Friday, December 08, 2006
Poll #9 Comments
Control and restriction both perpetuate borders, those things that governments like to lie that they are protecting the people by erecting against the undesirable tainting of the perfect culture they are trying to herd and tame within. No borders, no government, no war. Maybe.
Hey, Everybody! go read Pisces Iscariot's post, "Limbo Terminus" for what the man can do with words to caress truth!
I agree.Everyones home should provide the same basic opportunities so that no one is forced to leave. In the case that people just WANT to seek a life elsewhere, great, there would be an equal flow so that no one system is stressed.Just respect the culture you have immersed yourself into and add something good to it.Fighting for liberty means fighting against these absurd restrictions on our lives.
Life, Liberty and the Persuit of Happyness...
The immigration issue is really the compliment of import/export trade - It controls the movement of labor. True free trade involves both the movement of of labor and goods. However, with borders and imigration the balance between the two can be skewed to favor certain groups. Currently, the policies are enforced such that cheap labor can come and go as they please. It's well known that illegal labor is used to harvest much of of our crops and build our houses. On the other hand, it's relatively difficult for professionals to come into the US. Their numbers and countries of origin are limited And, once they're required to have a license to perform their skills. The jet set has no problem with going anywhere they want to. Clearly, current imigration is used to protect the middle class. Officially, it protects the lower income bracket as well. But the way it's implemented, illegal immigration creates poverty by undercutting the minimum wage labor. Clearly, the current imigration policy protects the jet set.
To answer the question which policy - Encouraging, Controlling, or Restricting would work best for the country, we would need to look at which policy would benefit the most and injure the least.
Why shouldn’t a person be free to cross a border in search of work to sustain his life, to open a business, to tour, or simply because he wants to? Why not?
"Open borders bring in poor people and would tax our welfare system." If there were no borders, movement would be regulated only by economic ability. Essentially, those people that can afford to move will move in or out of a country. If the difference in conditions between one country is great enough, people will pick up and move at all costs. And, those with the greater economic ability to do so would move first.
"Open immigration will pollute America’s culture." Our culture is Heinz 57. How can possibly adding more immigrants to a country of immigrants pollute our culture?
"Immigrants will take jobs away from Americans." It's the undercutting of legitimate jobs through the use of illegal immigrants that are not paid a fair wage for their work that takes jobs away. As a matter of fact, open borders may concentrate skills such as high-tech labor and perhaps even bring back jobs with them.
"Imigrants will bring in drugs." Lots of people, including returning tourists bring in drugs. But the large volume drug trafficking is perpetuated by drug merchants, not by immigration. This is an import/export issue, not an issue of the movement of labor.
"Immigrants will go on welfare." Welfare is and should be restricted to people that make the country their permanent home - citizens and permanent residents. Clearly the burden of welfare must be born by someone and welfare is needed as the safety net of last resort. It's important that people don't imigrate for the purposes of using the welfare system. Certainly if you were looking for a country with a great welfare system to move to, the US would not be the best choice. Europe would be far better.
"There will be too many people." Immigrants go where the opportunities are and in turn they avoid areas where there are no opportunities. It's more likely that young people pick up and move than older people. This means that open borders would tend to bring in people that would in turn help support our aging population.
"Open immigration will permit terrorists to enter our country." No amount of immigration control will control terrorism. The best solution to this problem is to quit being the cause of terrorism. A change in interventionist policies will go a long way in solving this problem.
In conclusion, a lot of benefits may come form open borders. So far, I'm not convinced by the arguments from the closed border side.
I would disagree with vagabond that "cheap labor can come and go as it pleases." People are dying in the deserts trying to cross, being rounded up in sweeps and deported, etc..It is capital that has no controls , that can wander the globe in serch of cheap labor and lack of regulation. 60,000 people are naturalized every year, mostly those with education and job prospects in some sector the economy needs.Wages are so low in America because capital has busted all the unions and scabs are easy to find. Do you want fries with that?
Troutsky,
I think in part we may be saying the same thing.
The 60,000 legal permanent residents that are naturalized every year is a drop in the bucket compared to the 3 1/2 million of illegal immigrants that land here in the US every year.
About 90,000 people come here every year with H1B visas. They have the needed education and job prospects in some sector the economy needs to get the visas. After 6 years, people on an H1 visa can apply for permanent resident status (green card). You have to be a permanent resident for five years before you can become Naturalized. I came here this way myself.
Illegal immigration into the US on the other hand, is a highly profitable proposition for both employers and the US government, and it also benefits Mexico, which is the largest source country of undocumented immigrants into the US. This year more than three million crossed the border. Only 1,954 people died crossing the U.S.-Mexico border between the years 1998-2004, from various causes. For the most part, the stories of deportation and deaths are over-exaggerations to convince the middle class that something is done about the illegals.
But realistically, the corporations and business owners do not pay these undocumented workers the minimum wage, social security, benefits and so on. The government does not want to take care of these people. But illegal immigration creates poverty by undercutting the minimum wage labor.
...and, yes Capital imports and exports goods as it pleases and invests its capital in foreign countries where there are no labor regulations. Capital has busted all the unions and scabs are easy to find due to all the illegal labor being brought in.
I fully believe the immigration issue has been created by the Bush administration to swing the "Git er done" red voters on their side. A 650 mile concrete berlin wall will not solve this problem. They need to jail business owners that use illegal labor.
