Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Bad Vibes
I don't talk much on teh politics (and how has 'teh' become such a big deal? every time I mistype 'the,' without exception, it's the other way around--'hte'), but this comment about the current immigration controversy strikes me as just right.
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2 comments:
Don't worry about the immigration bill. It didn't pass.
Besides, most Americans want hardworking immigrants who have been forced to exercise civil disobedience to become citizens like us. It's not their fault that our immigration quota is immorally low, considering the millions who want to immigrate from the south and enjoy the same freedoms that your and my ancestors did. I mean, my God, are we back to the stage of saying, "Those damn lazy Irish, Italians, etc." don't deserve to come here? And don't give me that bullshit about "legal" immigration: We used to accept all the tired, hungry and poor. Now our quotas ensure we only allow a few tired, hungry and poor. So much for our proud history.
To see what a majority (63 percent) of Americans think about welcoming immigrants, go here: http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=335.
Dude, ya gotta stay away from the Bush/Limbaugh/Republican spin, man. Oh, by the way, when does the Republican Party's de facto policy of cutting taxes, boosting the size and expense of federal government and creating huge deficits become the actual modus operandi of that party? It happened in the 80s under Reagan and now with Bush. This isn't just getting "off-track"; it's called bullshit that fewer and fewer people are going to swallow.)
Before you know it, they'll have you hoodwinked into thinking that the factual news media have a "liberal bias" and that our Founding Fathers were all fundamentalist Christians who want to take away your freedoms.
Keep the faith, man.
I have to agree with Anonymous. I completely understand the anxiety of white Americans about the influx of South American workers.
The problem is that corporate America, which controls Congress and the media, persistently presents the false paradigm that illegal immigrants are a threat. It's an argument that American wage workers, prima facie, will easily accept. I.e., they think in their heart of hearts that these foreigners will take their jobs.
The larger picture, however, is that America's ruling elite plays a duplicitous, and rigged, game. They DO want American workers to fear competitors. It is in their interest to promote the idea that workers are casual, and can be replaced at any moment. Every wage earner who believes this will inevitably conclude that higher productivity will stave off "the threat."
Of course, once American workers are maximized, any capitalist worth his salt will cash out and move on to cheaper labor overseas.
So why does American labor, at least some of the less thinking parts of it, continue to think that keeping out the immigrant threat is vital?
Don't you have faith in the American Dream? We're all just one step away from enough hard work, or a lottery number, that will elevate us to the ruling elite. Haven't we read all those stories of people "who made it." That 1 percent who made it?
In America, we're all just a dream away, a novel away, from pitying those poor 99 percent -- the sheep. Those pitiful, hopeful sheep.
Publius
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