Posted by
theguardian777 on Monday, March 03, 2008 3:20:04 PM
I think there is but one thing that all Americans can agree upon in this time of political division, that we are all sick and tired of the proverbial “politics as usual”.
We should all recognize our own part in this, as it seems to be purely human nature to hold ourselves blameless, while always vilifying our opponents.
We see it even in the pages of our local papers over immigration, neither side willing to see the logic of the other, and trading accusations of “bigotry” and “political intrigues”.
We should all recognize that we need immigrants to do jobs our own spoiled children will not do, but we should also realize that immigrants must pay their dues by serving this society in the same way they always have – starting at the bottom and working their way up.
They must not be permitted to drive down our wage rates by competing with American citizens for work in any business, or any job covered by minimum wage laws.
Their purpose is to serve American society, not to subsidize the rich with cheap labor to tend their children, houses, gardens, limousines and factories.
We need them to pick lettuce, not to make it more difficult for all of us to afford lettuce!
Exemption of any job from minimum wage laws must be predicated upon the employer’s participation in some form of primary production subject to commodity market pricing. Any company who sets the price of their own product in the marketplace has no legitimate need of any form of subsidized labor, or exemption from wage laws.
Likewise, for America’s limited needs, we must allow only the best and brightest from all over the world to emigrate here, not only those who find it easiest to steal across our borders and shamelessly break our laws!
That is a very poor way of getting started paying their dues and convincing the rest of us that they deserve to be citizens.
A Swedish student or a Ukrainian doctor should have the same opportunity as any Mexican to come here and pick lettuce until they earn the right to citizenship.
I spent over 12 years doing volunteer work for my Latino brothers and sisters all over the Americas, and I resent being accused of bigotry by people who have never invested more than a short vacation in Latin America.
I know that most Latinos will make wonderful American citizens, if they are willing to put forth the effort to obey our laws and assimilate to our society; if they are not, they have no business being here.
We have no need to become the same kind of Third World economy that they are trying to escape from.
I would hope that the far left cares more for their country, and its legitimate citizens, than to give their blind support for unfettered Latino immigration purely to buy votes.
But, with the immigration policies they currently espouse, they hurt the workers and the poor people that they have always claimed to be fighting for, and help only those who have already proven they have no regard for our laws, and the wealthy people and corporations that simply do not want to pay Americans a living wage. The very people that they have always railed against!
What more are we to ascertain from this?