When I began this blog in 2001, I was appalled by President Bush's headlong rush to an illegal war (we were not in fact under attack). As time wore on and Bush began his assault on the Constitution and any people bold enough to criticize, I believed that "the republic is endangered more by actions of our own government than by those of any terrorist." With the election of a high-minded, compassionate, intelligent man like Barack Obama, my fears have ceased.
"Honor them with peace, not war"
United for Peace
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Two sides to the 'immigration problem' are being debated in Washington, according to recent news articles. On the one hand, we have conservatives who want not only border patrols along our southern border and to make illegal entry a felony and helping an illegal entrant a felony as well.
On the other hand are the moderate conservatives who want to create a guest worker program under which people could come here with a work permit to do jobs the employer can find no American citizen to take, and those currently here would be granted amnesty if they applied for the permit.
IT seems to me that this argument is between those who don't want to ever see another brown face newly arrived from Mexico or any other Central or South American country -- and those who sympathize with them, but really need low paid hired help.
Let it be noted that there are various ways for a country to deal with the problem of cyclical shortages and oversupplies of workers. Slavery works well for those who have a continuous need for many workers, as it was in the American South. It works less well if there are fallow times (such as farming in the North) when the workers still have to be fed.
Hiring workers as needed and releasing them to fend for themselves worked well in the North for ome time, until the mass of workers began to demand various benefits and assistance to keep them through the jobless periods.
Guest workers who are brought into the country when needed and sent away again when the work ceases is one of the solutions Bush is proposing, one used by some European countries. Superficially, this looks like a good solution. But it can lead to a country made up of two classes, those who belong and those who don't. In the extreme you have a state like Kuwait, where all the citizens are well off and living comfortably, but the vast majority of people in the country are not citizens, and are wretched.
Guest workers (like illegal immigrants, let it be noted) have no right to complain. They can't write to their congressman demanding better working conditions or higher wages. They cannot demonstrate or strike, lest they be shipped home. Thus, they make ideal employees, by some lights.
Another way of dealing with the cyclical need for labor is to hire people and pay them well, and when they are laid off during fallow times, provide them with unemployment benefits to tide them over til next time they are needed.
Conservatives and especially conservative employers see this in a different way than the majority of Americans who are neither emplyers nor coservative and would like everyone to be decently clothed and fed, with if not a new SUV in every driveway, at least a 9-year-old economy Dodge.
The liberal view is that all workers should, at a minimum, be treated with respect and paid a living wage. I worry when I hear talk of brining in guest workers to do jobs 'that no American would do.'
But what kind of job would that be?? I think Americans will do any job if the pay and conditions are right. They are willing to go to war, apparently as well-paid mercenaries hired by private companies with no-bid contracts like Brown & Root, even though they might balk at a new military draft. They are willing to work in hazardous nuclear plants, haul garbage, even run for political office when the rewards are right.
I conclude they mean work for people who will not respect them and want in fact to treat them like slaves. In other words, it is working conditions no American would accept, rather than the work itself. I dont think we want to encourage this sort of employer.
I further suspect strongly that this latest discussion on illegal immigrants is fueled not by a resurgence of the imigration problem, but rather by Bush's faltering public approval rating.
Recall that when he initially campaigned for the presidency, his one brag was that he would bring people together. That, like so much else, has proved to be a lie. He has drivenwege after wedge into the heart of the body politic, refused any compromise, insisted on getting his own way in all things. Until recently, his party -- astonished at suddenly haveing control of the federal government after so many years of Democratic dominance - fell into step with him as is the habit of minority parties.
Furthermore, wedge politics has worked really well for Bush. Moral issues that most peple are not concerned about have reliably brought conservative Christians to vote and politic on his side.
There is more to say on this, but its time to go to work. Will edit this afternoon ;-)
Copyright © 2001-03 Pam Shorey
(except the specific sources credited in quotes)
The 'Immigration Problem'
Two sides to the 'immigration problem' are being debated in Washington, according to recent news articles. On the one hand, we have conservatives who want not only border patrols along our southern border and to make illegal entry a felony and helping an illegal entrant a felony as well.
On the other hand are the moderate conservatives who want to create a guest worker program under which people could come here with a work permit to do jobs the employer can find no American citizen to take, and those currently here would be granted amnesty if they applied for the permit.
IT seems to me that this argument is between those who don't want to ever see another brown face newly arrived from Mexico or any other Central or South American country -- and those who sympathize with them, but really need low paid hired help.
Let it be noted that there are various ways for a country to deal with the problem of cyclical shortages and oversupplies of workers. Slavery works well for those who have a continuous need for many workers, as it was in the American South. It works less well if there are fallow times (such as farming in the North) when the workers still have to be fed.
Hiring workers as needed and releasing them to fend for themselves worked well in the North for ome time, until the mass of workers began to demand various benefits and assistance to keep them through the jobless periods.
Guest workers who are brought into the country when needed and sent away again when the work ceases is one of the solutions Bush is proposing, one used by some European countries. Superficially, this looks like a good solution. But it can lead to a country made up of two classes, those who belong and those who don't. In the extreme you have a state like Kuwait, where all the citizens are well off and living comfortably, but the vast majority of people in the country are not citizens, and are wretched.
Guest workers (like illegal immigrants, let it be noted) have no right to complain. They can't write to their congressman demanding better working conditions or higher wages. They cannot demonstrate or strike, lest they be shipped home. Thus, they make ideal employees, by some lights.
Another way of dealing with the cyclical need for labor is to hire people and pay them well, and when they are laid off during fallow times, provide them with unemployment benefits to tide them over til next time they are needed.
The real problem
Conservatives and especially conservative employers see this in a different way than the majority of Americans who are neither emplyers nor coservative and would like everyone to be decently clothed and fed, with if not a new SUV in every driveway, at least a 9-year-old economy Dodge.
The liberal view is that all workers should, at a minimum, be treated with respect and paid a living wage. I worry when I hear talk of brining in guest workers to do jobs 'that no American would do.'
But what kind of job would that be?? I think Americans will do any job if the pay and conditions are right. They are willing to go to war, apparently as well-paid mercenaries hired by private companies with no-bid contracts like Brown & Root, even though they might balk at a new military draft. They are willing to work in hazardous nuclear plants, haul garbage, even run for political office when the rewards are right.
I conclude they mean work for people who will not respect them and want in fact to treat them like slaves. In other words, it is working conditions no American would accept, rather than the work itself. I dont think we want to encourage this sort of employer.
I further suspect strongly that this latest discussion on illegal immigrants is fueled not by a resurgence of the imigration problem, but rather by Bush's faltering public approval rating.
Recall that when he initially campaigned for the presidency, his one brag was that he would bring people together. That, like so much else, has proved to be a lie. He has drivenwege after wedge into the heart of the body politic, refused any compromise, insisted on getting his own way in all things. Until recently, his party -- astonished at suddenly haveing control of the federal government after so many years of Democratic dominance - fell into step with him as is the habit of minority parties.
Furthermore, wedge politics has worked really well for Bush. Moral issues that most peple are not concerned about have reliably brought conservative Christians to vote and politic on his side.
There is more to say on this, but its time to go to work. Will edit this afternoon ;-)
Palema
6:13 AM
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Copyright © 2001-03 Pam Shorey
(except the specific sources credited in quotes)
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