Posted on 05/25/2006 8:02:05 PM PDT by A. Pole
I took a long road trip last week and was delighted to hear the unanimity among conservative radio hosts in favor of halting all illegal immigration on my car radio. They also denounced President George W. Bush’s TV address a few nights before offering "guest worker" status to millions who had entered the United States without permission. I had expected these views from Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity, but was somewhat surprised by the strong language of Rush Limbaugh and Neal Boortz.
Limbaugh is a Republican Establishment icon, usually very supportive of President Bush. Yet he was praising a nation-wide grassroots conservative revolt against the GOP leadership. He said the revolt was spearheaded by city elections in Herndon, Virginia, just outside Washington, DC. On May 9, the incumbent mayor and most of the city council were replaced by candidates who opposed to the creation of a "day labor" site catering to illegal workers (and their illegal employers) that the defeated incumbents had funded. Only one of the council members who supported the site was re-elected. Limbaugh added other issues of concern to conservatives, such as failure to fight hard enough in Iraq and excessive domestic spending by a GOP-controlled Congress. But it is clear that immigration is what has the grassroots up in arms.
Neal Boortz was surprising for a different reason. He is a libertarian; an advocate of capitalism and minimal government. Most people of this ideology are for unrestricted migration, placing the desires of individual people and business firms ahead of national concerns and government policy. Yet, Boortz was extremely critical of the Senate, declaring, "By their actions our elected officials in Washington are sending us a rather strong message: We are not going to take any affirmative action to insure that the Mexican invasion across our southern border is brought to a halt. We must consider the possibility that these politicians want this invasion to continue because it serves their political needs. For the Democrats, this one is easy....to get those who were once illegal aliens, but by virtue of the amnesty program are illegal no more, to the polls to vote, presumably for Democrats. As for the Republicans? Well, there's always those heavy-duty contributors who benefit from the cheap labor offered by the invasion force."
He sounded just like Ingraham, who noted how "the business lobby [is] desperate to keep the flow of cheap labor coming into this country." Limbaugh denounced "country club Republicans." This line of criticism is not confirmed to radio. Back home on May 22, I was watching Fox News before heading to work. I was happy to hear "Fox & Friends" host E. D. Hill blame the Chamber of Commerce for lobbying on behalf of an "amnesty" in the Senate bill for employers who have hired illegal workers in violation of Federal law. They will not be subjected to fines or back taxes if their employees are eventually enrolled in a "guest worker" program (though the workers themselves will be).
In taking this stand, the Chamber of Commerce is siding with criminal firms against honest employers who have not hired illegals. When a business hires illegals, it is to gain a competitive "cheap labor" edge against other firms that obey the law and hire only Americans or legal immigrants. Most firms do not employ illegals. Even in those fields where illegals are thought to concentrate, such as construction, restaurants, agriculture, and cleaning services, they are still only a minority of the labor force. By taking the side of the illegal business sector, the Chamber is clearly favoring its growth at the expense of the rest of the economy.
And here is where the immigration issue comes into sync with another major economic issue that too many conservatives have been ignoring – the dangerous trends in international trade. In both cases, rogue corporations are pitting foreigners against Americans. Whether they bring foreign workers here, or send jobs to foreign workers overseas, these self-seeking firms are in alliance with foreign interests against American-based firms and their citizen-employees. Moving factories out of the United States is even more damaging to American society than hiring illegals, as the resulting enterprises are put completely out of reach.
The loss of millions of skilled industrial jobs, as well as managerial and technical positions, due to the de-industrialization of the American economy, sets the country up for the invasion by unskilled foreign migrants. As Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Donohue testified to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship on May 26, 2005, "of the top 10 largest job growth occupations between 2002 and 2012, all but two require less than a bachelor’s degree. At the same time, six of the top 10 growth occupations require only short-term on-the-job training. Some of these top 10 occupations that only require short-term on the-job training include: retail salespersons, nursing aides, janitors and cleaners, waiters and waitresses, and combined food preparation and serving workers."
The skill level of the American labor force is being dumbed down by foreign outsourcing and trade deficits. In addition, we allow less educated illegal aliens to enter the country and compete for the low-level jobs that are all an economy hemmed in by overseas rivals can create. And when jobs skills are dumbed down, pay and living standards are also brought down. We are in fact importing poverty.
The invasion of foreign products has taken a larger toll on the U.S. economy and society than the invasion of illegal immigrants. Last year, the U.S. imported over $1.6 trillion worth of goods produced overseas. Foreign firms are responsible for much of this assault on American industry. But it is the political influence of nominally American firms that keeps Congress from taking action to secure the U.S. border against foreign economic rivals. The Chamber of Commerce represents these new "transnational" firms that no longer feel any allegiance to the United States and have joined forces with the alien onslaught by moving their operations overseas. These arrogant firms feel they are above the law and outside the bond of patriotism. Only strong government policy, based on the truly conservative (i.e., time-tested) doctrines of economic nationalism, can educate people like Donohue that being a "man without a country" is a ultimately a dead-end choice.
Thus the grassroots rebellion against political leaders who are in the pockets of the transnationals must prevail. If the United States is to survive as a powerful nation whose people are prosperous and whose economy can support their security and preeminent place in the world, then what happened in Herndon must happen in Washington. And with the expanded agenda needed to combat illegal foreign competition in all its forms.
An EXCELLENT article and accurate analysis.
The Plutocrats and leftists in Washington have forged an unholy alliance to destroy the backbone of America - America's working class.
Its ironic that this is coming to a head on Memorial Day.
American middle class and lower class workers in military uniforms bled and died in two major wars at place as obscuree to the average American today as Chateau-Thierry and the Argonne Forest - for WHAT??
So that the plutocratic vermin who infest the halls of Congress and their allies in the White House can hand over what they fought and died for to Red Chinese Slave Labor and its military - grown fat on American export dollars, and to illegal aliens violating the sacred soil they fought so hard to protect?
Every Senator in Washington who voted for this farcical "Immigration Reform Bill" should be called to account. They should all be flushed out of office and down the drain of history into the sewer in which they belong. The names Bush and Kennedy and Feinstein and McCain should become anathema in American politics.
Americans need to wake up and take to the streets en mass, demostrating and waving American Flags upside down to signify the distress this unconscionable Senate has placed America. Those stalwart Senators who voted against this bill should be receive campaign contributions from across the nation.
And our Representatives, especially those who are wavering or disposed to support this bill, should be told in no uncertain terms their careers and jobs are on the line.
And those churches and clerics who are pushing for the violation of borders should STOP gettting our tithes. Send the money to some Christian Children's organization or to widows and orphans of soldies killed in the Persian Gulf and Iraqi Wars.
We need to act now.
I'd rather pay more to support Americans than to pay for something cheap to support China.
No, it's about protecting our country. We should support our fellow Americans. To even insinuate race here is just demeaning.
Don't get me started on what's going on in the schools. The teachers have to dummy down the work because half the kids come from homes where the parents don't speak English.
We are pulling my kids from public school at the end of this year. It's been a disastrous year.
ping
Even with all our migrant labor, our growers are discovering that foreign growers in developing countries can sell produce just as cheaply if not cheaper than we can. Case in point, Brazil can sell oranges at our markets at a price that is very competitive with our own Florida growers' and that is with a big 20 percent tariff on their produce. Florida growers now realize that their only recourse is to fully mechanize their approach to farming.We should have been forcing our growers to do this long ago.
"Thanks for the simple explanation. Now the protectionist/union position all makes sense."
Your certainly welcome. I believe that providing simple explanations of the 'protectionist/union position' is a one of the sacred duties one assumes when one takes on the 'freetraitor' mantle.
Wow. Such ignorance. If you knew anything about agricultural economics, you'd know that unskilled labor constitutes a tiny, almost negligible portion of the cost of food.
The problem is you really don't know where your money is going these days.
Even if you're sure the company is American they could be purchasing materials outside the US, using foreign labor etc.
And even if your $$$ is paying Americans, they could be taking your $$$ and buying foreign products with it.
Same here. I'd rather buy $85 shoes that last, than pay $30 and have them fall apart in less than a year.
Only problem is foreign cars etc are getting a larger and larger share of the US market, precisely because their products are as good or superior to American products.
the companies will be forced to invest in automation. for vegetable harvesting, I am sure someone can invest robotic systems that can process meats at slaughterhouses, etc.
Do not assume that a person who argues in favor of illegal immigration is the one who runs a legitimate business and never hires illegals. Do not assume that the scumbag who hires illegals doesn't argue in favor of the practice. Somebody's hiring them. Who do you think it is?
Yes, if you read that "grapes of wrath" article I linked to, there was a hint of that.
This is all about expansion of big government programs, not immigration reform, imo.
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