Immigration: Ten Points to Ponder

1. Why is it that no one seems to notice, much less ever mention, that the World Bank and the IMF have implemented economic measures that have left large sections of their populations unemployed and destitute? (The illegals are not doing this, you see, but this population is easier to attack and is more defenseless than the World Bank and the IMF.)

2. Why is it that no one seems to notice, much less ever mention, that the effects of NAFTA have backfired driving more than six million Mexican farmers off their land?

"The powerful have insisted on trade policies that allow capital to go wherever it will generate more profit. But there has not been a parallel change in the rules regulating the movement of labor. Circumstances force tens of millions to try to emigrate, but they are not allowed to do so legally. Having no choice, they do so anyway."[1]

3. Why is it that no one seems to notice, much less ever mention that,

"In one wealthy country after another, there has been an "anti-immigrant backlash". Even European countries heretofore famous for their tolerance of outsiders have banged the door shut, or are talking about doing so. Anti-immigrant movements and organizations have arisen in all the wealthier countries. Spectacles of fascist skinheads beating up immigrants or torching homes thought to harbor foreign-born people have become commonplace. In the United States, the current anti-immigrant rampage comes from the same sources that support the Bush administration, and the initiation of the Iraq war. These same forces attack affirmative action, social welfare and democratic rights. This anti-immigrant movement cloaks itself in a suspect concern for the well being of US-born workers."[2]

4. Why is it that no one seems to notice, much less ever mention that,

"The anti-immigrant juggernaut has both ideological and practical dimensions. The ideological attack focuses on Mexican immigrants. Basing themselves on seemingly plausible statistics, anti-immigrant activists assert that immigrants compete for jobs with African Americans and other poor and minority sectors of the working class. Well-meaning people who are sympathetic to immigrants sometimes counter by saying that "immigrants only take jobs that Americans don't want." But this defense is limited. It is easily countered by the anti-immigrant response "well if immigrants were not so readily available and easily exploitable, those employers would have to make the jobs more attractive by cleaning up the workplace and offering better pay".[3]

5. Why is it that no one seems to notice, much less ever mention that,

"The fact is employers hire the undocumented precisely because they can pay them less, prevent them from unionizing, and get rid of them when better pay is demanded. However, the solution is not to try to deport immigrants (which will weaken their position even more), but to allow them to organize and fight for better wages and working conditions. If the eight to 12 million undocumented immigrants currently thought to be in the United States were all deported, what would one have accomplished? In the world of corporate globalization, "competition" from desperately poor workers in foreign countries is a much more powerful tool for dragging down wages than is "competition" from immigrants. If all undocumented immigrants from Mexico currently working in the US would be "rounded up" (A racist phrase if ever there was one) and "sent back," it would cause a significant drop in wages in Mexico, which would make Mexico an even more attractive place for capitalists to move production."[4]

6. Why is it no one seems to notice, much less ever mention that,

"A novel twist in racist anti-immigrant propaganda is to portray immigrants as a threat to the environment. This refers not only to things like littering on desert pathways immigrants use to enter the United States, but to the issue of "overpopulation" as well. The littering on the border would not happen if there were an orderly mechanism of labor movement."

7. Why is it that no one seems to notice, much less ever mention that,

"The United States is not "overpopulated". In fact, most of the countries that send immigrants are much more densely populated than is the United States. This has not prevented anti-immigrant agitators from trying to use sectors of the environmentalist movement, such as the Sierra Club, as mechanisms to promote their anti-foreign agenda."[5]

"America has traditionally had one of the lowest proportions of immigrants in the developed world. Just 6 percent of people in the U.S. are foreign born, compared with, for instance, 8 percent in Britain and 11 percent in France."[6]

The argument that the U.S. is over populated is a bogus one. America has 68 people per square mile. France has 256 and Britain over 600 per square mile.

AMERICA IS NOT OVER POPULATED!

8. Why is it that no one seems to notice, much less ever mention that,

"Relatively new is the tendency to blame Mexican immigrants specifically for the crisis in health care and health insurance coverage in the United States. Steve Camarota of the Center for Immigration Studies points out, correctly, that a large portion of the uninsured working poor are immigrants, especially Mexicans and other Latinos. Why poor immigrant workers don't have health insurance is no mystery: employers can get away with denying them on-the-job health coverage, and with paying them too little to afford to purchase family policies, because immigrant workers are vulnerable to employer reprisals when they demand better wages and benefits. However, Camarota gives the impression that these immigrants somehow brought "lack of health insurance" with them in their suitcases when they came from Mexico. If they were legalized and allowed to become citizens, they would be less vulnerable and more able to fight for better conditions both in the workplace and the community."[7]

9. Why is it that no one seems to notice, much less ever mention that,

"Particularly obscene is the notion that immigrants are polluting US culture and threatening the English language. This is the central thesis of Samuel P. Huntington's book Who Are We: The Challenge to America's National Identity. Huntington asserts that the United States was founded by white Anglo-Saxon Protestants who imparted certain cultural values particular to their background to nation building. Latino immigrants can't adapt and thus damage the United States. In his scholarly way, Huntington expresses the old know-nothing anti-foreign position. Most people who make this claim cannot specify just what these special white Anglo-Saxon Protestant cultural values are that are so essential to democracy and lacking in foreigners. But if it means an adherence to democracy and freedom, this characteristic is at a very high level in most immigrant populations. And while first generation immigrants may struggle with English, their children almost always speak it as fluently as do other English speaking Americans. So this argument boils down to simple nativist bigotry."[8]

(This is one of the many irrational arguments that Mimuteman Guru Frosty Wooldridge makes in one of his "articles". He claims ALL Mexicans "Legals or Illegals" are BRUTALIZING American student with Spanish.[9])

10. Why is it that no one seems to notice, much less ever mention that,

"So deep is the racism of the right-wing think tanks that they even go after erstwhile allies like Mexico is President Vicente Fox. Incredibly, immigration from Mexico is seen as a conspiracy headed by Fox to take back by stealth lands Mexico lost between 1836 and 1848. In 1836, Mexico lost Texas to an intrigue by pro-slavery US settlers. In 1846, the United States invaded Mexico without provocation and made off with Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Nevada. In 1852, Mexico lost another piece of Arizona in the shady Gadsden Purchase. Thus in the 19th Century, Mexico lost more than 60 percent of its national territory to US aggression and pressure. While this is remembered in Mexico and generally not here, there is no serious political movement there that calls for the restoration of this territory."[10]

[1] http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/view/995/1/90/
[2] Ibid
[3] Ibid
[4] Ibid
[5] Ibid
[6] I'm a Stanger Here Myself; Bill Bryson; Broadway Press: page 107
[7] http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/view/995/1/90/
[8] Ibid
[9] http://www.newswithviews.com/Wooldridge/frosty59.htm
[10] Ibid

Freelance writer, Syndicated Columnist, and book author, Doug Bower, has written a compelling new book titled, AMERICA'S ANTI-MEXICAN XENOPHOBIA. Have you wondered if the Minuteman Project is really on the "up and up"? Have you wondered if they represent all that is good and right with America-paragons of patriotic virtue? Doug Bower may have the answers you've been looking for. FREE CHAPTER: http://www.lulu.com/content/140958

---

Top 30 Politics Quotations

"It is the duty of every citizen according to his... Read More

Monitoring Macedonia

Close to 500,000 people - one in four - live... Read More

The British Sikh Army

Britain has a proud tradition of valiant armed forces and... Read More

Confession of a King

Rufus King: (Said to be the fifth most important person... Read More

Elliot Spitzer for NY Governor

I believe it would be good for the economy for... Read More

Pilot-Less and High Speed Train Transportation Systems; Better Strategy Needed

We recently saw another ferry accident, this one in NY... Read More

Is Congress Going to Lay the Groundwork to Include Education with the Steroid Legislation?

As of late steroid use in sports has been the... Read More

TSA Missteps at Our Airports

The TSA seems to have completely missed the ball at... Read More

Social Security Rant

As the Baby Boomer Generation continue to get older, one... Read More

Farming Human Clones

If someone wanted to farm future clones they would need... Read More

How Bill Cosby got it Wrong

Bill Cosby got it wrong. His many speeches regarding the... Read More

Al-Qaida has Nukes

Many believe Al-Qaida already has nukes in the United States... Read More

Colonel Boyd on Limited War and Iraq Victory

In discussing the OODA Loop theory on Limited War by... Read More

Did 9-11 Change Everything for the Business Community

For the business community 9-11 changed everything. In our company,... Read More

Defending Middle Eastern Oil Refineries and Assets

An idea to defend oil infrastructure in the Middle East... Read More

Should Farmers Plant GM Terminator Seeds?

If a farmer plants the same crop three seasons in... Read More

Plastics In Our Nations Dumps and Landfills

Long Term Environmental Effect of Plastics, Composites and Other Materials... Read More

Mexicanizing America

A friend of mine, who lives in the thick of... Read More

Political Correctness got you down?

I hear it all the time; you can't say that.... Read More

A Deal Made With Ireland

SYNOD OF DRUM CEATT (494 - 5):It is interesting to... Read More

Paid Assassins

The civil war in Iraq seems to be much more... Read More

Is This All There Is?

In today's Rants from Lance session I address the question... Read More

Common Sense vs. Common Senseless - How Thomas Paine Can Be Applied To Modern Day; Part Two

The cause of America is in a great measure the... Read More

Great Melting Pot Indeed

An interesting conversation that I thought I must share with... Read More

The Politics Of The American Dream

The American Dream is the promise to have it all... Read More

Why One May Not be able to Locate Your Lost Money in the States Unclaimed Property Database

With respect to the States' databases, you may not locate... Read More

A Trade War is brewing; Are We Paying Attention

Incompetence is all too obvious at the trade shows of... Read More

Rule of Thumb For Exporting Technology

Rule of Thumb for exporting technology. The American People need... Read More

What Did You Do In The War Daddy?

This is the first of a series of four articles... Read More

End Time Clock Ticking Away?

Earlier this month, I heard President George W. Bush and... Read More

Think You Dont Need A License for A Wireless Microphone? Think Again

Believe it or not, every theatre, church, or Britney Spears... Read More

The Self-Appointed Altruists

Their arrival portends rising local prices and a culture shock.... Read More

Let me throw out a random thought on Homeland Security Leadership Structure

Streamlining Homeland Security with a Free market flair? An idea... Read More