Is "The Streak" this Out of Touch?

Today's rant is about someone that I used to have a certain amount of respect for, but with his latest offering he is showing just how apart from reality he is getting in his older age.  The man that I speak of is the country singer/humorist Ray Stevens.  You remember him, right?  Well, don't feel alarmed if you don't.  Ray was popular for about 20 minutes in the 70s with the humorous song "The Streak" which, in all of its sophistication, was a song about a guy running around naked and...well...that was about it.

Recently Ray decided to post his opinion on the "Get rid of the Mexicans" law in Arizona which, by the way, it has come out in a series of emails between politicians and constituents is seen as a good thing for "taking our country back from the Mexicans".

Ray's new song is entitled "Come to the U.S.A." and is basically attempting to make the sociological argument that people come here illegally because we like to help people instead of criminalizing them.  He states that all other countries will beat, imprison, or kill you for being there illegally.

First of all, this argument is completely false and misguided.  I understand people's frustrations with our efforts and money going to criminals, but the issue here is that Stevens  is completely wrong as to what the issue is.  Illegal immigration is a symptom, a huge one, of yet another gigantic problem with our country.  If you break this down and create an analogy, Ray is agreeing with a law that states that if your head hurts, take a pain killer to squash the pain instead of facing the real problem which is that you have a metal bar jammed into your skull.

Conservatives have this long-standing political mantra that states that anyone who does something that they do not agree with should be criminalized.  This is called negative reinforcement and has consistently been proven to be, well, let us just say, not the most effective way to make things right.  They like to lock up sick people (drug addicts) in prisons with murderers and rapists, to dehumanize them and remove them from sight.  That seems to be their answer as long as we do not have to look at them to destroy our 1950s whitewashed "Leave It To Beaver" mentality.  If their arm burns, cut it off instead of removing it from the fire.

To Ray Stevens:
Dear Ray, I remember listening to your tapes when I was 10 and thinking they were funny.  Then I grew up and saw reality and found that you are really nothing more than another misinformed good ol' boy that thinks fart jokes are the end-all be-all of humor.  Your new song, "Come to the USA" is not funny in any way and is completely wrong in its assessment of the things that this country was founded on.
It is with the support of ignorant hicks, such as yourself, that give people the idea that it is good to be racist, it is good to forget about history, and that "gated communities" and malls are a good thing.  I understand your frustration with situations, but to think that dehumanizing Mexicans and spending valuable police resources on this is just the biggest waste of ideals and money since ol' Bushy left office.
Please take the time to think this over and find that only with true education and immigration reform will we start on the correct path of this that you see as a battle.

Here is the video for people to understand.  Mind you, the video itself is not that awful, but the fact that it is in response and support for Arizona is the issue: