You'd get a lot more traction if you would tone down your name calling and condescending attitude. I read your "about page" and you make some very sensible points about immigration - I think they're wrong, but still they are well written and appear to be well thought out.
If you approached posting in the same manner, you there could be a proper discussion rather than a fire fight.
One of bayourod's forceful arguments was that illegal immigrants don't hurt hospitals - his reasoning was something along "Hospitals don't go out of business because they have too many patients, they go out of business because they don't have enough".
This argument is in no way living in reality as hospitals go out of business because patients don't pay. Hospitals are forced to provide emergency care to illegal but they have no way of collecting - this drives emergency rooms out of business.
Look, I know from your "about page" that you feel that we were all immigrants at one time and that the ones that want to crack down on illegal immigration just don't want to share the American Dream with anyone else. This isn't about being selfish, its about controlling our borders and protecting our country from the unfair trade practice of "dumping".
Mexico and the United States are two different sovereign nations. If their citizens want to immigrate to the United States, they should get in line along with everyone else. Mexico sure protects its southern border from illegal immigration - why do you think that is?
You are right. I know this and in fact I have been trying to consider my word more carefully recently. a warning from the FR founder will do that, but I find myself frustrated when I encounter much of the 'logic' I read from the other side and it manifests itself in my writing. I sometimes throw my hands in the air and diplomacy out the window. I'm not proud of it but I enjoy the sinful pleasure of condescending name calling too much to stop just because I might actually change someone's mind. I consider you a better man for keeping your dispassionate and rational tone when posting.
In my business dealings I know you attract more bees with honey than vinegar, but at FR I like to argue and sometime the argument takes on a life of its own separate from ideology.
Thank you for your kind words regarding my writing. It is a higher compliment indeed considering you disagree with my opinion.
This isn't about being selfish, its about controlling our borders and protecting our country from the unfair trade practice of "dumping".
It's about supply and demand. Latin America has lots of workers - The USA has lots of jobs. Let them enter legally and the illegal immigration will subside. You want to protect the country then let's remove illegal workers from the roles of criminals and terrorist. If the demanded workers are allowed to enter legally then they will not need to enter illegally and we can focus our attention on the drug dealers and terrorist who also seek to enter the USA illegally. The right fringe lumps them all together as illegal immigrants. The drug dealers and terrorist are not stealing anyones job, but Sensenbrenner and Tancredo portray legislation to prevent illegal workers from getting drivers licenses as a method of stopping terrorism. It is not.
If their citizens want to immigrate to the United States, they should get in line along with everyone else.
That takes years and years. It is unrealistic and inhuman to expect starving and oppressed people to die before their application is even considered. IMO The alternative to loosening the immigration restrictions is to build a trade and tourism strangling fence with towers and armed storm troopers around the land of the free and the home of the brave. I find this a unnecessary and costly and freedom stifling option.
The solution to most illegal immigration is to enforce our existing laws. This has not been done in over 30 years. All legitimate businesses obey labor laws and pay taxes for their legal and illegal employees. They file an I-9 and W2 on the employee with the federal government. Both forms require a social security number. Our government will sometime catch a faulty number and inform the employer. The employer is required to let the employee resubmit the forms with the corrected SSN. The employer is not allowed to fire a employee for submitting an incorrect SSN. As I understand it these are federal directives. I have been told this by several HR administrators. Many employers know they are employing illegals but they have submitted all the proper forms are in compliance with the law. I do not want to give business the duty and responsibility to investigate legal status. I don't want some employer making assumptions and firing an employee because the employee is hispanic and he transposed 2 numbers in his SSN. It is the governments responsibility to enforce our laws not business.
The problem is that there are so many illegals in this country with jobs and families and ties to the community and so many businesses dependent on these workers that a massive exodus of illegals is certain to cause massive economic and human carnage.
I believe if we loosen the restrictions on immigration and find a way to allow law abiding and productive illegals to stay, the damage would be minimized. Then we can enforce the existing laws. They haven't been fully enforced in 30 years. IMO A year or 2 to iron out and implement Dubya's guest worker program with lots of announcement is sensible before cracking down on illegals who have not yet registered.
Mexico sure protects its southern border from illegal immigration - why do you think that is?
I don't think you can look at Mexico and America as equals. Nor do I wish to emulate them. Why do they let their sheriffs rape 13 year old girls? Do they know something we don't? Why do they shake down the wives of tourist who die in Mexico and want the body buried back home? Maybe we should look into that as a revenue generator.
Latin America doesn't have jobs. Mainly because they don't have government that will protect investors. I see nothing wrong with accepting workers who flee to the US.
My wife has a friend who believes anyone who makes less than $100,000 shouldn't be allowed to have children. I wonder who she thinks will be her child's nanny? The daughter of affluent parents? I extrapolate this argument with the "If businesses paid a higher wage Americans would take those jobs" argument. This is laughable. Most of the unemployed are unemployable. They are drug addicts, emotionally disturbed, physically handicapped or just plain lazy. If janitors made $20 an hour, everybody else's wages and salaries would rise to that level of inflation to negate the buying power of the higher wage.
I believe freedom makes America great. There are too many stories about uneducated immigrants or children of uneducated immigrants who fought our wars, developed new technology, and created or innovated business to believe immigrants destroy our culture. They envy us. They want to be us. They are not coming to America to destroy it.