Lately the news has been dominated by the ongoing debate over illegal immigration. Spin-masters on the right and the left have taken to the airwaves to insist that they know the answers, or to at least insist that they know more than the other guy. The problem is that absolutely no one is listening to anyone else, just sitting quietly (or sometimes not) while formulating a response. The fact is this, illegal immigration is a fact of life. There isn't one country in the world that doesn't deal with the problem, and being that we're the world's only remaining superpower sharing a border with a borderline third-world nation you have to expect that we'll get our share.
It's true that we do need a stronger border. I couldn't agree more with the right-wingers that leaving gaping holes in the border also leaves gaping holes in our national security. It's easy to dismiss that, but once a dirty bomb slips in through Arizona and detonates in Chicago we'll be screaming for someone's head.
However, rounding up millions of people and tossing them out of the country is not only a stupid idea in the practical sense, but it could also lead to economic disaster. Anyone suggesting (as Rush Limbaugh has) that these people aren't jumping the borders to find work has reached a point of stupidity only previously found in single-celled organisms. These people are coming to our country to find jobs and provide for their families, end of story. And whether you'd like to admit it, they're doing the jobs that we just won't do. The next time I hear someone say, "they're taking jobs from Americans" I'm going to scream. Face it, Americans are lazy. There is an entire generation of Americans that we can't even convince to get off of the couch, and I promise you it's not because "all of the good landscaping/fruit picking/dishwashing jobs are taken." When we start heaving brown skinned people out of the country by the truckload are YOU going to be willing to do those jobs?
Instead of going on for pages and pages about the pros and cons of illegal immigration I figure I'll just leave it to an expert. Fareed Zakaria has become one of the premiere intellectuals in this country and has written a fantastic piece on America's immigration crisis... or lack thereof. So, see what he has to say, I'll just leave you with two points.
1. Don't harp on the fact that "It's ILLEGAL!" You undoubtedly break the law every day. You speed, you're drive after you've had a few drinks, you download music and/or movies, etc. These are laws, just the same as the laws that forbid illegal entrance to the country. And you're not doing it to feed your family.
2. Illegal Immigration is a smokescreen issue. It's designed to take your eye off of the ball. It's emotional, it causes people to revert to jingoism and uber-nationalism (and to a certain degree racism). Every day corporate America dodges responsibility and ships your jobs overseas by the freighter load. However, we don't see fiery speeches on the Senate floor regarding corporate responsibility. Don't get wrapped up in the job issue, it's a joke, an issue that has been crafted to get your attention... don't let it happen to you.
posted by Cory | 5:21 AM
3 Comments:
Before I go on to read Zakaria's piece, I just wanted to make note that I have paid as little attention as possible to this diversion issue. Not that that means I've paid a lot of attention to the important issues. Being a reader of Louis L'Amour (did anyone know that about me?), I have a fairly high opinion of Spanish culture, and of Mexicans in general. They are "the salt of the earth" as far as I am concerned. Hispanic people serve a purpose in this country. There are multiple sides to this issue. I believe we do need a secure border. I also believe that if we are ever going to have universal healthcare in this country (which IS an important issue) we are going to have to have documentation of our "guest" workers, and limit their immigration, so that they can benefit from that system without overburdening it. To suggest that we should remove all the long-standing pseudo-citizens in this country is truly absurd though. The workers who are already here should be incorporated into our citizenry. As for the language issue, that bothers me more than anything else. This country has always had two languages. It's just taken English-speaking white people this long to notice. Alright, I'll go read what the intellectual has to say now.
I'm glad you both (Brinton and Cory) mention the fact this whole immigration debate is nothing more than a smokescreen political issue, brought up for strictly political reasons, with nop intention of ever providing any substantive progress. I was imagining the other day, thinking of Karl Rove sitting in his office, chewing on a pencil and cackling with maniacal laughter as he wonders, "What diversion can we push this year to whip people into an emotional frenzy just in time for the election so that they don't actually pay attention to any of the REAL issues at hand? Iraq? Nope, can't do that this year. Gay marriage? Nope - did that last year. Social Security? Nope. We already blew that one. Liberal corruption? Nope -- can't touch the corruption issue this year. Abortion? Nope, too early for that one (maybe next year, if we can sneak another judge in there). 'Intelligent' design? No way, that'll ever get through. Hmmm, let's see... how about... immigration! There you go! BINGO!"
Amazing isn't it, how this loud immigration debate just suddenly blew up out of nowhere, right before primary season, in a midterm election year when virtually any subject you could bring up would be a loser for BuschCheney Inc.?
I wonder if Karl is in possession of an actual schematic of how the Republican politcal machine is put together and works. I'd sure like to see someone reverse engineer that, and lay it all out in black and white, you know, like a computer flowchart.
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