Respond?

(Offensively liberal post, you've been warned!)

I have a good friend from high school whose mother is fairly conservative. In particular, the mother is very fond of expressing her "woes" regarding "illegal immigration" via email, quite frequently. Every time I get one such email it leaves me rankled for days. This woman (whom I also consider a dear friend) knows I am liberal, although she doesn't know what my politics on immigration are. Each time she sends me a political email, I spend 30 minutes to an hour fuming and drafting a response.

I never send these responses. If you know me, and you know my opinionated out-spoken ways, you know this is totally out of character. But every time, I worry that by sending my email response, she will be offended and write me off, and every time, I decide that my politics aren't worth losing a friendship. This morning she sent me another anti-Democrats anti-"illegal immigrants" email. I got angry, drafted a response, and then almost deleted that response. Instead, I think I'll put it out there for feedback from anyone reading... Do you think I should send this?

Context: the email that I received from her says that Nancy Pelosi wants to implement a "windfall" tax on the earnings from 401(k) plans and other retirement benefits for the sake of helping "illegal immigrants." Also, I've deleted some of the more personal information for the sake of her privacy and the privacy of my friends that I discuss within the email.

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Hi ____!

Now you know I can't just take stabs at Democrats lying down!!!! Having just finished a class on federal income tax, I can tell you that the "windfall" tax that Nancy Pelosi apparently speaks of is already in place and has been for years. When you invest toward retirement in qualified plans like a 401(k), you get a deduction immediately for the amount you invested. Then any savings and any earnings on those savings are not taxed until you get a distribution (in other words, until you receive your retirement money back). These are not new taxes, this is the old system. What Nancy Pelosi was really talking about are all the people who invest in the stock market and never report the income they receive. That's illegal, again under the current tax structure.

As for her comments about "illegal immigrants," those are 100% accurate. The tax part is false, but her sentiments on immigration true. And while it is totally your prerogative to fault her for those sentiments, two of my very best friends of the last seven years were "illegal immigrants" (one is still an "illegal immigrant" and the other now is a permanent resident). They were both brought here "illegally" when they were very young little girls and had absolutely NO idea what was going on. They were put in the public school system and told they were inferior because they couldn't speak English. Both of them excelled academically and went on to college, where they received 0 federal financial aid. Both are now gainfully employed and contribute their taxes just like everyone else, although one of them has no hope of ever receiving any of her current tax dollars back because she doesn't qualify for any additional public benefits since she is still an "illegal immigrant."

The public benefits they received in their younger years (by going to public school - which is one of the very FEW public benefits "illegal immigrants" can receive) helped them to improve their earning potential and they now put more money back into the tax system than they ever could have if they were denied an education as little girls. I know we disagree on immigration politics, but I don't that I've ever shared why I disagree, so I felt that now was as good a time as any.

By the way, the source for all of my information is my federal income taxation class, my two close friends, and here: http://www.snopes.com/politics/pelosi/windfall.asp.

Politics aside, I hope ____ and ____ are doing well, and I also hope ____ is enjoying his adorable new baby. It's been forever since I've seen any of you. My bleeding heart tendencies aside, I miss you all a lot and I hope to get back to the Midwest this summer after I (finally!) graduate law school.

Love always,
Bagel