Bill Flores missed his calling.

The local Latino activist told a North County Times reporter last week that a newly formed group in Escondido that supports the Police Department's traffic checkpoints are in reality not at all about public safety.

Nope, it seems Flores has read their minds and determined that they're really closet racists.

"No matter what alias this (road safety) group has, we know who they are. They're anti-immigration, they're anti-Latino, and we know exactly how they feel, no matter what they call themselves." (From Saturday's Times -- "Grass-roots group says many support Escondido driver's license checkpoints".)

This quote from the retired San Diego County assistant sheriff came in response to the formation of Citizens of Escondido for Road Safety, a group that has collected some 700 signatures in support of the traffic checkpoints.

Your loyal columnist (that would be me) has vociferously opposed Escondido's proposed and rescinded rental ban, which openly targeted illegal immigration, and the pending law to ban overnight parking on city streets, which seems to target not only illegal immigrants, but Latinos in general (as well as non-Latino poor).

But traffic checkpoints target everyone -- well, everyone who is unlicensed, lacks auto insurance and/or drives an unregistered or unsafe vehicle.

Flores, in his role as spokesman for El Grupo -- a coalition of various activist groups concerned with Latino rights -- makes the argument that the traffic checkpoints are racist because they unfairly impact illegal immigrants, who are unable to get a driver's license.

By that argument, traffic checkpoints discriminate against underage drivers too, because people under 16 can't get a driver's license or insurance. We should stop discriminating against them and let them drive, eh, Bill?

Flores' argument that checkpoints discriminate is weak. No, it's more than that: It's laughable.

There are serious human rights issues surrounding illegal immigration in this community, many of which have been addressed in this very column.

But driving is and always has been a privilege in this nation, not a right. And if you're too poor to afford auto insurance, then, I'm sorry, you shouldn't be driving, and I say that as someone who has spent huge swaths of his adulthood riding buses for that very reason. It's called personal responsibility, a concept unbounded by ethnicity, culture or geography.

Further, not everyone who is in support of keeping unlicensed and uninsured drivers off our roads is a racist -- despite Flores' claim of telepathic powers.

Are there racists involved in the anti-illegal immigration movement?

Sure, but that's a far cry from calling everyone who opposes illegal immigration a racist.

Frankly, Flores' claim of telepathy is almost as absurd as his arguments about the checkpoints.

I mean, really, if Flores could read people's minds, as if he were a real-life version of Johnny Carson's Carnac the Magnificent, wouldn't he be spending his time entering professional poker tournaments or coaching "American Idol" entrants on what Simon Cowell really wants?

Either would be a better use of his time than hurling charges of racism at anyone who doesn't agree with him on every point of every issue.

Contact columnist Jim Trageser at (760) 631-6628 or jtrageser@nctimes.com.