These artists, and many others, represent a treasure for Minnesota that shines bright and strong through the difficult and turbulent times of this 2010 Independence Day. Their creativity, marshalling skill and dexterity, the artistic discipline and the vision which their works create for us all, symbolize that love of freedom of expression and a destiny for all mankind that I believe the United States of America is intended by its Creator to give to the world. Our Constitution is only part of that gift.


SEE pages on Steve Carlson's proposed federal legislation to pre-empt state laws discriminatory against Mexican immigrants and citizens.

By the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 the United States extended that Constitution and the civil rights (derechos civiles) and the constitutional liberties it secured to those citizens of Mexico, gave birth to new U.S. territories out of which new States were formed, and established unique good neighbor relations between the U.S. and Mexico. Instead of creating a wasteland along the border from California to Louisiana, we should adopt policies which protect Constitutional rights on both sides of the border and build a productive enterprise zone that shines the brightest and best hopes of our peoples like a beacon to the south.

That is what my proposed federal legislation is intended to do. In recent days, leaders including U.S. President Barack Obama and Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer have stressed that immigrants must follow the rule of law, and that failure to do so cannot go without consequences. But I say today that there is another law, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which is also a law, in fact a higher law, that binds the United States of America and the United States of Mexico. And we must follow that law, and we must create the best laws, that will create an oasis of freedom between our two countries. E pluribus unum, out of many, one, is our motto, but the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo gives us another motto: E duobus unum, out of two, one. And that is the motto which commands our attention this 2010 Independence Day. Happy Birthday to the United States, long live the United States of America! Que vive Mexico! Y que viven los chicanos!