Viva Bush! Viva los Estados Unidos!
Dubya proposes meaningful reform to stoopid American imigration policy.
At last, at long, long last, someone in Washington has the huevos to finally overhaul our outdated, unfair, mechanical, and unrealistic immigration policies.
Of course, there are detractors. I heard a quite a handful on talk radio today. tsk-tsk
And what surprises me from the comments I've seen so far is that this debate is limited predominantly to jobs, jobs for Nativists, whether Americans are loathe to take jobs, etc. It's always about low-paying jobs and whether Americans want them or are entitled to them, or yadda yadda yadda. It gets old people.
A rite of passage for males in my family is a heaping dose of seasonal agricultural work (cantaloupes), and, while I can't speak for all years, my time in the fields was punctuated by the singular curiosity my colleagues had for me working there.
Many times I was asked, "So, uh, why are you working here? You're American. Can't you get a better job?"
"It's a family thing."
"That's good. "
Some see the new policy as a reward for breaking the law while others see a cynical attempt to pander to the Hispanic vote. Personally, I think the laws are misguided and criminalize the very behavior we would other laud: entrepreneurial risk and optimism. Be that as it may, this line of thought, while the main thread in any discussion of immigration policy, ignores some rather important (and sticky) details that all Americans can relate to:
By allowing illegal immigrants to become legal via a temporary visa program, their new legal status protects Americans. And I don't mean that in a far-fetched homeland security kind of way. All of the little details of life that are affected by one's legal status, which impact the rest of us, are resolved for these people.
Consider car insurance. You can't get insurance unless you have a driver's license, which is now possible for the undocumented workers. Insurance premiums will go down (or at least, their growth will be somewhat arrested) as millions of previously uninsured drivers take out car insurance. Moreover, the cars that they drive could be registered, as they are legal in the country now. And while this might hurt some seizure-based revenue streams for local police entities, I think that on balance, the safety and lowered expense that would come from this new policy is worth much more than a couple shiny new police cruisers.
And what about the "free health care" for illegals bogeyman? We need fear it no longer, since once their legal status is normalized, undocumented workers can get health insurance just like everyone else -- through their employer, who, I might add, cannot currently offer health insurance.
Have you ever lived life by cash alone? Undocumented workers do. Under the new policy, they could now open bank accounts, get credit cards, seek loans, get financing, etc., and have written records of their transactions, because, let me tell you, one of the greatest targets for fraud, racketeering, and extortion are illegals -- after all, where can they seek redress?
These are but a few examples of how this policy will change lives -- not just of the workers -- for the better. I have always found it grotesque that otherwise sober people would willingly allow the development of a new strata of second-class citizens in the United States, because, in spite of all of the good they do for our nation, undocumented workers jumped the line. That's right, let's have 8 million people live in a shadow economy that is inefficient, costs us all money in additional costs in innumerable ways, and encourages predatory behavior. Let's have people live in fear. Gee, that's the American dream.
But about this jobs thing. To you loser Nativists who are worried about waves of lean and hungry immigrants poised to take your job, I've got two words for you: Learn to f*cking type. Or better yet, for you ambitious types, I'm sure that you've seen on TV that "You can get your specialized associates degree in Business Management or Accounting!" You're an American. There is no loafing in America. If what you really want is job security why don't you just move to France?
The business of America is business and if you can't keep up, get out the f*cking way.
That's because there is someone else ready to step in and really do something amazing with the space you're taking up right now. You have a duty -- an obligation -- to yourself to be educated, to get job skills, and to keep learning for your sake, your family's sake, fer chrissake. If you are OK with resigning yourself to going through the motions of life that's your loss, but don't take it out on undocumented workers. They just want to strive for what you have given up on: success.
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