(cross-posted from Courage Campaign)

Yesterday, the Dreams Across America train took off from L.A.'s Union Station, one of four trains around the country carrying 100 “dreamers” to Washington, D.C. to tell the stories of their own immigration or how immigrants have touched their lives. There will be blogging from the train (Courage Campaign's own Rick Jacobs will have daily updates) to capture these stories both in written and video form, the goal being to humanize and personalize immigration the way a rally of hundreds of thousands in the street can't.

All of the immigrants on the train are legal American citizens but that didn't stop Lou Dobbs from attacking the Dreams Across America campaign yesterday. He likes to call it “The Amnesty Train” or “A Train” for short (ain't he clever!) So today, one of the dreamers, Cathy Gurney, shot back, challenging him to get on the train to hear the real stories of immigration in this country.

Cathy Gurney's statement and her story over the flip…

Her statement:

To me, talking about fixing a broken immigration system is not about policy; it’s about my life. I work hard each and everyday to live the American dream, which is really the American story:  to be my own boss, to run my own business that I can pass along to my children. My husband and I have worked very hard to build our dream.

Mr. Dobbs has one opinion on the broken immigration system in this country. I am part of a group telling a hundred stories of real people who deal with this issue everyday. Therefore, I call on Mr. Dobbs to join us on this tour, to see the real America and hear the real stories of our broken immigration system.

Gurney and her husband run a landscaping business in Chico. For her, a lack of a legal workforce could mean the end of her business, her livelihood. As she says in her video:

Am I breaking the law by trying to support my family?

She goes on:

I understand that they came to this country illegally, but I also understand that they came to this country for the same reason my grandfather, a hundred and some odd years ago, came to this country through Ellis Island from Russia because he was coming for the American dream.

Gurney makes the compelling case that lack of action on immigration reform not only stifles entrepreneurism but it threatens her livelihood. What's interesting about this story is that it hits at such so-called conservative values as the virtue of free market enterprise and the importance of the family. That's what this whole Dreams Across America project really is about, reframing what immigration reform means. There are a ton of really cool stories on the website that help do just that.

You can join the dreamers virtually on the train, letting them know you stand with them, by signing the Dreams petition HERE. And if you have an immigration story YOU want to tell, you can do that too HERE.

While the project doesn't take a side in the legislative debate, clearly a path to citizenship is central to a humane immigration policy. Stoller had an interesting piece the other day about why the issue is so difficult for progressives. As we know, conservatives are a lot clearer and a LOT more vocal on the issue, which is largely why the bill died in the Senate last week. Certainly it wasn't because the American people are opposed to reform or even a path to citizenship. A new LA Times poll shows that only 23% of Americans oppose a path to legal status for the undocumented.  Part of what Dreams Across America hopes to accomplish is to engage the progressive community on this issue by appealing to our values of fairness and the expansion of opportunity.

The California Republican Party, they of the anti-illegal immigration platform, have decided that some immigrants are here to do the jobs that Americans won’t do – like be their deputy political director.

The California Republican Party has decided no American is qualified to take one of its most crucial positions — state deputy political director — and has hired a Canadian for the job through a coveted H-1B visa, a program favored by Silicon Valley tech firms that is under fire for displacing skilled American workers.

Christopher Matthews, 35, a Canadian citizen, has worked for the state GOP as a campaign consultant since 2004. But he recently was hired as full-time deputy political director, with responsibility for handling campaign operations and information technology for the country’s largest state Republican Party operation, California Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring confirmed in a telephone interview this week.

That’s not all, look at the guy who hired him:

Matthews was hired by Michael Kamburowski, an Australian citizen who was hired this year as the state GOP’s chief operations officer. But neither new official has experience in managing a political campaign in the nation’s most populous state — and as foreign citizens, neither is eligible to vote.

In fairness to the state GOP, I don’t think any Americans really WANT to work for them.

over…

What’s funny is that this has caused a bit of outrage on the xenophobic right.

“it’s insulting but also embarrassing … to bring people from the outside who don’t know the difference between Lodi and Lancaster … and who can’t even vote,” said Karen Hanretty, a political commentator and former state GOP party spokeswoman […]

“There are talented Republicans in California, and the message that (party chair) Ron Nehring is sending is that there’s no talent pool here,” Hanretty said.

The state party and its 58 county operations face several challenges, Hanretty said, including “redistricting on the ballot, uncertain legislative races ahead of us … and a number of Republican congressmen who are under federal investigation and are going to be challenged by Democrats.”

“Who will help these candidates?” she asked. “A couple of foreign transplants who don’t know the political landscape and don’t know the history of the complicated politics in California?”

Apparently anyone from Australia or Canada isn’t able to, you know, read a map.  Or a book on California politics.

The crackup on the right over immigration is so gratifying, because at every turn they run into contradictions and hypocrisies like this.  I half-expect to see calls to build a fence around Australia in response to this.

It’s been more than 7 months since voters took control of Congress away from corrupt Republicans, and more than 5 months since Democrats took over  – and still we are waiting for real ethics reform to improve accountability in Congress.  We at 21st Century Democrats ask, “are there enough reform-minded Democrats with strong leadership to convince the foot-draggers that the party will be over if they don’t enact real ethics reform?”  Sadly, the answer may not be what we want to hear.

The House leadership started off on the right foot in January by enacting rules restricting meals, travel and gifts from lobbyists, but some of the strongest measures, like requiring lobbyists to publicly disclose when they bundle campaign contributions for federal candidates, were passed over due to the resistance of some Members who don’t get it.

This is why 21st Century Democrats stopped supporting just any old back-bench Democrats and decided to focus on finding real progressive Democrats who will be leaders within the party.  The fundamental principle of our approach is that we need more leadership within the Democratic Party to actually make substantial changes in the direction of public policy.

Electing a Democratic majority is not an end in itself – it is the means to the end we seek:  an accountable government that responds to the people who demand a change in direction.  That’s why our group – which is not an arm of the Democratic Party, but an independent progressive political organization – has as its mission to catalyze massive change in policy by finding and electing visionary progressive Democrats.

We look to find broadly progressive candidates who demonstrate real potential for leadership and help them get elected.  We don’t require candidates to pass litmus tests on hot button issues.  We do ask candidates what their vision for America is what their bold ideas to achieve that vision are.  We have only 7 questions and they are different than any PAC questionnaire you have ever seen.

While we remain committed to electing progressive Democrats, we care more about a candidate’s ability to lead, and a willingness to stand by their convictions.  Majorities matter, but without true leadership within those majorities, true change is simply not possible.  We’re working to develop and empower the next generation of visionary progressive leaders. If you have a favorite candidate who you think has what it takes to move America forward, tell them to check out our endorsement application.

We’ve been searching the nation for candidates to endorse in our first round of endorsements. So far we’ve asked for help from bloggers in Ohio, Michigan, Florida, California, Arizona, Minnesota, Texas, Alabama, Massachusetts, Washington, and Illinois. And we’re continuing to reach out to more and more state blogs.  We endorse candidates for all levels of government and from all states – great leaders like Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, and State Senator Andrew Rice from Oklahoma.

We don’t just pass out checks to candidates – we train and place grassroots field organizers into campaigns to do the hard work of door-door, person to person campaigning.  We take the vision of the candidate to the voter – a winning formula – in 2006, we won 72% of the competitive races we played a role in.

We want to harness the power of the netroots to the power of traditional field organizing.  We’re convinced this will be a winning combination to elect progressives who will be leaders inside the Democratic caucus.  The fight over ethics reform is a perfect example of why we need leaders inside our party’s caucuses.  Voters voted for change in the last election and we all know that a government dominated by special interests is incapable of enacting a true progressive agenda.  Unfortunately, some in our party have decided that protecting lobbyists is more important than standing for integrity in our elections.

This is a critical time in this fight, and a critical fight within our party.  Speaker Pelosi, to her credit, is trying to do the right thing.  Let’s get her the help she needs before it’s too late and voters lump us with the crew they threw out last year.  Please take a moment to send a note to your Member of Congress.

I know this isn’t strictly California, but net neutrality matters to the future of this blog. The FCC has requested public comments on Net Neutrality. SaveTheInternet.com has a great page to let you submit comments to the FCC. Please, think about submitting a comment, and helping to ensure that the Internet is there for political organizing in the future. A good definition of net neutrality over the flip…

And if you don’t know much about Net Neutrality,  here is a nice short description:

Network Neutrality — or “Net Neutrality” for short — is the guiding principle that preserves the free and open Internet.

Put simply, Net Neutrality means no discrimination. Net Neutrality prevents Internet providers from speeding up or slowing down Web content based on its source, ownership or destination.

Net Neutrality is the reason why the Internet has driven economic innovation, democratic participation, and free speech online. It protects the consumer’s right to use any equipment, content, application or service on a non-discriminatory basis without interference from the network provider. With Net Neutrality, the network’s only job is to move data — not choose which data to privilege with higher quality service.