After reading Caren Lee's recent blog post, Immigration: Where to start?, I have quite a few questions and thoughts.
This article, written in what seems to be a frustrated tone concerning immigration laws and their needed improvement, made me wonder... what can REALLY be done about illegal immigration? Caren makes a good point in saying that, digging fences will never be the solution to preventing illegal entry into our country. And maybe that's not what we should be so focused on. There are an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. right now. Of those 11 million, 8 million of them have found their way into the American workforce. If we stop the exploitation of illegal immigrants who are desperate for work, maybe we can eliminate a prime motivation for illegal immigrants crossing the border in the first place. http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/
In Caren's article, she mentions the economic consequences of deporting all illegal immigrants and speculates about whether or not American workers could fill all of these positions. In my opinion, 8 million mostly below-minimum wage paying positions would be incredibly difficult to fill. To reference another article written by our very own Amanda Balamenti, perhaps if we were to raise the federal minimum wage, some of these positions would be eliminated and it would not be a matter of replacing 8 million workers after illegal immigrants are gone, but rather a matter of providing fewer, but better-paying jobs to legal, hard-working American citizens. http://usgovtcheeseandme.blogspot.com/
We need not look over one important rebuttal to Caren's argument for deportation of illegal immigrants. According to an article recently published by CNN, 2.9 billion dollars have already been spent on reducing the number of illegal aliens in the U.S. The price of fixing our current immigration problems is not cheap. While we do need to respect and uphold the law by reducing exploitation of illegal workers and using programs to fairly, and in timely fashion, turn illegal immigrants into citizens, it is not reasonable to expect immigration to be a quick or complete fix. Ever.
People illegally enter our country for countless reasons and in the defense of human rights, we need to consider some of these motives as pure and stop viewing all illegal immigrants as pests that need to be eliminated. America is, after all, a melting pot that boasts in it's opportunity and diversity.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Friday, February 15, 2013
Taxes and Solutions
Taxes, taxes, taxes.
Obama seems to be enduring some heat from the Republican party these days. If you haven't been hearing about budgets and deficits, government spending and taxes, then you must live under a rock.
As part of the future generation to lead our country, I feel it is incredibly important for those in power to do something about the debt that has been acquired throughout this financially devastating time for our country. I imagine telling my children years down the road about what it was like to live through the "Great Recession." What I don't want is to still be worrying about job security or living with the fear of continuous tax increases or our nation's debt.
While Republicans continue to fight the idea of more government as a solution to our financial crisis, Democrats defend themselves by stating that it's not more government, but government fulfilling it's role in securing our nation's financial security in the future. Word from the White House is that we shouldn't expect much in terms of plans for improving the deficit. But the fact is: Obama is the only person in the position to do something about this crisis. And something HAS to be done. The Democrats would rather leave debts and deficits up to the Republicans, but why can't we just agree on the small changes that could make the difference between progress and "kicking the can down the road" and leaving this problem up to future generations?
Obama seems to be enduring some heat from the Republican party these days. If you haven't been hearing about budgets and deficits, government spending and taxes, then you must live under a rock.
As part of the future generation to lead our country, I feel it is incredibly important for those in power to do something about the debt that has been acquired throughout this financially devastating time for our country. I imagine telling my children years down the road about what it was like to live through the "Great Recession." What I don't want is to still be worrying about job security or living with the fear of continuous tax increases or our nation's debt.
While Republicans continue to fight the idea of more government as a solution to our financial crisis, Democrats defend themselves by stating that it's not more government, but government fulfilling it's role in securing our nation's financial security in the future. Word from the White House is that we shouldn't expect much in terms of plans for improving the deficit. But the fact is: Obama is the only person in the position to do something about this crisis. And something HAS to be done. The Democrats would rather leave debts and deficits up to the Republicans, but why can't we just agree on the small changes that could make the difference between progress and "kicking the can down the road" and leaving this problem up to future generations?
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
The Lesser Evil
During our last presidential election, I heard a lot about Republicans v. Democrats, Liberals v. Conservatives... etc. as in every other election. However, this time, I was frequently reminded of the Libertarian party (something I knew very little about) and even encouraged to consider a third party due to the less than pleasing choice between a scrutinized Romney and our quote, "disappointing," current president.
With this in mind, I was surprised to stumble across an article this week that actually referred to the democratic party as "the Lesser Evil." I guess you could say this article caught my eye due to the flagrant, displeased attitude of the author in regards to democrats. With our last presidential election showing a nation-wide frustration with our two party system, I was interested to hear a democrat criticize the democratic party while clearly intending for other democrats to read what he had to say.
The article stated three areas of our government to consider when evaluating the democratic party. The most valid and interesting point that he made, was when considering "identity issues."
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/gaius-publius/47936/is-the-democratic-party-still-the-lesser-evil-if-so-in-what-sense
The author, Gaius Publius, (editor at Americablog.com and seasoned political blogger) talks about current issues like gun control and how they are being turned into an issue concerning human rights. In fact, Gaius practically accuses the democratic party of becoming full-fledged human rights activists! Not that this is a bad thing...
I found it pretty hilarious and very interesting how true this is becoming. EVERYTHING, even the argument over gun laws, is becoming an argument over personal rights. Why WOULDN'T the democrats start to use this to their advantage. It looks good.
Gaius didn't stop at identity issues, of course. He took the time to draw my attention to the economical issues of the democratic party and argues that Obama's plans will in no way, "harm the banker." Democrats are still rich folk working together as a "billionaire-driven party" working for the good of the rich.
I don't know that I agree with this particular stance on Obama's economic policies or the democratic party as a whole, considering Obama's work to improve unemployment benefits; but Gaius does make some good points. I cannot, however, disregard the fact that democrats do appear to use these human rights arguments to their advantage, whether it is to push their policies or just to save face. I do suppose that there could be far worse ways to push your opinions though.
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