Occasionally there has been a major (depending on your perspective) news item that justified blogging about, but I’ve given said item token or no attention to for the fact the item fell into my “I don’t really give a shit” category. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you’ll know it isn’t often I am spellbound over what captivates the rest of America, or at least what the media has deemed relevant. Quite the contrary, I often find such “news” to be irrelevant and if ignored, in my feeble little head, the item should lose its relevance altogether. Most times, much to my chagrin, this is not the case.
However, a recent Arizona law is causing quite an uproar. It has to do with curbing illegal immigration, which in its own way, is helping bankrupt the last admitted of our forty-eight Continental States. The controversy, from what I’ve read, centers on the over-the-top, carte blanche racial profiling given to law enforcement authorities in their quest to identify illegal aliens. Welcome to the 21st century.
Reactionaries applaud this ill conceived legislation. Ultra-conservatives view the law as a step in the right direction. Level headed individuals see it as an oppressive violation of civil rights bordering on Nazism. Okay, maybe not Nazism, but close. I see it as a misguided, knee-jerk, short-sighted band-aid for a compound fracture. This is what happens when the smartest people choose to go into business rather than public service. This is what a poor education system breeds, as well as feeds on. This is my opinion, and we know what they’re like. Fill in your favorite vulgar analogy here.
There are several large concepts at work here that I will try to explain. Many of you won’t agree, but I don’t particularly care. I’m writing this and you’re not.
The topic of immigration is as old the country itself. The first bit of legislation was enacted in 1790, and government has been writing more expansive pieces ever since. Immigration is one of the great paradoxes of our democratic, capitalistic society. Our original predominantly white culture while wanting to open their borders and hearts to all those economically, ideologically, and religiously oppressed, didn’t want all these immigrants using up all the resources. They believed landownership to be virtuous but not at their expense. They believed in the Calvinist work ethic as long as it wasn’t something they didn’t want to do. That stuff could, and should be done by slaves; or at least the urban and rural poor who lacked the education to make a real go of it in this new bastion of “freedom.”
If any of these immigrants were industrious enough to scrape together a couple of bucks while starting at the bottom and working their way up, were lauded for their efforts. Though these exceptions to the rule were few and far between, they became symbols of what this country stood for, and the possibilities it held for “anyone.”
Long before Lincoln passed the Emancipation Proclamation, industrialization brought the first waves of immigrants from Europe. America needed the disadvantaged to mine coal and iron ore, and toil in sweatshops. “Natives” shouldn’t have to do the back-breaking work. That’s what the Irish, German, and Scottish were for. As Daniel Day-Lewis’ character “Bill Cutting” said so succinctly in Gangs of New York, “What the white man did for a quarter, the nigger did for a dime, the Irish will do for a nickel.” This referred to the notion that immigrants took jobs away from “Natives.” Next, America began fulfilling the concept of Manifest Destiny. The Transcontinental Railroad and the discovery of gold saw an influx of Chinese immigrants to do the unappealing work laying rails and hauling dirt from mines. When the Chinese started to mine on their own claims, and the last spike was driven, legislation was passed to stop Chinese immigrants from entering into the U.S.
The beginning of the twentieth century saw Italians and Eastern Europeans coming over by the boatload. That is until the rise of communism. Then more legislation was passed for fear our shores were besieged by communist sympathizers. Twenty-two major pieces of immigration legislation were passed between 1790 and 2005. There have been dozens of other lesser laws enacted as well.
Between April 15 and October 31 of 1980 America witnessed the Mariel Boatlift. This wave grabbed the attention of U.S. citizens to the Hispanic (for lack of a better term) immigration issue that had existed for years in states bordering Mexico. “All of a sudden” immigration became “a problem.” I am unclear on both the suddenness and the problem.
As I see it, immigration is not a problem but an issue. It has been anything but sudden. If you don’t like immigration, you do the work Hispanic immigrants do and accept what they get paid. As far as the legality of these immigrants; I believe this is an economic problem.
Think of the industries employing illegal immigrants. The McDonaldized farms, the sweatshops that still remain so prevalent; the lawn care industry, both housing and commercial construction work to name just a few. How about the caregivers, cooks, and cleaning women of the affluent? Aren’t they just as much at fault as large employers? Think of any industry that can employ anyone who will work for any wage where the employer doesn’t have to contribute into the system these workers eventually wind up exploiting. See anything wrong with this picture?
Greed is a powerful emotion. It is what I believe to be a driving force with the entire immigration problem. Companies will hire illegals (again, for lack of a better word) so they can make more profit. Companies don’t have to make any social system contributions as well as state and U.S. government taxes on behalf of their illegal employees. They can pay lower wages because no one else will do the work. Intimidation serves as the great motivator. If an illegal thinks their treatment is unfair, the threat of being deported hangs over their heads.
In turn, approximately twenty million illegals become a burden to American social systems without contributing a dime. I have a suggestions, make that several suggestions. Call me an idealist.
Instead of looking to deport- at huge expense- all of the illegal immigrants, let’s come up with a feasible amnesty program for those that are here. Since they are quite willing to do the shit work, I say stay, but you better fucking pay. This would entail companies to recognize illegals within their employ and make the necessary matching contributions. Tough shit if this cuts into the bottom line. Relative cheap labor remains, while dollars start coming in for taxes and social services. How can we do this assuming amnesty is granted? Let the IRS do the profiling. Target companies in industries like the ones previously stated that commonly hire illegal immigrants. The IRS should maybe do these audits in person so nobody has a chance to cook their books, or purge themselves of illegals.
The illegal immigrants should owe America a debt of thanks if they’re not too greedy. No more free health care for you. No more social services. The taxes you now pay in would help educate your children. But there is one small favor to ask, stop sending money back to the country you came from. If you still have family there, pay for them to come to the U.S. where they can be processed into the system legally once you who are here have obtained work for your relatives. Don’t bring them here to plop their asses in Barc-o-loungers. Don’t send money back to your country of origin in order to improve your lifestyle after you’ve taken what you wanted from America and return to your homeland. Under this proposal, you’ve been given a tremendous opportunity, don’t ruin it for others.
Oh, and you wealthy who hire illegals as domestics, you’ll have to pay in too; you can afford it. Besides, if they’re live-ins you can claim them as deductions on your taxes.
Is this idealistic, of course; is it doable, probably not. However, it’s better than the S.S., I’m sorry; I meant law enforcement, rooting out illegals for deportation. So Arizona legislature, put your collective diminutive brains together and come up with something better. And you constituents, wake up, don’t be show your ignorance by letting people like Glenn Beck tell you what to think because he believes you can’t think for yourselves. There is a viable solution and the one before you isn't it.
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
' With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
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