I find it difficult to place myself into the mindset of another entire system of thinking, but I shall try, regarding the disparate sides involving illegal immigration. In truth, by even phrasing the issue as “illegal immigration” I have revealed a major portion of my mindset, say immigrant proponents. There are those who would prefer “undocumented” workers. Or what I would call “euphemisms.”
Oh, there I go again. Heavy sigh.
The issue of illegal immigration has come to the forefront recently because various bills are up in the US Capitol, and the weekend has been filled with scenes of protesters in Denver, Phoenix, Los Angeles and other locations.
I will attempt to list the talking or bullet points of immigrant proponents with the following:
- These bills are racist as they only target Mexicans
- America enjoys the sweat from workers’ brows but refuses to compensate them properly
- The US is a nation of immigrants; why are Mexicans different?
- We have the same rights as everyone else; we are already here in your country
- You can’t just pretend that these people aren’t present
I strained my Brain Housing Group (BHG) but could elicit no further points. I’m sure this is a biased and racist conclusion.
First, let me attempt to address each above point.
— The bills are racist? No. I don’t care which nation you come from; if the issue were involving Canadians, you would be within my sights. Mexico just happens to be involved because it resides on our southern border and its people are flooding my country.
— America benefits from Mexican workers? — true. No dispute there. I have written at length about the tacitly corrupt and ethically improper benefits enjoyed by businesses and corporations nationwide. I’ll write it again: overall, the Democrats want the “voting block” and the Republicans want “the labor.” Both sides are ethically wrong on the issue. And it creates a situation where, with such a base, businesses must become corrupt in order to compete.
If business “A” can replace your roof for $17,000 using American or legal citizens, and business “B” can do it for $10,000 — who would you pick? If you are business “A” — how can you compete?
— The US is a nation of immigrants? Correct. But, like everything else, there is a limit to physicality. There is a limit to expansion. There is no more Manifest Destiny. We have reached our shores and our borders. We have a capacity. And at this point I proffer: there is No Vacancy for any number of reasons. When we can no longer build infrastructure (get over this, Greens!) then we can no longer afford to pack people into central warehousing districts — once known as cities. Where does the oil come from to power the additional cars? Where does the electricity come from to power the additional homes and drain? Where do the additional sewer systems come from to deal with the waste? Where does the water come from to slake the additional thirst? Where do the additional roads come from to deal with the additional traffic? Schools? Courts? Prisons? Law enforcement? Fire stations? Public works? Probation departments? Signage? Welfare? Entitlements? Medicare? Health care?
We will have to get down to this: do we lean towards quality, or do we lean towards quantity?
— We have the same rights as everyone? No, you do not. You are creating an extension that does not, by law, naturally exist. We are a nation of laws — or are we? — my base question.
— We can’t pretend immigrants don’t exist? True. They exist. It is then up to us to determine what we do with them. Do we roll them over into an amnesty program, deport them, or continue to pretend they are merely background? We either deal with this up front, now, or let it fester until it explodes in our face later. Anything paid for, later, is ALWAYS more expensive.
Now let me attempt to address what I see, starting with the above photograph.
I see people protesting the upcoming bills. These are people with an agenda, clearly. They are talking about America. I do not see an American flag. Oddly enough, I see a Mexican flag.
Allow me to stop right there. When I talk about this issue, I do not talk about the Spanish or the Hispanics. I talk about Mexicans. Because that is the issue. I do not recognize Latinos or Hispanics or Spanish. I recognize Mexicans. Because they are from Mexico. The country. Let me also allow another truism: Mexicans speak Spanish because they were conquered by Spain. They do not speak Mayan or Toltec or Aztec or any other number of formerly-indigenous indian languages. Compare the faces of those from Spain from those from Mexico.
I also see graffiti. Graffiti is commonly linked to Mexican gangs. For good reason. I also see a male on the right wearing a headband that falls so low as to shade his eyes. Also: gang related.
These are what I call Facts In Evidence.
I do not see an American flag. I do not see placards written in English. I see cards indicating “Si Se Puede.” Yes We Can.
Yes, the Los Angeles school system has 78% of its students who are Mexican. Indisputable.
Here is what I see:
A Sea of Ingrates.
They wave the flag of the country they seem to be so pleased to leave, and not the flag of the country they attempt to occupy.
Why leave Mexico? Why not stay, if one’s resolve is so strong?
I call these persons’ character into question. It must, by its presence at these protests, be flawed. You seem to expect entitlements. And privileges. And rights. That you would expect in your own nation?
You are ingrates, all. You should be blessing this country, that it could present you with such an unhindered (until now) opportunity. But I do not see you supporting my flag. I do not see you embracing my culture. I do not see you embracing my language. Gratitude moves to comtempt. I see you contemptuous of my country and my culture.
Free education. Free health care. Taking advantage of your melanin. And then bringing your corrupt culture to my shores? You are nothing more than brigands. You bring La Mordida, inculcated in every bureaucracy you create.
But oh no, the exception exists in your country. Any human being from Honduras, El Salvador, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Cuba, is to be ignored. I have visited your country, I know this from 2003 and 2004.
Why do you want to be here anyway? If your culture is so perfect why do you not embrace it and remain?
People: if we cannot defend our own borders, our own culture, our American Identity — then I submit we are collectively in Great Jeopardy.
BZ
True we’re a nation of immigrants — legal immigrants. My forefathers did not destroy ranches along the border to get here, and they did not give their primary allegience to the home country. They also bothered to learn English.
That was very, very well written.
Just honored you on my blog!
Mr. Z – Excellent!
What do you call it when people are brought in for low or little wages, exploited and then threatened if they do not comply?
Slaves.
Illegal aliens being used for work as such is despicable. Call it what it is and force cities supporting slavery to stop doing so along with all businesses. If there is not a Federal level penalty for doing this, then there should be.
Compassionate Group Oreinted Liberalism turns people into slaves. What a lovely concept! And then after instituting it they want to free the slaves… that they encouraged to come here in the first place.
This is what the concept of Groups having rights that individuals *do not* have gets you: an elite telling you what is compassionate and right to do about those Groups.
Rule by Group is no where mentioned in the Constitution. But individuals and Citizens ARE. Explicitly and throughout the Constitution. And after they have shredded the Constitution on this, I am sure they will find something else to Groupify people on so they can tell us what to do.
Oh, and also note that people from China, Viet Nam and other countries around the Pacific Rim are brought in illegally also.
I am damn well against THAT too!
And some amount of Caribbean Islanders, Africans and poor Europeans smuggled in on the East Coast. THAT has got to stop, too.
ALL OF THEM.
Mexico is just the easiest conduit in at the moment. The ports and other entry areas need to be looked at along with help from Canada to the North.
AJ: quite correct, it is not just Mexico. As noted, they just happen to be the issue as they are the greatest number of persons involved. It would be the same and I would write the same if the illegal immigrants were from the UK, or France, or Denmark or Norway.
AJ: Yes! Slaves!
Fraubudgie: Precisely! Legal immigrants! Ellis Island was the very first stop for most immigrants from Europe — on what we predicate our immigrant history. People were checked, noted, names taken, etc. Persons were accepted, some were turned away. It had little if any resemblance to what is occurring today. And English is the most basic, obvious, most IMPORTANT aspect of assimilating into this American culture!
BZ
I want to clarify this so there can be NO misunderstanding, I am NOT opposed to immigration, I am not opposed to ANYONE trying to make a better life for themselves and their families, what I AM opposed to is a WIDE OPEN border and unlimited, unregulated ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION and THAT is the part that all the protesters and most of our Senate seem to be missing…
Yes, America IS a land of immigrants, I am the grandson of an immigrant that came to Texas from New Brunswick, Canada in 1919 during the oil boom at Ranger, Texas…
He was a skilled carpenter and he was needed because they were building wooden derricks for the oil rigs back in those days and he did well, became a LEGAL American citizen and raised his family to LOVE this nation and to SERVE this nation…
The illegal INVADERS are nothing but a strain on us, our schools, our medical services and our government agencies that try to keep them alive, healthy and educated when they shouldn’t even be here in the 1st place…
Sometimes regulation is not only a GOOD thing, it is the ONLY way for a program to be run successfully and this *immigration* issue is one that needs MASSIVE regulation and stringent enforcement of EXISTING laws…
CLOSE THE BORDER Mr. Bush, not JUST because of the ILLEGAL *immigrants* whose *rights* you seem to be so intimately concerned with, but for the good of the NATIONAL SECURITY of the USA as well…
No disagreement here. Excellent post, and excellent comments from everyone. Why is it so many “average” Americans can see the problem and the solution and the government can’t? One liberal told me it would cost too much to secure our southern border and to round up and return the aliens. What’s it costing us in social services for all these eleven million illegals?
Overall, I am not for shutting off the flow of immigration. I am, however, ALL about CONTROL of our borders and our ability to vet those who wish to enter. Unbridled immigration with no spigot, no control, is a slap in the face to those good citizens who DID abide by the law, cared enough to comply with our sovereign laws and did their best to ASSIMILATE for the good of their newly-embraced nation. Yes, those who obeyed the law wanted to make a better life for themselves and their families and, by doing so, they became part of the Great Experiment and also became contributing members of said Experiment and, in doing so, became INVESTED in the SUCCESS of the Experiment.
But there is an even larger, overarching issue that I shall post tomorrow.
BZ
I love legal immigration and want *more* of it! People who WANT to be Americans… not just permanent visitors from another country that have the right to vote, but real honest to goodness Citizens.
This nation cannot survive if it is broken down into Groups and Ghettos… that is the path of old Europe and it is destroying them.
It is only an immigration issue because that is the way it is being CAST AT US. People are trying to convince me that these folks are a Group that matters more than each of them individually. I refuse that.
They came individually, are protected by businesses and municipalities that want to keep them as slave labor. That must end, not for the illegals but for those on THIS SIDE OF THE BORDER. Those businesses and municipalities that harbor them are defying the Constitution and if Congress caves into that, then We The People will soon have no country.
We are a diverse People, not a bunch of Groups more or less working together. We have a Constitution to safeguard Our rights and we have delegated some of those to help Govern us as a People.
Those delegated rights are only *not* being used, they are being overlooked and neglected and bought off by cheap emotionalism. And that only to get a few votes of those Americans still believing enough in the Country to actually vote… and most of those hold their noses going to the polling booth. And when you get there you can no longer tell the two parties apart.
Democrats don’t believe in democracy.
Republicans don’t believe in the Republic.
And both parties are afraid to upset someone, somewhere who might say that their ‘rights have been violated’.
In ignoring the grant of rights from the People to Congress All of Us are having Our rights violated.
“And when the knock came on the door, there was no one left to speak up for me…” – Soviet political prisoner
I do not think there is anything I could add to your post and the comments above me. As always an excellent post…and thought provoking.
Playing by the rules and being fair, apparently does not matter anymore not to mention doing things legal. I am outraged by this…it is just not right.
Human trafficking and terrorists coming across that border is also a HUGE concern of mine…Lord Knows…how many we already have in here within the 12 million.
We are in serious trouble…I can almost see it getting worse… very shortly…sadly to say.
BTW, LOVE THAT PIC….(smiling)
The big news for the last two days is school walkouts. I would have walked out for just about any cause.
The media has interviewed some of the truant students. No joke, we heard one say, “I’m uh American Citizen! You aint sendin’ me back to Mexico!” The reporter admitted it was near impossible to find a student that had any idea what was in the legislation.
So in order to protest, these kids walk out of class. We should up the stakes. We should say if you walk out, don’t come back. It would save the taxpayers trillions.
The high schoolers that walked out here were basically IDIOTS as far as having ANY knowledge, they saw a chance to get out of school and get on TV…
They tried to interview some of em just now on our local news and it was sad, they were there for the PARTY and THAT was it…
Here’s something I sincerely HOPE that our elected officials have considered…
All these whelps of the *ILLEGAL INVADERS* that are doing all the protesting and *Viva Mexico* crap and waving the Mexican flags: They are 15, 16 and 17 years old… None of them are registered voters and VERY FEW of them will be registered voters by the November elections, and it’s VERY doubtful that the parents they *claim* to be SO worried about being arrested for being *ILLEGAL* are registered voters either…
There are some Senators and Congressmen that are going to receive a rude awakening in November when the REAL voters turn out and it just so happens that those voters are AMERICANS and LEGAL…
Are ALL of you idiots at the RNC and DNC hearing what I am saying??
These kids and their supporters, for the most part, aren’t even registered voters…
Wake up America.. Make those phone calls and write those letters, inundate the Senate and Congress with the opinions of the REAL power in this nation..
That would be US Ladies and Gentlemen…
Us, you and me, the voters, WE, the people…
We don’t need Amnesty, we don’t need the McCain/Kennedy bill. I just listened to Tom Tancredo say if that bill as written comes to the House, it won’t pass. And rightly so.
Folks, the Wall Street Journal has been advocating, for some time prior to 9-11, for the disappearance of borders and the idea of one large capitalistic conglomerate. Now I’m all for a free market economy, but the continuous push for CAFTA, NAFTA and their like — well, that clearly indicates to me someone, somewhere, is attempting to “EU” the United States, Canada, Mexico and South America. I’m wondering if Bush hasn’t bought into the concept of a larger economic block to include all these countries and areas.
And here’s another little gem: some of the bills as presented not only grants individuals present on our soil AMNESTY and CITIZENSHIP but to their families as well. Families that happen to currently reside in Mexico.
It is estimated there are 11 million ILLEGAL ALIENS in the US; what do you think the population jump would be when you then bring up the wife, the husband, the children, the cousins, the Aunts, the Uncles — you like the Mexican government, the Mexican military, the Mexican police? You like the way it runs, its honesty, its integrity? You’d get its duplicate here in the US.
You want a Balkanized America? You are well on your way should improper versions of these bills pass. We are on the cusp of literally changing the entire face (or faces) of this country, and not for the better, forever.
The issue is absolutely that critical.
BZ
I like free trades with nations that SUPPORT us and are friends with us. Canada, for all of its European leanings and foreign policy has always had a decent and respectful Citizenry beyond the showboaters in Parliament. And they *do* showboat. But good, decent people who obey the laws and give friendship easily where it is due.
Mexicans are friendly people, but they see law as something to be avoided due to the corruption in its enforcement back home. Crossing a border illegally speaks volumes on that. Their Government has been, at best, luke-cool towards us and often downright chilly. If it weren’t for oil propping up the economy I don’t know if there even would *be* a Mexico as it has been rife with sub-state clashes and problems for years. Plus their own military and polices forces cross the border with impugnity on a regular, near weekly basis, if the reports I hear are correct.
I would love to see free trade with: UK, Australia, Japan, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Hungary. The Eastern European countries damn well deserve it after fatally fracturing the Communist Bloc from the *inside*, something we could never have done. They looked to us because it was the US along with the UK that kept faith with them, even when rally after rally in Europe wanted the US out. By and large the Western European governments would play the anti-American card and then turn around and play ‘nice’, because they didn’t like the look of Soviet Armored Divisions on the other side of the border. I remember 10’s of rallies against the US… but not a single one FOR the countries on the other side of the Iron Curtain to keep faith with Western Europe.
Basically, I would like to see a Jacksonian Foreign Policy. Somehow simple pragmatism and giving friendship and honor in due return has never crossed the minds of either Republicans or Democrats.