.
I love them more than I love pancakes—and that’s saying something, because I really love pancakes. All that butter and syrup dripping down them. Ooh, I could use another plate of them right now. Both of them. Waffles and pancakes.
Thanks, Jerry.
See, really focusing on breakfast gave me a break from muttering under my breath about the deadlock-gridlock-lockdown the United States has been festering under for days now. It’s ridiculous. Our national stall-out has made it feel like everything else is grinding to a halt, too, but that’s not the case.
We do need immigration reform, and we can’t let top-tier government grumps derail any momentum due to their stodginess. So I’m proud of our governor for keeping the ball in motion. The fire burning. The dream alive.
At the tail end of October, local leaders rallied in an effort to raise awareness of the ongoing need for the sort of reform that will end farm-labor shortages and keep affordable food coming to area tables—and beyond. This is a “now” problem, not a “wait until national parks are open again” sort of deal, mainly because momentum behind change can so easily be stalled.
The governor signed a handful of Assembly bills into law on Oct. 5, and while some of them seem like a tangential nudge toward immigration reform (one “imposes various restrictions and obligations on persons who offer services related to comprehensive immigration reform,” whatever that means), the progress is positive, and it’s certainly more than anyone in Congress is doing these days.
The Canary is all for forward motion. Keep on moving at canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Oct 10-17, 2013.