Sent to my Family & Friends mailing list on 2006-02-04
Greetings from sunny Mexizona.
Though this site plugs a book, it makes a valid point. After watching the flash movie, ponder this: 2005 marked the second year running that Jose has been the most used name for newborns in the state of Arizona. And Jose has been the most used name for newborns in the state of Texas for the last 18 years in a row.
(This link no longer leads where it did.) <http://usawakeup.org/HowToDestroyAmerica.htm>
I’ve been saying for years that Mexico is taking back California and the southwest. I can see a time when California will be Mexican in nationality, not just in population.
There is no denying that the flood of Mexicans and Central/South Americans into the U.S. is changing the country. The only question is whether the changes are good/neutral/bad. The author of the book plugged by the flash movie believes it is bad for the U.S. and makes some valid points. That any of you disagree with him makes them no less valid.
America rose to greatness by accepting just about everyone that wanted to come here. The key was assimilation and shared values, seeking the American Dream. In America you could work hard and provide for your family — make something of yourself — free of political and religious persecution.
But the key was assimilation. The great melting pot. America attracted the best and brightest from all over the world. The lure was simply freedom, the freedom to succeed. This was good for America.
In the not-too-distant past, America’s immigration policy required that immigrants have a marketable skill or have a sponsor who would be responsible for the newcomer. This too was good for America. But immigration policy changed to favor ‘family reconciliation.’ If one member of a family gained entry, then members of his or her family would be given preference in immigration over those with merely marketable skills and no connections in the U.S. So, for some decades now, we have been admitting immigrants with no means of support. That, I think, is not good for America. We have enough home grown Americans unable to make ends meet; we don’t need to import any.
Despite a very liberal legal immigration policy, we still get lots of illegal immigrants. (Yes, I know it’s preferred in some circles to call these ‘undocumented aliens’. Euphemisms are often employed to hide the true nature of something.) What can you say about someone whose very first moments in this country demonstrate a willingness to violate U.S. law? Will they continue to break laws or will they become productive members of American society? Only time will tell, but they are off to a bad start.
This willingness to violate U.S. law has been rewarded several times by granting amnesty to all illegals. This just encourages more people to enter the U.S. illegally. We have enough home grown American lawbreakers; we don’t need to import any.
And what is the lure now, for immigrants both legal and illegal? For some, that lure is free stuff. Welfare, food stamps, free education for their children, free medical care. Some policy makers in the U.S. believe that America owes the world a living, that our wealth is the cause of other countries’ poverty. For many illegals, making it to America is like winning the lottery, hitting the jackpot. Do you think that your taxes should be spent supporting such people? Do you owe the world a living?
It’s one thing to come to America to succeed through one’s own efforts, to earn a living. Quite another to have it just handed to you. Government provides many incentives that attract freeloaders. That’s not good for America.
The problem with illegal Mexican immigrants is the government policy towards them. Government does not provide incentives for assimilation, it does just the opposite.
By accommodating language differences, you dissuade immigrants from assimilation. One need look no further than Canada to see people in opposing camps, divided by language. It’s not that hard to imagine a separatist, Spanish-speaking California seeking to break away from the U.S. and join with Mexico. When Californians identify better with Mexico than Kansas, what would you expect to happen?
By treating peoples of different ethnicity differently, government sets us against each other, competing for the attention and largesse of government. “Affirmative Action” — a euphemism for discrimination — creates many more victims than people it helps. Affirmative Action is predicated on the belief that the problems of non whites are caused by whites. Affirmative Action will gain you a preference for being black or having a Spanish surname, no matter that you just entered America yesterday. Affirmative Action is a very divisive policy. Affirmative Action is bad for America.
Government often does things that are bad for Americans, all with the best of intentions. Being well-intended, however, makes them no less bad for American society.
Some of you reading this may think me a hateful bigot for wanting everyone to be treated equally under the law. If you think that illegal Mexican immigrants are not having a deleterious effect on Americans, you are only fooling yourself. A number of hospitals in Arizona have simply gone out of business because they could no longer afford to treat (as required by federal law) the illegals that showed up in their emergency rooms.
I know people who live along the southern border and report illegals coming onto their property, breaking into buildings, helping themselves to anything they come across and setting up camp, even butchering the livestock they find and then leaving a mess when they move on.
These are not people I want as neighbors and, I suspect, neither do you, though the more politically correct among you would deny it, even as you locked your doors.
I have nothing against Mexicans, not even the illegal ones, providing they respect the rights of others and pay their own way. But if they want to live and work in the U.S., then they should at least learn English. Certainly I would endeavor to learn Spanish if I moved to Mexico, or French if I moved to France. I would attempt to assimilate. And I wouldn’t expect hand-outs.
Differences divide. To the extent that government encourages (even celebrates) differences, it is divisive and bad for America. Government should be neutral, play no favorites. Favoring Suni over Shiite, Hutu over Tutsi, Protestant over Catholic — or black over white — leads to trouble and bloodshed every time.
Until government policies are fixed, illegal immigrants will continue to be a problem for the U.S.
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“The study of history is a powerful antidote to contemporary arrogance. It is humbling to discover how many of our glib assumptions, which seem to us novel and plausible, have been tested before, not once but many times and in innumerable guises; and discovered to be, at great human cost, wholly false.” — Paul Johnson