Ping!
Simply put, the debate in Washington isn’t about “immigration” at all – and that’s the problem.
Posted on 04/03/2006 6:27:37 AM PDT by conservativecorner
One of the most striking features of the immigration debate now raging in Washington is that none of the Democratic or Republican proposals seem to hold any appeal for ordinary Americans—which is why this debate is generating so much frustration among voters that no matter which proposal Congress adopts, the issue itself threatens to shatter both parties’ bases and dominate the November elections.
Simply put, the debate in Washington isn’t about “immigration” at all – and that’s the problem.
To ordinary Americans, the definition of “immigration” is very specific: You come here with absolutely nothing except a burning desire to be an American. You start off at some miserable, low-paying job that at least puts a roof over your family’s head and food on the table. You put your kids in school, tell them how lucky they are to be here – and make darn sure they do well even if that means hiring a tutor and taking a second, or third, job to pay for it. You learn English, even if you’ve got to take classes at night when you’re dead tired. You play by the rules—which means you pay your taxes, get a driver’s license and insure your car so that if yours hits mine, I can recover the cost of the damages. And you file for citizenship the first day you’re eligible.
Do all this and you become an American like all the rest of us. Your kids will lose their accents, move into the mainstream, and retain little of their heritage except a few words of your language and – if you’re lucky—an irresistible urge to visit you now and then for some of mom’s old-country cooking.
This is how the Italians made it, the Germans made it, the Dutch made it, the Poles made it, the Jews made it, and more recently how the Cubans and the Vietnamese made it. The process isn’t easy – but it works and that’s the way ordinary Americans want to keep it.
The Two Hispanic Groups
But the millions of Hispanics who have come to our country in the last several decades – and it’s the Hispanics we’re talking about in this debate, not those from other cultures—are, in fact, two distinct groups. The first group is comprised of “immigrants” just like all the others, who have put the old country behind them and want only to be Americans. They aren’t the problem. Indeed, most Americans welcome them among us, as we have welcomed so many other cultures.
The problem is the second group of Hispanics. They aren’t immigrants – which is what neither the Democratic or Republican leadership seems to understand, or wants to acknowledge. They have come here solely for jobs, which isn’t the same thing at all. (And many of them have come here illegally.) Whether they remain in the U.S. for one year, or ten years – or for the rest of their lives – they don’t conduct themselves like immigrants. Yes, they work hard to put roofs above their heads and food on their tables – and for this we respect them. But they have little interest in learning English themselves, and instead demand that we make it possible for them to function here in Spanish. They put their children in our schools, but don’t always demand as much from them as previous groups demanded of their kids. They don’t always pay their taxes – or insure their cars.
In short, they aren’t playing by the rules that our families played by when they immigrated to this country. And to ordinary Americans this behavior is deeply – very deeply – offensive. We see it unfolding every day in our communities, and we don’t like it. This is what none of our politicians either understands, or dares to say aloud. Instead, they blather on – and on – about “amnesty” and “border security” without ever coming to grips with what is so visible, and so offensive, to so many of us – namely, all these foreigners among us who aren’t behaving like immigrants.
The phrase we use to describe foreigners who come here not as “immigrants” but merely for jobs is “guest workers.” And we are told – incessantly – that we need these “guest workers” because they take jobs that Americans don’t want and won’t take themselves. This is true, but it’s also disingenuous. Throughout our country’s history, immigrants have always taken jobs that Americans don’t want and won’t take themselves. For crying out loud, no foreigner has ever come to our country out of a blazing ambition to dig ditches, mow lawns, bag groceries, sew clothing or clean other people’s houses. If we hadn’t always had a huge number of these miserable jobs available that none of “us” would do – there wouldn’t have been a way for immigrants throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to step off the boat and find work.
A willingness by “immigrants” to start at the bottom – so they can move up the economic ladder or at least give their kids a shot at the higher rungs – is precisely how the system is supposed to work. And it always has. (My own family is one of the tens of millions that did precisely this. My grandfather came from Poland and found work as a pocket-maker in New York’s garment district. The pay was low, the hours were long, and when the old man finally retired he could hardly move his fingers or see without thick glasses. Yet one of his sons, my uncle, became a lawyer with a fancy practice on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. His kids did even better; his son wound up chairman of Stanford University’s history department, and his daughter became a famous art critic, moved to London, and married an Englishman who became a member of the House of Lords. What is astonishing about this story is that – it isn’t astonishing. It’s the sort of thing that happens all the time, and it’s why ordinary Americans don’t want to change the system that made it possible.)
Blame the Birth Rate
One fact that hasn’t been part of the immigration debate is this: During the past two decades our national birth rate has dropped to just below the 2.1 births-per-woman replacement rate. So we really do need to “import” people because – to put it bluntly – we haven’t bred enough of them ourselves to do all the work that needs to be done in an affluent, ageing society like ours. But then, we’ve always needed “more” people to do the work we want done. And we’ve always brought them in from elsewhere – as immigrants.
Yet today we have millions of foreigners among us who have come here to work, but not to immigrate. Our politicians tell us that we must accept this because – for the first time in our history—we’ve reached that point when we need “guest workers” who aren’t immigrants to keep our economy growing. If this is true—and isn’t it odd that no one has troubled to explain why it’s true – then we must find some way to distinguish between “immigrants” and “guest workers” so that they aren’t treated the same just because they both are here. And if it isn’t true that our continued economic growth requires “guest workers” who aren’t immigrants—then the entire concept of “guest workers” that lies at the core of virtually every proposal now before Congress, including amnesty for those who are here illegally, must be abandoned in favor of something that makes sense.
Until our elected officials come to grips with the real issue that’s troubling ordinary Americans – not a growing population of foreigners among us, but rather a growing population of foreigners among us who aren’t behaving like immigrants – public frustration will grow no matter what bill Congress passes in the coming weeks. It could lead to the kind of political explosion that none of us really wants.
Herbert E. Meyer served during the Reagan Administration as Special Assistant to the Director of Central Intelligence and Vice Chairman of the CIA’s National Intelligence Council. His DVD on The Siege of Western Civilization has become an international best-seller.
I like the way you think!
During the past two decades our national birth rate has dropped to just below the 2.1 births-per-woman replacement rate.
Another elephant in the room. I believe the main reason people do not have as many kids anymore is economics, pure and simple. Too many taxes, wages stagnant, etc. When women used to have more children a family could make it on one income. I can't remember the last time I saw a family where the woman didn't work too. If staying home and raising a family was still an option for a woman, families would have more children.
Two incomes are needed to support our family plus support the illegal immigrant and his extended family.
I went to a cinco de mayo celebration at my son's school when he was in third grade. After walking around, and noticing what a good job the kids and teachers did, I went and shook hands with the principal. I then asked him what they did for Veterans day. He was kind of puzzled, and said nothing, and asked me why I asked that. I told him that I was amazed that this much effort goes into a Foreign Holiday, yet the very reason they can celebrate this holiday, the freedom they enjoy, came from the sacrifices our Veterans have made. I said all this in a very friendly tone. Ever since then, that particular elementary school puts on a very nice veterans day. All it takes is polite confrontation, and things do happen........
And add to all this the fact that we keep
hearing: Politicians are afraid of
losing a large portion of their base
if they come down too hard on illegals.
In one mindset jump, they would have us
ASSUME that those 12 million (it was
11 million a week ago)are about to
step up to the polls! And I don't
believe for one moment that EVERY
Latino/American will be emotionally
torn or upset about keeping out
illegals from south of the border
when THEY themselves came across
with valid papers. The citizens
of TX, CA, AZ, and NM, and more
recently UT have realized just
how expensive this immigration
mess has become what with all
the educational and medical
expenses these people receive gratis.
The Congress is a mess, most of them
thinking of padding their own polls
on the issue. That Jerk Durbin (Il, D)
keeps insisting we need laws to protect
the talented, mensa-rated children of
undocumented Latinos. He avoids mentioning
the illiterate Mexican, gun-toting teens
who join gangs and kill anyone caught in
their line of fire on the Chicago streets!
Durbin names ONE genius kid but avoids the
hundreds whose names appear daily on the
police blotters.
Your pic is from VJ Day.
"But, ask any school child today about the significance of May 5th and chances are the answer will be ...SeenKo-DAY-MY-O"
Probably because VE Day is May 8th.
VE day is May 8, not May 5. But I agree with you otherwise.
La Raza IS an un-American, racist group.
After all, if some white guy said "For the white race everything, for those outside the white race nothing", it would be rather obvious he was a virulent racist, right?
Ping
PING
Meanwhile, VD Day was Jan. 20, 1992.
Hope I'm wrong, but I've seen little about stopping the tsunami of illegals coming across the border.
Simply put, the debate in Washington isn’t about “immigration” at all – and that’s the problem.
Ain't that the truth!
If you want to come to America and become a citizen -- that's great!
Wait in line.
Learn to speak English.
Expect nada from the United States government or its people while you wait. No food stamps, no licenses, no schooling, no housing, no medical care, no nothing. Should Vicente Fox send us some cash for any emergency assistance, we'll be glad to help you in that circumstance.
Abide and we'll all get along just fine.
You are so right and yet to listen to the MSM and the activits, they use these terms (or their equivalents like undocumented workers) as though they are the same!! Wrong, wrong, wrong, My gtandparents were immigrants and they came here and assimilated into the US. They fought for this country and were ready to die for it. You know any illegal aliens that are willing to go and fight and die for America - think not. They are here ONLY FOR THE WAGES AND WHATEVER BENEFITS THEY CAN SCAM.
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