It’s good that Chuck Edwards has outed himself with his attention-seeking “No Representation Without Legal Immigration Act” proposal. Republicans claim to be “originalists” about the Constitution, but Edwards wants to rewrite it to suit his perversity. In the Constitution, the census is supposed to be an accurate count of the number of people living in the USA and each state “according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed …”
Reactionary Edwards has decided who should count and who shouldn’t. On the one hand, he hearkens back to the three-fifths compromise that his slaveholder political ancestors invented to not count enslaved Black Americans as full human beings, while not losing the advantage of counting them to wield political power for the slave states. On the other hand, he appears to be unfamiliar with the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments, which freed those slaves and attempted to ensure their right to vote. Perhaps Edwards is still enthralled with his Confederate and Jim Crow political guides.
Not counting people who can’t vote? Might as well not count anyone under 18 years old. That would go over well, wouldn’t it? Not counting noncitizens? Those people, whether documented or undocumented, pay many billions in taxes, rebuild communities decimated by natural disasters (while anti-immigrant politicians turn a blind eye) and — lest we forget — probably had major roles in planting, harvesting, cooking, serving and cleaning up from many of Edwards’ last 100 meals. As well as working so many of the essential low-paid, difficult and dangerous jobs that very few citizens want any longer.
Of course, the people Edwards doesn’t want to count are overwhelmingly people of color. With his stunt, Edwards reveals himself to be an out-and-out racist and a true believer (much above “love thy neighbor as thyself”) in the “great replacement theory,” which is a favorite of Edwards’ mob boss, DJ Trump.
— Paul Weichselbaum
Hendersonville
Editor’s note: Xpress reached out to Edwards’ office for a response to the letter writer’s points but did not receive a reply.
