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The immigration problem does not exist. Let me state that again so there is no misunderstanding. There is no immigration problem in the US.
Our long standing policy has been come, join us, be part of us. That needs to still be the case. Changing that is simply going to create an even larger problem.
The problems occurring around immigration are not caused by immigration policy. Again no immigration problem.
The problems occurring around immigration only exist because the federal and state governments went into the business of being a bread winner for its citizens. That is not quit accurate. More accurately because federal and state governments went into the business of being a mob boss as they attempted to eradicate the competition. They get there money from blackmail and extortion using the IRS as the weapon and jail time as the threat. So to be totally accurate, the problem with immigration exists only because the government became a thief and the immigrants are capable of being the recipients of the stolen booty.
If we want to fix immigration we simply do away with a system of theft from the financially successful and reward for the financially dependent and we would get the kind of immigrants we want. The ones we don't want would have no reason to come.
Fix the root problem and the discussion on amnesty would dissolve on its own.
Education is the problem in the US... its not immigration. Jobs go to the best qualified that want to work... sure some personal contacts can help, but inevitably, you don't stick around if you are useless and stop blaming others for self-inadequacy.
With the exception of American Indians, none of us would be here without immigration. Maybe some policies... like limiting the amount of resettlement in some of our already-overcrowded cities... North Dakota is begging for workers in the oil fields... maybe we need to rethink how we "allow" new immigrants to settle, and where.. every other country does that.
However, most of all on my humble opinion list... We should adopt a reciprocity of hostility policy toward originating countries and HOW THEY TREAT AMERICAN EXPATS.... America is an expensive place to spend retirement, and many, including myself, would like to retire abroad. Our immigration policy needs to reflect how Americans are treated if we want to immigrate or live temporarily in their countries... Costa Rica.. Check... Mexico? It can be brutal... I say we adjust accordingly. Canada? It's actually a little hard to immigrate to Canada. You need to show 2 years of medical records, take 3 or 4 physicals by Canadian doctors, prove you have $200,000 in liquid assets (in Canadian securities or currency) above the cost for housing, etc. Do you really want your IRA to have Canadian stocks?
The root of the problem is this: Latent Racism... I always like to say.. "What did the immigrant do to you? Did it really stop you from getting an education, or was it your own C's & D's & F's?". "Are you really that pissed off that a kid of an immigrant got a $1200 CalGrant and you didn't? How much did that go for your $10,000 / year college?" Please... it's a payment or two at the end of paying the student loans anyway.. Better yet, go in the military and get a $150,000 GI Bill (I did, I got my BS & my MBA), I'm also not in competition for any job from any immigrant as a result.
We are better than that as a people. Even better, immigrants by culture are hostile to regulation and lets take the case of Mexicans... about 99.9% Catholic and very family oriented... hmm.. instead of being hostile towards them, after they jump through the hoops of citizenship, lets educate them on the finer points of how their culture aligns with the judeo-christian values of conservatism... and how high taxes and inflationary policies threaten their children and their later years after a life of very hard work.
The enemy is socialism, liberal "progressive" politics, social security, medicare, medicaid, and all the other social programs that soak up 90% of what is left of tax revenue after defense.
Now let me be extremely clear - there are many cases where we need to be very crystal-clear on our immigration policy. There are real threats to the sovereign soil of the US along our Southern border... and that is in the form of Mexican drug cartels, kidnapping gangs, etc. But painting all Mexicans with the same brush is like saying that all gun ownership is wrong because of a few nuts in schools (that tend to be democrat voters anyway it seems like). To combat the drug trade, I'm totally fine with using much more lethal force than we do... we are stepping down the drone program overseas... seems like we will have a few spare that can be deployed, complete with hellfire & maverick missiles. I have no problem with that. As soon as their first foot comes out of the Rio Grande, I'm good with blowing them into pixie dust. While we are at it... some "regime change" in Mexico would do more for limiting illegal immigration than any piece of paper ever would.. people flee Mexico because of the corruption, the inevitability of poverty, and the gangs. Getting rid of all of the above, would do nothing but improve the quality of life for the residents, and they probably wouldn't want to leave.
As someone said last night after I related a certain incident involving having my face spat at; "85% of them make the rest of them look bad".
How many illegal aliens have you worked around?
You ask when the last time someone saw a white person picking lettuce in the fields... it's NOT because white people can't or won't; you're putting the cart before the horse. The influx of cheap labor, made cheap by circumventing the labor laws, the housing laws, and other laws, drove "white people" from picking crops, working construction, and doing a host of other menial labor, entry-level jobs. My sister and her high school classmates used to detassle corn to earn spending money. Most of my classmates worked their asses off on their family's farm, in Iowa.
I blame the Arabs and the Japanese. When they invaded the U S auto industry, and when they instigated the oil crises, Americans lost their self respect along with their minds, and everything became about the pricetag. To hell with quality, to hell with honor (a lot of our honor orbited the notion of trading value for value; with the embracing of eastern philosophies beginning in the 60s, it began to be viewed as foolish and archaic).
Construction companies began hiring illegals because they could work them "off the books". There were various schemes used to circumvent the labor, housing and tax laws. White men, whom you don't see picking lettuce, had to compete with that. Fine, they could offer higher quality work... except we no longer valued quality.
Brickwork as an example: slam them in the wall, rough hammer cut brick that any first year apprentice would be ashamed to claim.... no problem, just get them in the wall cheap. Have one well trained, experienced American to do the tricky brickwork like a chimney flue or decorative work, and make the rest illegals.
Before I got tired of trying to compete with such subcontractors (and you can't be an honest subcontractor and compete against the crooks who'll hire illegals), I tried getting a job working for contractor forming his own masonry crew. After presenting my credentials (25 years experience, 5th generation, master mason, etc), I was asked if I would be willing to lay brick even with rain dripping off my cap; and told that I'd be expected to jump down and help tend the other bricklayers if they were shorthanded on laborers. As the boss, I'd done both, but it was obvious that this contractor held the craft in contempt. After visiting one of his jobsites and seeing the host of illegals working there, I understood what he was.
I don't know why people flee Mexico or the rest of Latin America; I just know that they invade America for their own profit at the expense of America and without regard to our values or our culture, and that people like you are slowly allowing our culture to be transformed in order to accommodate the invaders.
Burger King just came out with a spicy version of their original chicken sandwich. This was not done because roast-beef-and-potatoes white Iowans think burning your gullet out is the same as eating food that tastes good. French Market Mall, a beautiful shopping center reminiscent of Paris or the French Quarter of New Orleans... covered over in drivit, made to look like a stucco hacienda, without even a name change.
Meanwhile, the Ethiopian I work with, he waited nearly a decade to get a green card; only got it, in fact, after his kids qualified. He's very proud of Ethiopia being the first Christian nation (Abyssinia?) and being allied with the U.S. in the war on terror. He's not any better of a worker than the illegals, but unlike them, he loves being a part of America. He doesn't have the entitlement mentality that led the illegals to sneak into our country and squat.
Here's a better idea; seal the southern border so crossing it means automatic death. Then let them figure out where they went wrong and fix their own damned countries.
"Construction companies began hiring illegals because they could work them "off the books""
The problem was not the Arabs, the Japanese or the Mexicans. We changed laws and made it so that people had to be "on the books" thus allowing an advantage to those "off the books"
This problems root is the 16th amendment to the constitution. Were it abolished and all that has stemmed from it then the Arabs, the Japanese and the Mexicans would have no power to have advantage over a US citizen because the federal government would not be creating an environment of uneven opportunity that favors minorities and non-citizens.
We didn't make Japan, Inc wage economic warfare on the U.S.
Nuts, that's like saying because we created child labor laws, that invited employers to hire and abuse children.
All the laws wouldn't make any difference... if the s.o.b.s didn't flood into the country. They don't belong here, they don't want to be "here", that is, America as it was created to be. They want to grab the benefits of our more prosperous society, but don't want to give up the failed social philosophies or cultural mores of the countries from which they fled. That's got nothing to do with federal law.
Again, if crossing our southern border without permission meant instant death, there'd be none of the harm done by the illegal alien invaders, regardless of what laws we choose to pass.
I can break the same laws; the difference is, eventually I'll be punished for it, not rewarded.
I would argue that if government had stayed out of limiting oil production we would have simply increased production to meant demand the Arabs would have had no power over us.
Japan would not have been effective in economic warfare if not for the laws which said if a business man is to good at there job they will go to Jail (see GE 1961 and 62 referenced in one of Rands Essays). After that GE anti-trust suit nearly every major company cut back on investing in R&D. The result was that it left us vulnerable to the Japanese economic attacks. Once again government was at the heart.
If we have people come here and work like my great grandfather did I want em, we need people who want to work, want to use there mind and/or body to accomplish something and be rewarded for it and keep that reward.
If you followed your idea, I would not be here. My grandfather would have been shot and killed at the border. So much for my existence. I would bet the same is true of 90% of all Americans at some point in there family history.
More importantly if we follow your idea we would not get the people who want to work, and retain what they earn immigrating to the US and we would not have the best of the best here as we have for more than 100 years because of our open boarders. It is a major factor in why we have such an economic dominance. take that away and our standard of living will decline.
I should likely give greater explanation but I am done with this thread. I hope this clears up the misunderstanding that obviously occurred on my more hasty response than this one.
I am stating that government involvement was the cause of the problems you describe not the immigrants themselves. Get us back to a free market and all three of these issues would either not exist or be much, much less than they are now.
It is insane to suggest that one country can wage economic warfare, and its target can simply conduct open market capitalism and the target not be defeated.
I'm trying to figure out why you being here is important? You're blaming America first, making excuses for people who come in and displace our.. well not our since you said your grandfather was one of them... my culture.
If you want to blame America, the blame lies in being soft on Japan during the occupation. The Emperor should have been dragged out in the streets, pissed on and given a noodle. That's the Japanese way.
All Japanese industry that participated in the war should have been dismantled and sold to American interests.
And the occupation should not have ended nearly as soon as it did.
Government involvement was the problem... Japanese government involvement.
Government NOT doing its mandated job of securing our borders allowed entry to millions of people who have absolutely no understanding of or interest in the U.S. as founded by the Founding Fathers...
Open immigration policies gave us sweat shops working children and women to death, the mafia (both Italian and Russian) and perennial slums.
Oh, well done!
Y'know, Rand was really right when she said that thing about finding the first premise and examining IT.
It is an either stop the flood or stop the payments and the real problem is that the Democrats want to increase both while the Republicans refuse to actually do anything about either.
God I just wish those very few who attempt to move things in the right direction had enough support to be successful.
You will never stop the flood of people attempting to find a way to eat, to make a better life for themselves, so long as we have a better life to offer.
If we provide the free better life, we will attract those who want it. If we offer the work hard and keep what you earn (IE protect property rights) we will attract those that want to earn it.
We will attract and get one of these two groups of immigrants so long as they can have a better life here than in the gun and drug cartel controlled countries south of us.
We either become just like them to solve the problem or we do away with the giveaway programs to solve the problem. The first solution will happen at some point if we fail to use the second.
I don't want people who work hard. I want people who work smart. It's men of the mind who will propel America farther into prosperity, not men of the back.
56 Men who were in a minority met several times to discuss a document. 55 had the courage to sign it even though it likely meant there deaths and the deaths of all those they loved. 3 men pushed the creation of the document and the support for it from the other 52 through.
350 men met to create a document that was neither popular or desired by the majority of people. 3 Men wrote 85 papers to convince the public of its necessity and that the government it created would not become tyrannical. (To bad they did not fully define the philosophy rather than write solely to convince of the necessity)
In both cases 3 men drove it, 3 men made it happen. We do not need a large body of people, we need a handful of people of ability, financial resource and strong mind. This is the only thing that has ever changed the world, a company, a country or a city. Its the only thing that ever will.
Until men are willing to stand behind those few who could start the ball rolling in the right direction things will only get worse.
Washington army was going home after the first year. If not for a pamphlet writing by Payne the war would have ended after only a year and the great men we know as the founders would have gone down in history as traitors. One man change the world with the pen in December of the first year of the revolutionary war.
In the second case 85 papers and campaigns to each of the states by Hamilton, Madison and Jay were required. Even then it barely ratified.
I still maintain that 6 men or women who had the kind of ability our founders did could and would turn it around. They would drive and gain the support of the rest of us through words, deeds and action. The rest would have to step up, but like me I think most on this thread would risk everything if 6 men or women of this kind of ability stepped up and risked everything to get the ball rolling. I would be there with them and hope would flood through me and empower me like nothing else could.
"THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated. Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny, has declared that she has a right (not only to tax) but "to bind us in all cases whatsoever," and if being bound in that manner, is not slavery, then is there not such a thing as slavery upon earth. Even the expression is impious; for so unlimited a power can belong only to God."
http://www.constitution.org/tp/amercrisi...
"Common Sense" by Thomas Paine sold 600,000 copies in the colonies, the equivalent of a book selling 30 million copies today.
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3755/3755...
"PERHAPS the sentiments contained in the following pages, are not YET sufficiently fashionable to procure them general favor; a long habit of not thinking a thing WRONG, gives it a superficial appearance of being RIGHT, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defence of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason. "
Mike Huckabee is an honorable man. There is no place in Washington for honorable men.
You must be a very good liar to be successful in today's politics.
I am hopeful that Ted Cruz stands his ground and continues what he is doing.
Liberalism is destroying our country.
I really like Rand Paul.
But, last night they brought in a contractor to strip and wax the floors, and he was the only member of his crew who could speak English.
I tried looking online for a way to call ICE, border patrol, INS to have his employees investigated, and while I found all kinds of useful info to help people get into and stay in this country, I did not find a way to request an investigation until after some extensive searching, and even that was thickly coated in repeated warnings against bigotry and why not to report illegals.
Amnesty, to me, is that they get to leave the country alive and under their own power.
When was it decided that non-aggression only applied to people who speak English?
We don't need the refuse from Latin America degrading America any further.
I have no idea what you mean by "non-aggression".
After spending 20 years around the sonsofbitches, I can recognize illegals almost on sight. But, I still gave the benefit of the doubt, in wanting them investigated instead of executed... I mean arrested.
And I do care about amnesty, deeply. I'm extremely opposed to it.
It will never happen but would it not be awesome to see a political race between two dirt bags where both of them lost to "A Box of Dirt."
I like None of the Above as a choice MUCH better. I don't know if it's still true, but in the Libertarian Party, every ballot had NOTA as an option; now and then, it won. And there wasn't any of that nonsense about giving the job to the first loser, it means NONE of the above, so a completely new slate had to be fielded.
Neil Smith, in The Probability Broach, an alternative-history novel, has both Rand and NOTA winning the Presidency.
And if you believe in the power of prayer, I'm glad you're doing that.
But what actions are you taking in the world to accomplish your goal? Hmmm, better question: what is your goal? What would make someone a better candidate?
My goal is to live as freely as possible and interfere as little as possible as those around me. A better candidate would be someone who promotes those same beliefs. In fact I just posted this to my Facebook.
Ric Hornsby
My daughter Jessica was given a writing assignment for her English class last night about the importance of the Bill of Rights. I felt moved to write the assignment as well. She had to turn in her writing but I want to post mine so that some others can see where I am coming from.
It is important that we maintain the individual rights guaranteed by the Bill of Rights and the Constitution because without those rights we as a People become subject to the will of the Government. The first three words of the Constitution are "We the People." Those three words declare unequivocally that the power of the Government derives from the People. The Founding Fathers had great fear of our government becoming too powerful. That's why they put so much thought and effort into framing things the way that they did.
The first three amendments lay out the rights of a person to speak their mind, protect themselves and not to have their property rights infringed upon. These basic rights form the basis for our sense of self as Americans. Without these rights the government could arbitrarily decided to take possession of private property at will housing soldiers within our homes. We would not even have the means of defending neither ourselves nor even the right to complain about those impositions.
Amendments four through eight lay out the basis for court cases and our rights within the law but it is amendments nine and ten that are probably the most violated rights today. The ninth and tenth amendments essentially limit the power of government by stating that anything not explicitly covered in the Constitution are rights reserved. In other words if it is not explicitly spelled out in the Constitution the government has no right to infringe upon that subject.
Thomas Jefferson said, "A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have." It appears the Jefferson's fears have borne fruit and this brings to mind another Jefferson quote, "My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government."
The first 3 words of the Constitution are "We, the People" (or as captain Kirk would say, "E plabnista").
It doesn't say "We" and it doesn't say, "The People". Those three, simple words elegantly lay out that the compact of the Constitution is among an assemblage of individuals, not a collectivist mass.
I just like pointing that out when I get the opportunity.