In addition, a growing nationalism has been wrought by the passage of time between the formation of our country and the present generations which has fashioned a kind of emotional and intellectual “distancing” from the principles and intentions of the Founders that is, I believe, also fueling this “feeding frenzy”.
Allow me to explain:
It is an extremely difficult thing for us -- products of the 20th and 21st centuries -- to get in touch with the mind-set of the Framers of the Constitution and the Founders of these United States because we are over 200 years removed from them but, in example after example of their writings and speeches, they speak of America as becoming the ONE PLACE ON EARTH where the displaced, the oppressed and the poor “refuse” (as the quote on the Statue of Liberty states) from countries all over the globe could come and receive justice, fair treatment and a chance to “make something of themselves” that was better than any chance they would have had in their native lands…
The words etched upon the base of “Lady Liberty” don’t say “come here only if we don’t have to help you along” or “come here only if you are well-educated, well-skilled and promise to speak only English at all times”. It speaks of the “wretched”, the “downtrodden”, the “huddled masses yearning to breathe free”…
The reason why the Founders sympathized so with the plight of immigrants is because they, themselves, were immigrants (as my mother used to say) “thrown out of most all of the decent countries in the world at that time”. For the most part, they were poor, uneducated, members of the lower classes in the countries they came from or religious and/or political fanatics. Many of them even started out in this country as prisoners, indentured servants and slaves. . .
A high percentage of those of us who are presently living in the United States (myself included) were born here and are the products of second, third, fourth, fifth (or even more) generations of Americans. As such, we seem to have completely lost touch with one of the main reasons why this country is (and was meant to be) so different from all of its predecessors.
It was meant to be a country where people from all over the world could come and live together under the principles of justice, fairness, equality and opportunity while retaining (or adopting) whatever religions, customs, pursuits, practices, opinions and political views suited them best.
As such, the United States HAS no “official” religion, language, or orthodoxy. . . By pure definition, it encompasses ALL religions, languages and orthodoxies. This diversity is by design and should not be the source of our shared embarrassment or our collective rancor but, rather, our GREATEST NATIONAL PRIDE because the moral and social principles of OUR government place it, alone, above ANY OTHER NATION IN THE WORLD.
At various times in our history as a nation, different ethnic groups have arrived upon our shores en masse after experiencing various calamities in their own countries. The Dutch and the English arrived here in the mid-1600s and the early 1700s due to the religious persecution being perpetrated upon them by their governments at that time. The Irish arrived here in the 1840s after their infamous “Potato Famine”. The Germans, the Polish and many other Central Europeans arrived here in the 1850s, the early 1900s and the late 1930s due to the conflicts occurring in Europe at those times. The Africans arrived here, for the most part, as slaves in the 16 and 1700s. The Vietnamese and Cambodians arrived here in the 1970s after the Viet Nam War and the fall of South Viet Nam to Communism and, in the last 20 years we have seen an influx of Central Americans due to bloody revolutions in their countries and Mexicans because of the ruinous financial state in that country brought on, for the most part, by corruption within their government.
My point is that each massive influx of other nationalities has brought with it social “growing pains” when those who were already here had to make adjustments in their traditional views and outlooks to accommodate the new-comers and, each time that happened, there was a backlash by certain segments of our population that did its best to degenerate the situation into opportunities for discrimination, prejudice and oppression.
To use my own family tree as an example, my paternal German ancestors were shunned by the native Texans they encountered when they arrived there in the 1850s. My gosh! They spoke a strange language and actually wanted to build churches that prescribed to a different doctrine than their Baptist neighbors!
On the other side of that same branch of my family tree were my Irish ancestors who arrived on the shores of this country in the 1840s starving and with absolutely no money or savings with which to support themselves.
In those cases -- and the cases of all of the other immigrants who came here -- to their credit, they saved, worshipped and managed to build homes and lives for themselves here in this wonderful “melting pot” of the United States with hard work and determination and they were able to do it because this place is so unlike anyplace that came before it. . .
So we come to the “immigrants du jour”, the Mexicans. . .
First, let’s make certain that we’re putting the proper “label” on this discussion. . .
So that we make no mistake about it, when we hear the legions that we hear every day speaking about “illegal aliens”, what they’re REALLY talking about is "Mexicans". There are those who would argue the point but, in truth, the number of other alien groups that could be considered “illegal” are negligible at best. It is the Mexicans that are the brunt of this latest wave of persecution -- just as were the Irish, Germans, Polish and all of the others that came before.
Jean’s First Law of Logic:
When people seek to “disguise” the real subject of what they’re talking about, it should give all who hear it cause for concern and suspicion.
The people who speak of the “Mexican problem” (for, remember, that is what is really being said here) usually have several points upon which their argument rests. Let’s look at these points one by one, shall we?
Mexicans are taking jobs away from American (sic) citizens who need them.
First of all, just to clarify, “Mexicans” ARE “Americans”. . . They aren’t even “South” or “Central” Americans -- they are “North Americans” by pure definition just like ourselves and the Canadians are.
Secondly, you’ll find almost exclusively that the people making this argument aren’t -- by some amazing coincidence -- even employed in the industries most affected by so-called “illegal” immigrants. You’d be extremely hard-pressed to find even a handful of farm workers, motel maids, bus boys, clothing factory workers or gardeners making this statement… No. Precious few, if any, of the people who make this statement have EVER sought employment in these fields or ever intend to. . .
Jean’s Second Law of Logic:
When people who have little or no familiarity with the subject they’re talking about seek to speak for people who do, it should give all who hear it cause for concern and suspicion.
I have worked in some of these fields. . . As a matter of fact, I have held middle-management positions in the agricultural field where I was responsible for hiring and firing hundreds of people in jobs of the type wherein one would most likely find a high percentage of Mexicans (and high percentage of “illegal” Mexicans, as well) and I can tell you that, out of the 50 employment applications sitting on my desk at any one time, an average of only about FIVE of them were NOT Mexicans -- and four of those were from El Salvador.
You will find, if you care to really research the situation, that my experiences are the norm throughout every, single one of the job families that employ large numbers of Mexicans -- some of which I mentioned earlier. Contrary to what those with little or NO experience in the matter say, I can assure you that there are NO HUGE LINES of natural-born citizens of this country breaking down the doors of employment agencies or personnel departments eager for their chance to pick grapes, make-up beds or wash dishes. THEY SIMPLY DON’T EXIST!
As a matter of fact, already, a semi-crackdown on "illegal aliens" has caused several fruit growers here in California (and other places, as I understand it) to PLOW UNDER orchards of pears, apples and grapes that have stood for almost a century because they can find NO LABORERS TO HARVEST THEIR CROPS!
If or (God forbid) when those advocating the immediate exportation of the Mexicans have their way, it will be only the beginning of a huge downward spiral that will end only when:
1) Produce, clothing, services such as those performed by janitors, farm workers, maids, gardeners, etc. are non-existent, or,
2) These items become SO EXPENSIVE that they can only be obtained by the very rich.
If we are forced to depend upon “native-born” labor to harvest our produce, be prepared to pay $15 a piece for avocadoes at the grocery store soon. After those who seem to want to place way too much blame upon the "red herring" of "illegal aliens" for the financial crisis we are now experiencing that has been caused more by sending most of our low-skill-level jobs offshore for the tax breaks and low operating costs this practice affords the very, very wealthiest class in this country have their way, make no mistake, that’s what it will come to. . .
But, huge, conglomerate, agri-businesses are exploiting cheap, illegal labor to make themselves rich!
I believe you will find -- if, again, you really want the truth -- that most of the "big growers" (true, huge, corporate agriculture-based conglomerates) have long since either already converted to (or are in more than the introductory phases of converting to) mechanized harvest methods simply because they are the ones with the money to do so. In most cases, this has all but ELIMINATED their utilization of masses of illegal labor.
The truth is that it is the smaller, family-oriented, even "boutique" growers whose profitability is the more dependent upon hand methods and NOT their corporate counterparts.
Mexicans that are here illegally are costing us billions of dollars in social welfare programs and health care and they pay practically nothing in taxes or social security!
I can assure you that the number of "illegals" receiving welfare is practically non-existent because of the scrutiny that social service departments render to producing proper "paperwork" and, even if it was NOT practically non-existent, the amount of money "donated" to F.I.C.A. (Soc. Sec.) by "illegals" who will never EVER collect retirement benefits in this country, would MORE than offset it... WAY more... Most Mexicans who come here to work “illegally” simply return to Mexico when their working days come to an end. They do NOT collect Social Security benefits because there is NO SOCIAL SECURITY IN THEIR COUNTRY!
Income taxes are somewhat "easy" to get out of if one desires to by claiming many dependants on one's W-2; HOWEVER, Social Security payments don't work that way! I can assure you that employers (ESPECIALLY those who employ illegal workers) DO NOT WANT the scrutiny of the Federal Government and will do WHATEVER THEY MUST to avoid it -- and there are few infractions that would bring that unwanted scrutiny down upon them FASTER than NOT maintaining quarterly deposits into FICA accounts!
Social Security is going downhill FAST (mostly because it now pays for conditions and situations that it was never meant to pay for) but, it is not suffering because of the Mexicans who are here illegally, in truth, it’s probably the payments that they are now making into it and not collecting on that is keeping the whole thing afloat right now! Eliminate their contributions and I’m afraid the Social Security benefits we now enjoy would evaporate in short order. . .
The influx of illegal aliens is overburdening our hospitals and health care systems!
Hospitals in this country are indeed in trouble but, the percentage of that problem caused by "illegals who don't pay their bills" can't even come CLOSE to matching the deficit that has been caused by our appalling lack of health insurance or nationalized health care for the middle, lower-middle and lower classes in this country OR the astronomical inflation of hospitalization and medical care costs over the last 30 years for which hospital administration salaries, pharmaceutical companies and the cost of malpractice insurance in our "sue happy" society can take the lion's share of the blame...
Let us examine, for the moment, one of the main problems behind this whole issue: Immigration quotas.
The quotas as they are allotted to different countries are impossibly (and haphazardly, it appears) skewed -- giving countries that are very distant from the U.S. with populations with very few of the skills that (percentage wise) we need here a disproportionate amount of allowed immigration while leaving Mexico and the Central American countries holding the short end of the stick.
Consider Canada that also shares a common border with us and the way in which citizens of that country are allowed to skip over the border with little in the way of scrutiny and then turn toward our southern border and compare the hoops that Mexican citizens (even those with legitimate work visas) must jump through every day in their journeys back and forth over the border -- "journeys", I might add, that will find their destinations at job sites where these travelers will, most likely, be performing back-breaking farm labor, cleaning our toilets, mowing our lawns and pruning our hedges, digging our ditches, taking care of our children and sweating over sewing machines to assemble our clothing in crowded, hot warehouses.
I can assure you that massive numbers of Mexican citizens who are of a mind that they "can't wait to get out of Mexico", "want nothing more than to come to the U.S." because they are "looking for free handouts" do NOT exist. They love their country as much as we love ours -- "Mexico, linda y quierida!" (Trans: "Mexico, beautiful and beloved!") goes a very old Mexican saying. Their government, however, has NO social programs. Not only is there no "welfare" (for, say, single mothers with young children) there is NO social security for their aged and schooling past the 3rd grade is financially unobtainable for most of them.
If one's children or aged parents or grandparents were hungry, one would be capable of committing many "illegal" acts to feed them -- up to and including swimming the Rio Grande, I’m quite sure...
A seldom-mentioned additional consideration is the treaty that ended the Mexican-American War.
The reason that we don't have some Pancho Villa still running sorties across our southern border knocking over banks, robbing trains and kicking up a general ruckus in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California (as we did back around the turn of the last century), is partly due to the TERMS of that treaty wherein, among other concessions, WE (meaning the federal government of the USA) PROMISED to maintain open borders with Mexico in those states previously mentioned as well as BILINGUAL EDUCATION, social & civic services, signage, etc.
TO CLOSE our common border with Mexico in those states puts us IN VIOLATION OF THE TREATY which not only opens up the whole "Pancho Villa Can of Worms" but, TECHNICALLY, plunges us BACK into an open and DECLARED WAR with Mexico...
I was married to an "illegal alien" for quite a few years (he, of course, became "legal" after we married) and I can tell you that the odds within "the system" (i.e., Immigration & Naturalization, Dept. of Justice, Social Services, Education, and a myriad of others...) are already quite stacked against minorities.
Yes, unfortunately, it still goes on and, no, it doesn't seem to have improved within my lifetime.
It amazes me to read comments from otherwise “good Americans” with statements similar to this one:
“The U.S. can’t just open its borders and let all of these people in.”
I’m sorry but that is EXACTLY what “America” is SUPPOSED TO DO! “Letting people in” is our heritage, our tradition and the basic principle that our country was founded upon. After all, somebody let in OUR immigrant ancestors -- unless, of course, the person making that statement is a full-blooded American Indian (but I doubt they would be. . . besides, they’re a little late).
