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Another Perspective
My Convention Story |
Ben Stein
Published 9/5/2008
ST. PAUL -- Okay, here's my Republican
Convention story. After I did my little tiny
bit of reporting work from St. Paul's Xcel
Center on Wednesday, I got into a taxi to
head back to my hotel. Of course we got
stuck in traffic.
I asked my driver, a rugged looking fellow,
where he was from and how he was enjoying
the convention.
It was as if I had uncorked a bottle of
champagne.
"Have you ever heard of Ogaden?" he asked
me.
"Yes, it's part of Ethiopia," I said. "Lots
of fighting there."
"It is a huge area. Seven million people.
Government of Ethiopia gives us no schools,
no hospitals, no clinics, nothing. Just poor
nomads who want something more. There is oil
there and other people get rich from it and
we stay poor.
"I was a nomad," he said. "I had nothing. I
escaped when they wanted to put me in the
army to fight in Somalia. I went to Kenya,
then came here. Kenya is a beautiful country
but there is no country like the United
States.
"I have been here sixteen years. I came with
nothing. I have a taxi now. I am in graduate
school at the University of Minnesota. I
have a wife and three kids. We have a house
and two cars and air conditioning. I brought
over my two brothers. They were grazing
sheep. Now one is a chemical engineer and
one is studying English literature. In the
United States anything can happen."
I thought to myself, this is the real story
of America, not Sarah Palin or Joe Biden.
This taxi driver who found his dreams in the
Twin Cities.
"Listen, I know people who talk bad about
the United States," my driver said. "I tell
them, if you work you can accomplish
anything in this country. If you don't,
there's something wrong with you, not this
country. This country is the best country in
the world. Everyone," and here he raised his
voice and wagged his finger, "everyone in
the world wants to come here. And they're
right."
The rest of the convention was fine, but I
got my lesson from that taxi driver from a
war torn hellhole, who found his Garden of
Eden in Minnesota. God bless this great
country.
Ben Stein is a writer, actor,
economist and lawyer in Beverly Hills and
Malibu. His Diary appears in every issue of
The American Spectator.
http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=13836
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