Posted on 05/16/2007 10:25:05 PM PDT by Cacique
Many of you who know me from either my pings or past posts and FReeps may know that I do not post that often since I have been here. But recent events and what appears to be a penchant by the elites to ram changes in law and the constitution down our throats, regardless of the fact that most Americans oppose such changes has prompted me to write this about an issue I think is critical to the both the long term and short term future of this country. I am of course speaking of that farce in the senate under the guise of reform, but which is in reality a mass amnesty for people who are here illegally. Many who arguably mean to do harm to this country.
To begin with, I feel I must tell you a bit about myself and my credentials on this subject so that you understand why I urge you to act now.
I am a legal immigrant to this country who arrived here on my 10th birthday with my parents in April of 1962. I was born in Latin America and I am tri-lingual and fluent in all three languages I speak. Spanish is of course one of them. Things were different way back then, at least as far as immigration laws were concerned. My parents and I had to wait several years to be given permission to emigrate here. At that time I had both an Uncle and an Aunt living in the Unites States, a sister and a brother of my mother's. It was her wish to join them that convinced my father to move here although initially he was against it. Since there was no family reunification at the time he had to get someone else to vouch for him (so he wouldn't become a vagrant dependent on the state) and obtain employment before coming here before he would even be allowed to emigrate. My father should have had an edge due to the fact that he had served with US forces during World War II under the command of US officers in what were then known as "Slavonic" Divisions. None of that mattered, he had to stand in line like everyone else.
This picture was taken sometime in 1944, possibly on leave in London. My father is the guy on the right.
I could bore you with more details but I simply bring these things up as a reference point to what follows.
I am a political scientist by training a PhD Candidate at the CUNY graduate Center, otherwise known as an ABD. I have been involved in numerous political campaigns starting with Giuliani's first run for mayor (a race he lost to Dinkins). I have run assembly campaigns, a US Senate campaign and a US Congressional campaign. I have been active in politics for all of my adult life and have traveled the ideological road from being a committed Marxist and Stalinist in my College years to being a staunch conservative republican today. I think I know a thing or two about politics and what makes both people on the left and the right tick.
I am familiar with Latin culture not only from an academic perspective, but also from an interactive one, as I interact with all my fellow Latinos each and very day. I know what they think and I know what their attitudes are as they will tell me things they will not tell outsiders. a couple of years ago I posted a piece by Sam Huntington that I believe is a must read by all here.
Fast forward to the present and I currently live in a section in Brooklyn, New York that is by all accounts a major focus of illegal immigrants. Mostly from Mexico, Ecuador and San Salvador with a sprinkling of Dominicans and even Chinese illegals.
Very briefly I will tell you that if there is an amnesty in this country America as we know will cease to exist in less than a generation. I am totally dismayed that many countries in the West have opted to commit national suicide and we seem to have decided to join them.
The elites in Washington have decided that their short term interests trump the long term interests of the nation. The issue of immigration is NOT a democratic or republican issue. IT IS a national issue. The supporters of amnesty have narrow interests that are either economic or political short term interests without having given any thought whatsoever. The crowd in Washington goes to the same clubs, eats in the same restaurants, live in gated communities and socialize with other members of the financial and political elites. Any negative impacts on the society at large they tend to be immune from. It is clear there is a faction that is hell bent on depressing wages and attract cheap manual labor in order to compete with third world hellholes. At the same time the catholic church is salivating at the prospect of filling the pews and collection baskets in their churches. The activists in the democratic party are salivating at the prospect of another underclass they can control and exploit. All these forces have coalesced to bring about the present situation. Polls have been consistent in that over 68% of american voters oppose amnesty to illegal immigrants. Over 60% of union households oppose amnesty. Yet the elites are in total disconnect with this because they have decided the public can do nothing to stop them and will likely not do anything to penalize them later. What matters to them is the fact that corporate donors who fund their campaigns have made no bones about the fact that they want an amnesty, or more precisely they demand one.
A few myths
The excuses to support amnesty are many and varied. One is that most of these hispanics are family oriented and will become conservative. The real fact is that most illegals come from the poverty stricken lower classes. Many have relationships and children out of wedlock. The catholicism they practice is much closer to the "liberation theology" variant which is nothing more than Marxism with a God. They bring with them a deep class resentment of not only the wealthy but the middle classes and a racist resentment of whites. Latin American Christianity is also a heavy admixture of traditional pre-colombian gods and elements and would be totally unrecognizable to catholics here. The church pretends all these people are catholics so they can claim their numbers.
Democrats have a delusion that they will be able to manipulate them and garner their votes. Activists in their community are very much aware of this. Most latin american marxists are much closer to the stalinist type than the fashionista left in this country who is leftist because it's the fashion of their peers. Latinos who are marxists, are committed doctrinaire marxists much closer to the Cuban or North Korean model. They have little use for rich white kids who want to be weekend revolutionaries. They also understand that they have a greater chance of projecting power and influence if they keep their communities in control and separate. I had expected them to demand schools exclusively in spanish but they were beaten by the muslims by a hair here in brooklyn. The Madrasa in brooklyn may have been delayed but it is only a matter of time before the demands will surface again. Accusations of cultural imperialism and racism will be lodged against those that demand they assimilate. The "community leaders" know full well that any assimilation is a dilution of their power, therefore they will promote the opposite.
Any comparisons between immigrants of today and those of yesteryear are irrelevant. They were different times and the world was quite different. In 1900 an immigrant to America came on a one way trip, he knew he was not going back. Entire villages collected money for the trip to send one of their own. Passage meant at least a year's wages even in steerage. Today's immigrant is a cheap plane ticked and a few hours away from home. He arrives to a country where he can feel at home in an insular community where his language is spoken. There are radio and television stations available in his own language as well as newspapers and magazines. Mass communications means he is just a phone call away from speaking to his friends back home. The economies of scale make all of this possible in today's world. Today's immigrant is helped by modern technology to feel like he is home in any community of his compatriots abroad. And should he feel homesick it takes only a couple of week's wages and a plane ticket to return home for a visit. None of these things were available to the immigrant a century ago. Another difference is that the immigrant of a century ago came mostly from Western countries to another western country the main difference being the food and language from where he came from.
Latin America is nominally Western. The western portion resides in the main cities and among the educated. In most countries with the possible exception of Argentina and Brazil the indigenous cultures that were found by the conquistadores still exist in stark contrast to what one finds in the cities. It is those who are predominantly the "mojados" that one finds in this country, not the country club upper class that Bush hob nobs with.
Two things happened in Spain in 1492. One was the trip by Cristobal Colon. The other was the final conquest of Andalus. The inquisition was organized mainly to reconvert all those souls who were under islam for 700 years. The result is that many of the conquistadores who came here were a generation away from being muslims. They brought with them a world view much closer to islam than the view of a sophisticated catholic from Italy. The concepts of machismo, guerra sin cuarto, Caudillismo etc. are elements from the islamic period that remained a part of spanish culture in Latin America. There are a lot of parallels between Latin American culture in it's conservatism and what one would find in the middle east. This is something that needs to be kept in mind.
Assimilation is not a guaranteed phenomenon. We have currently numerous groups that have as yet not assimilated even though they have been here for over a century. I can think of the Hasidic jews for starters, or the Amish, or perhaps the Hutterites. The only difference is that their theology has nothing in it that compels them to try to conquer our lands and convert us.
Demographics
I don't think I need to write much on the birth rate factor. One can search all over the net to see the statistics. Muslims and illegals are the fastest reproducing segment of the population. As the population shifts and new groups become more numerous the power center will shift. The losers? Indigenous american indians, caucasians and blacks.
There is the lie that there are only 12 million illegals in this country. That number keeps getting thrown around as if is gospel. The fact is that we have no clue how many are here. If one takes the estimate that ten years ago there were 10,000 crossings a day at the border and extrapolates 3.5 million illegals a year then we can rest assured the 12 million figure is totally wrong. It could be as high as 35 million or even as high as 70 million. Do a search on the web and you will see that all the claims could be valid. remember the last amnesty in 1984? I do. We were promised that they would secure the borders, that the amnesty would mean that fewer people would come and that we would enforce immigration laws. Of course it was all naive and a pipe dream. Think this amnesty will stop more people coming? You haven't seen anything yet. Once people all over the world get wind of what a bunch of chumps we are they will come over in droves like we have never seen. You can't feed a crocodile and expect it to be satisfied with a morsel.
The losers
So who will lose if there's amnesty? Oddly enough most of the big losers are part of the grand democratic coalition. Union workers, their leaders only see more members, the rank and file will fall to depressed wages and downward pressures in their standard of living. Blacks will lose influence as a group and will be played off against the emerging mexican hispanic power block. Their population which reached a peak of 14% of the population is in decline and will continue to decline as illegals have more children. Women will find that the male dominated culture of machismo and the misogynist muslim outlook will make for interesting times in the future. Gays will find much less tolerance among Latinos and Muslims for their lifestyle, even from the left. They ought to get an idea at how gays are treated in Cuba to get a hint. The middle class as always will face increasing taxation to pay for all the programs and services that will be demanded by the new majorities. The elderly will find that most of the new workers brought in to prop up the welfare state will have little tolerance to pay for those on the retirement dole. That will have implications in the near future. Other hispanics, in particular Puerto Ricans and Dominicans who will find themselves elbowed out by the Mexicans. This phenomenon is already happening in the hispanic caucus and other national hispanic organizations where the divisions among hispanics are coming into the open. For many hispanics who are second and third generation americans the honeymoon is begriming to come to an end. Jews will find perhaps a rise in anti semitism. Latin America is home to a particularly virulent form that rears it's ugly head quite often. Ingrained in Spanish catholicism and fed by marxist solidarity for arabs it will always be there under the surface. Republicans and Conservatives we will be the biggest losers in this game. Most of the activists among the Mecha and Aztlan types are already forging alliances with radicals in the muslim community. We may get a few new republicans from these new immigrants, but the reality is that the class and race hatred that many of them bring with them will likely be passed on to new generations as they are in most groups.
The next stage
I could go on and write a dissertation on the subject, but that is not my purpose nor is there time for that. One side argues that we can;'t get rid of all illegals in this country. I believe they are wrong. They don't want to get rid of the illegals here. There was a time not long ago, about 15 years ago that New York was home to one of the largest communities of illegal Irish immigrants. It was estimated at the time there were upwards of half a million illegal irish immigrants in New York. An interesting thing happened though. It was the Irish miracle, the economy took a turn North and opportunities were everywhere. The result is that almost all of those half million illegals returned home. It was a matter of incentive. If you make it difficult for illegals to work in this country and punish those who hire them I guarantee you will see the phenomenon repeated again.
What is to be done?
In 1902 V.I. Lenin published a pamphlet entitled "What is To Be Done?" it was a blueprint for his political ideas on taking power. In a way, we need our own approach to this problem. The issue of immigration is an issue that affects all of us in a very likely negative way far beyond our political ideologies if we are Americans. We need to reach out and awaken all those groups that do not currently see the urgency but who will be adversely affected by the coming changes. We need a coalition of the unlikely.
We need to reach out to rank and file workers, both union and outside. This has to be a grassroots mobilization made up of individuals rather than a national organization. American Hispanics born here must understand that they are about to be elbowed out and will lose bug time. Gays must understand that if they think Jerry Falwell was bad for them, they haven't seen intolerance yet. Women must understand that any gains they may have had with regards to the workplace and society can be swept away just as easily as they have been put in place. Jews must understand that the rising anti semitism will get worse, not better.
A postage stamp an envelope and e-mail
In politics as in economics, perception is reality. The level of commitment by an opponent is gauged by his determination and how much he is willing to invest in opposing something. The anti-amnesty crowd has not been very successful because they have been disorganized and have been painted as racists and bigots as the Minutemen have. You cannot give them a target to latch onto. Responding to such attacks gives only credence to the attacker. This has to be totally a citizen to citizen uprising. If you know other Hispanics who oppose amnesty contact the. Have Black friends? Explain to them how they stand to lose out (they know already) start networking. Call all your acquaintances and friends and send them e-mails. Fear is a great motivator, it is the one thing that moves people to action and motivates them to show up at the polls.
DO NOT JUST SEND EMAILS TO YOUR CONGRESSMAN OR SENATOR. For the most part they get deleted as spam and don't have much impact. It also shows a lack of commitment and that you are lazy. INSTEAD INVEST IN POSTAGE STAMPS. There is nothing more impressive than postal service trucks showing up at congress with bags full of envelopes with paper mail.
USE THE PHONES, CALL AND CLOG THEIR LINES. ONA CELLPHONE A CALL TO WASHINGTON IS A LOCAL CALL. Faxes are a waste of time. There is a physical limit to how many faxes a fax machine can receive.
FReerepublic is the right place to start this. But we must reach out from beyond our narrow confines. Beyond conservatives, beyond republicans, beyond democrats.
Do this as if your future depends on it, because it does.
Do this as if your children's future depends on it, because it does.
Do this as if the nation's future depends on it, because it does.
SEND AN ENVELOPE WITH A PERSONAL LETTER TO YOUR CONGRESSMAN, YOUR SENATOR. CALL THE LOCAL COUNTY LEADERS. DON'T LIMIT IT TO WASHINGTON, CALL THE LOCAL POLITICIANS AS WELL. THE GOVERNOR OF YOUR STATE ETC.
YOU MUST RAISE HELL!! THE ONLY WAY TO BE HEARD IS TO YELL.
Nonsense.
Excellent article, well written, well researched. I have been saying basically the same for some time time now, but not nearly as eloquently. I have often thought until we see millions of citizens in the streets protesting or counter-protesting the May Day protests, little is going to change. That is the main reason I am supporting Hunter. As your article clearly represents, if we don’t stop this now or elect someone in ‘08 who will secure our borders; It won’t matter how fiscally responsible we are, who wins the WOT, who gives the most flowery speeches or who will cut taxes. The demographics will have changed in such a way that the “creeping socialism” will have crept, and conservatives will be on the outside, looking in. Again great article, thanks for your time and effort.
if this bill passes, there wont be a future for this Republic. It will be morphed into a Balkanized, Socialist hell. Please explain how you think "legal" immigration will be more dangerous?
That’s the first I’ve heard anything like that. Care to elaborate? Or are you going to post & run?
Sorry, if this bill passes there will be no turning back. The traitor Bush and his cohorts in congress will have set this Country on an unstoppable path to third world socialism. Neither Duncan Hunter, nor anyone else, will be able to stop the invasion. We have been sold out. What happens in Iraq or the WOT will have little influence compared to the destruction of our Country these "leaders" will have brought about. Some people may be fortunate enough to live in a part of the country less desirable to the invaders, but in the end there will be no United States of America left. This has been Bush, his father and their fellow globalists plan from the beginning. We were fools not to have seen that this was the real security threat to this Country. Frankly, I put Bush on the same level as Osama Bin Laden, but Bush will be successful in destroying this Country while Bin Laden never could have been.
Good question, and I would be willing to wager my favorite Ka-Bar that Hunter knows very well the manifold problems with the INS. I mean if an idiot like me understands. :)
When the subject of legal immigration came up, Hunter demonstrated to us that he was not up to speed on the need to reform legal immigration, which currently legalizes the status of 1.1 million people a year and the impact that this is having on the country demographically. He asked his aid to look into some of the issues we raised, especially chain migration and anchor babies.
I also asked what he intended to do about visa overstays, which are the source of about 40% of our illegal aliens, and the visa wavier program. I mentioned that there will need to be a large increase in the present bureaucracy to get this problem under control. He responded that the fence would free up additional personnel for this function, which is nonsensical to me based on my personal work experience.
The bottom line is that Hunter is good on the fence and the illegal immigration issue, but he is still a politician that supports our current legal immigration laws and recites the bromide that we are a nation of immigrants. We can't continue to take in the numbers and kinds of people that we take in now. We are sowing the seeds of our own destruction.
Interesting and disappointing report about Hunter.
“support a filibuster if that’s the only way to stop a terrible bill.”
Uh, yeah. That’s a no-brainer, isn’t it?
P.S. I loved reading your personal biography. Your life has been so interesting. Well done.
Nonsense. His district is on the Mexico border. He's been dealing effectively with both legal and illegals since the 80's.
I would still like to see him as part of the ticket as either VP or President. He is strong and knowledgeable on national security and trade issues as well as illegal immigration.
Almost no one talks about legal immigration, also a problem.
This is a bill negotiated between both parties. There's no way there will be 41 Senators to vote against cloture.
But first we must stoip the amnesty and then we can focus on getting rid of the family reunification concept that seems to baloon legal immigration.
I sent the following in the form of an email to a local radio station that put it on its website for a few days. I also sent it to my Reps in Congress.
"I enjoyed your program this morning, but I was disappointed I couldn't get on after 45 minutes of holding on the phone. I guess that is a reflection of the fact that you have a popular program and many engaged listeners.
Re the Bush Guest Worker Program: I agree with you that we don't need another guest worker program and that it won't work anyway. First, we already have many guest worker programs in the form of various visas such as H1B, H2B, TN Nafta Work visa, L-1 Intra-company Transfer Work visa, Nurse Work visa, O-1 Visa, P Visa, R-1 visa, etc. We already have millions of people working here as guest workers under those programs.
Where you and I part company is your suggestion that we increase the current legal immigration quotas to get the workers we need. We don't need to increase the number of the current one-million legal immigrants we take in annually. We do need to change the existing immigration laws that are not serving us well as a nation. We are taking in more legal immigrants than ever before, just not the ones we need to provide us with the skills and talents required to keep us competitive in the global economy.
What is going on today is unprecedented in our nation's history. Here are some facts gleaned from Bureau of the Census data that provide an indication of what is really happening:
---The 35.2 million immigrants (legal and illegal) living in the country in March 2005 is the highest number ever recorded -- two and a half times the 13.5 million during the peak of the last great immigration wave in 1910.
---Between January 2000 and March 2005, 7.9 million new immigrants (legal and illegal) settled in the country, making it the highest five-year period of immigration in American history.
---Immigrants account for 12.1 percent of the total population, the highest percentage in eight decades. If current trends continue, within a decade it will surpass the high of 14.7 percent reached in 1910.
---Of adult immigrants, 31 percent have not completed high school, three-and-a-half times the rate for natives. Since 1990, immigration has increased the number of such workers by 25 percent, while increasing the supply of all other workers by 6 percent.
---The proportion of immigrant-headed households using at least one major welfare program is 29 percent, compared to 18 percent for native households.
---The poverty rate for immigrants and their U.S.-born children (under 18) is 18.4 percent, 57 percent higher than the 11.7 percent for natives and their children. Immigrants and their minor children account for almost one in four persons living in poverty.
---One-third of immigrants lack health insurance -- two-and-one‑half times the rate for natives. Immigrants and their U.S.‑born children account for almost three-fourths (nine million) of the increase in the uninsured population since 1989.
A central question for immigration policy is: Should we allow in so many people with little education, which increases job competition for the poorest American workers and the size of the population needing government assistance? How did we get into this predicament in the first place?
Prior to 1965, the US was taking around 178,000 legal immigrants annually. In 1965, Congress replaced the national origins system with a preference system designed to unite immigrant families and attract skilled immigrants to the United States. With these changes and some subsequent ones, the result was that most of our legal immigrants now come from Asia and Latin America, and not Europe. Chain migration designed to unite families has also brought in aged parents, children, uncles, etc., many of whom are not contributing to our society and in fact, require more social services. Even with quotas in certain immigration categories, we are now legalizing the status of over one million people annually and millions more are waiting in lines overseas for their turn to come in. Chain migration has also changed the "mix" of immigrants, making it less diverse.
Mexico accounts for 31 percent of all immigrants, with 10.8 million immigrants living in United States, more than the number of immigrants from any other region of the world. Immigrants from Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean account for the majority of immigrants, with 54 percent of the foreign‑born coming from these areas. Of those who arrived 2000 to 2005, 58 percent are from Latin America. This lack of diversity has hindered assimilation and could well result in the Balkanization of the country by language and culture.
We need a rational, sensible immigration policy for many reasons, some of them economic and some of them cultural, i.e., the ability to assimilate these massive numbers into our society . Since 1970, the population of the US has increased by 100 million; since 1990; by 53 million; and since 2000 by 20 million or the equivalent of our six largest cities. The Bureau of the Census projects that we will have 364 million by 2030 and over 400 million by 2050 with one-quarter of the population being Hispanic. The annual arrival of 1.5 million legal and illegal immigrants, coupled with 750,000 annual births to immigrant women, is the determinate factor— or three-fourths— of all U.S. population growth. These additional people will require infrastructure [roads, water, electricity, gasoline, etc.], and impact our schools, hospitals, social welfare systems, penal system, etc. Couple these increases with an aging US population faced with entitlement programs about to go belly-up in 10 years and you have some serious public policy issues that could threaten the future of this country.
Just as Social Security is the third rail of American politics, so is real immigration reform. No one really talks about decreasing the numbers of legal immigrants or changing the laws to give us a system that acts to benefit this country in terms of supplying us with people who will contribute economically to our national well-being. We are after all a "nation of immigrants" and our politicians and others speak as though we have gone through all of this before. No one is against legal immigration, and some even want to increase the numbers. The real fact is that we are taking in unprecedented numbers of legal immigrants and when you add an additional 500,000 to one million illegal aliens annually, you have a recipe for disaster.
I compare what is happening in terms of immigration to the oft-repeated example of boiling a frog who is put in a pot of cold water with the heat slowing being increased until the frog realizes too late that it is being boiled alive. Eventually, the American people will realize what is happening. It will come down to whom do you believe, the political elites' spin or "your own lyin' eyes."
Chris, you have been one of the few in the mainstream media who get it when it comes to immigration issues. As you correctly mentioned, the illegal immigration problem is easier to correct than the issues surrounding legal immigration. To me, the greater problem is legal immigration and our existing laws that contain the seeds of our own destruction. America is the world's lifeboat, the best hope of Man, but there are limits to the numbers we can bring onboard without swamping us. We already take in more legal immigrants than probably the rest of the world combined. We need, as a country, a public policy debate on this issue--a debate not marked by demagoguery and name calling. Cheers
I fear you may be right. McConnell is my Senator and he has schooled The Dems once already. Gonna see if I can’t find what course he intends taking on this.
Ok, I see you have primary source material to report. I’m going to ping Duncan Hunter’s son, Sam, who is also a freeper with the screenname Duncan Hunter Ambassador to see if we can get a response on LEGAL immigration such as H1B visas.
Fascinating.
I had never heard this discussed, although I had heard that many of the early settlers from Spain were Marranos/Conversos, who quickly moved to the frontier in New Mexico to secretly practice Judaism.
But back to the subject: Have Stamp:Will Write.
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