Clarence Birdseye
April 2nd, 2009, 9:04 am
As appallingly self serving as our national representatives appear to be, the discussion of immigration issues is breathtaking in both it's short term pandering as well as it's long term implications.
To begin, there is no point in discussing "amnesty" or any other such action unless we actually act like a sovereign nation by having secure borders. I cannot for the life of me understand how Kennedy and McCain and the former President Bush could avoid this topic. And please don’t think that the “authorization” of new Border Agents will carry much weight unless funding is approved at the same time. We fell for that one once. I think that, like Mexico, troops would be the best. Perhaps as the violent in Mexico builds and spills over the border we will finally see action.
More broadly, I have no idea how many people are involved. I read 8,000,000 to 11,000,000. I never, or rarely, read about their families that may not be here now but will be entitled to enter the US. So, what is the total?
What are the financial implications of having this many new legal residents? What kind of drain on services? What kind of tax revenue? Do you know? I don’t.
Let us be clear on one thing: these people are not “doing jobs that Americans won’t do”. That is a willful obfuscation and thoroughly dishonest. The fact is that they are doing jobs for less money than Americans will do them. And why? Because of the implicit threat that they will be turned in if they agitate for higher wages. Which raises the next question: what will these new wages be once they are not living in fear of deportation? We know, thanks to recent events, that they can organize at the drop of a hat. Do you think that they will work for peanuts once there is no threat hanging over them? What are the economic implications of this? Do you know? What might happen to consumer costs if illegals were paid at a market rate?
I presume that these people will be and are competing for jobs at the lowest level. As such they will be coming head to head with our poorest citizens who happen to be disproportionately black. What will be the impact of this?
If there is a further economic downturn (say caused by another terrorist attack) it stands to reason (and experience) that the lowest paid workers go first. What sort of costs might we expect for social services in such an eventuality? How might such costs be paid for?
I personally fear a balkanization of this country. There are some, I suspect, that would welcome this eventuality since it would reduce the power of the bad old USA. Having a substantial and growing segment that speaks Spanish it not to my liking. What can be done about this? Can legislation regarding learning English stand an assault from Civil Libertarians?
It is not clear to me what exactly the political make-up of the body of illegal immigrants is. Clearly they are uneducated. Will they take on the political complexion of earlier waves of legal immigrants and subscribe to a big government, entitlement approach to government or will they, being largely Catholic, be very socially conservative, eschewing things like, say, abortion? Do you know? I sure don’t.
All things being equal, is the future of the United States served better by giving a pass to lawbreakers who have little to contribute other than manual labor or making the road to citizenship smoother for professionals from other countries? With regard to those that followed our laws and waited for legal admission and citizenship: what does Congress propose to do, issue an “apology”? Certainly some recognition of the unfairness of the implications of proposed legalization must be addressed.
As you can see I have many questions, some of a very elemental nature. We are on the verge of changing the essential nature of our country. It seems to me that this requires a national debate, not sound-bite legislation and platitudes. I also, for the record, am deeply offended by the republican spin that I heard to the effect that these illegal immigrants will be on “probation”. That and the use of the term “Immigration Rights”. These people are here illegally. To drape themselves with the honorable title of those that obeyed our laws is sickening. Stuff and nonsense and dangerous PC rhetoric.
This all comes down to a simple fact. I do not trust our elected officials to do the right thing for the American people. I think that job one in DC is reelection and everything, EVERYTHING, is secondary to that need. In the present case it is imperative that all aspects of this issue be reviewed openly and honestly. Remember, we are not obligated to distribute our largesse to lawbreakers. If we do so it will be because it serves our interests, not theirs.
In this PC world of ours it is oh so difficult for people in politics to make meaningful statements or to take principled positions. In the case of immigration reform it is unavoidable. Somebody is going to have his or her feelings hurt. The question that you and others in DC have to ask yourselves is will it be citizen voters or lawbreakers.
To begin, there is no point in discussing "amnesty" or any other such action unless we actually act like a sovereign nation by having secure borders. I cannot for the life of me understand how Kennedy and McCain and the former President Bush could avoid this topic. And please don’t think that the “authorization” of new Border Agents will carry much weight unless funding is approved at the same time. We fell for that one once. I think that, like Mexico, troops would be the best. Perhaps as the violent in Mexico builds and spills over the border we will finally see action.
More broadly, I have no idea how many people are involved. I read 8,000,000 to 11,000,000. I never, or rarely, read about their families that may not be here now but will be entitled to enter the US. So, what is the total?
What are the financial implications of having this many new legal residents? What kind of drain on services? What kind of tax revenue? Do you know? I don’t.
Let us be clear on one thing: these people are not “doing jobs that Americans won’t do”. That is a willful obfuscation and thoroughly dishonest. The fact is that they are doing jobs for less money than Americans will do them. And why? Because of the implicit threat that they will be turned in if they agitate for higher wages. Which raises the next question: what will these new wages be once they are not living in fear of deportation? We know, thanks to recent events, that they can organize at the drop of a hat. Do you think that they will work for peanuts once there is no threat hanging over them? What are the economic implications of this? Do you know? What might happen to consumer costs if illegals were paid at a market rate?
I presume that these people will be and are competing for jobs at the lowest level. As such they will be coming head to head with our poorest citizens who happen to be disproportionately black. What will be the impact of this?
If there is a further economic downturn (say caused by another terrorist attack) it stands to reason (and experience) that the lowest paid workers go first. What sort of costs might we expect for social services in such an eventuality? How might such costs be paid for?
I personally fear a balkanization of this country. There are some, I suspect, that would welcome this eventuality since it would reduce the power of the bad old USA. Having a substantial and growing segment that speaks Spanish it not to my liking. What can be done about this? Can legislation regarding learning English stand an assault from Civil Libertarians?
It is not clear to me what exactly the political make-up of the body of illegal immigrants is. Clearly they are uneducated. Will they take on the political complexion of earlier waves of legal immigrants and subscribe to a big government, entitlement approach to government or will they, being largely Catholic, be very socially conservative, eschewing things like, say, abortion? Do you know? I sure don’t.
All things being equal, is the future of the United States served better by giving a pass to lawbreakers who have little to contribute other than manual labor or making the road to citizenship smoother for professionals from other countries? With regard to those that followed our laws and waited for legal admission and citizenship: what does Congress propose to do, issue an “apology”? Certainly some recognition of the unfairness of the implications of proposed legalization must be addressed.
As you can see I have many questions, some of a very elemental nature. We are on the verge of changing the essential nature of our country. It seems to me that this requires a national debate, not sound-bite legislation and platitudes. I also, for the record, am deeply offended by the republican spin that I heard to the effect that these illegal immigrants will be on “probation”. That and the use of the term “Immigration Rights”. These people are here illegally. To drape themselves with the honorable title of those that obeyed our laws is sickening. Stuff and nonsense and dangerous PC rhetoric.
This all comes down to a simple fact. I do not trust our elected officials to do the right thing for the American people. I think that job one in DC is reelection and everything, EVERYTHING, is secondary to that need. In the present case it is imperative that all aspects of this issue be reviewed openly and honestly. Remember, we are not obligated to distribute our largesse to lawbreakers. If we do so it will be because it serves our interests, not theirs.
In this PC world of ours it is oh so difficult for people in politics to make meaningful statements or to take principled positions. In the case of immigration reform it is unavoidable. Somebody is going to have his or her feelings hurt. The question that you and others in DC have to ask yourselves is will it be citizen voters or lawbreakers.