Be sure to check out today’s fresh August issue of Cato Unbound, kicking off with celebrated essayist Richard Rodriguez’s provocative meditation on the place of Mexico and Mexicans in the U.S. economy and consciousness. Here’s a taste:

It is as though America, having benefited from illegal labor, pretends that the transaction was one of middle-class benevolence. Mexicans should be thankful for a month of cheerless eight-hour shifts, standing there waiting for the old lady to get off the commode. The odd thing is that they are thankful!

Read the whole thing, and stay tuned: Mexifornia author Victor Davis Hanson will reply on Wednesday, and it’s not going to be a lovefest.