Sept. 27, 2004 - 21:33 MDT

THE WONDERING JEW

That Is The Question

Bonnie Erbe of the Scripps Howard News Service writes on a problem that most poobah silver-tongue politicians won't open their yap about, today in the Rocky Mountain News. In part:

Politicans reluctant to cross line on immigration

"One issue reigns supreme this election season above all others. It affects almost every American in how we live and how we work. It should be the centerpiece of the '04 campaign. Instead it is virtually ignored."

". . . . they divert our attention from policy governing another much more important and current war . . . this war shares nothing with Iraq except the same first letter it's immigration."

"Time magazine's recent cover story on America's porous borders estimates that some 3 million people from other countries cross illegally into the United States each year. That story in and of itself has sparked a debate on how many immigrants are too many . . . . But controlling illegal immigration is only part of the predicament. There's also legal immigration, which has risen to heights not witnessed since the turn of the 20th Century."

"The U.S. populaton stands at 294 million. It is growing by 1.1 million legal immigrants and as many as 3 milion (Time's estimate) illegals per year. By the year 2050, the Federation for American Immigration Reform estimates, we will be a nation of 420 million, with 60 percent of our population growth from immigration."

There is nothing more drastically changing the nature of the American lifestyle (for the worse, I would argue) than this huge influx of people our infrastructures are ill-equipped to absorb."

"We see its impact all the time. In our over-crowded schools, our plethora of low-wage workers, our never-ending traffic-clogged highways . . . . . . it is all around us, and yet there is no issue we seem less willing to tackle."

"On Sept. 8, for example, The Washington Post ran a front-page article on an annual traffic study by the Texas Transportation Institute. Researchers found that Americans are spending more time stuck in traffic than ever before -- in cities, up to three full days per year. The authors blamed every imaginable factor for bigger, longer, more infuriating trafic jams than that which is most resposible: there are many, many more humans (both legal and illegal) on our roads than there ever have been and multitudes more than they were ever built to handle."

"Just about everyone would benefit from lowered immigration levels. Low-wage, un-skilled Americans would see wages rise as competetion increased for their services. Hospitals that by law must offer uninsured immigrants free emergency health care would see costs go down (and therefore, health insurance premiums might drop for the rest of us). Public schools would be less crowded and could offer smaller classes and student-teacher ratios. Commute times would shrink as would traffic congestion and overdevelopment of our quickly dwindling open spaces."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

My opinions, uneducated as they are follow Bonnie Erbe's ideas. I have nothing against any human wanting to emigrate to the United States, their aims and ambitons are laudable really. I have noting against any race, creed, color or whatever else, wanting to be in our blessed land. But it seems to me that we are faced with the age old dilemma, that of letting the camel warm his nose in the tent. And when the camel pushes in -- where do we go ? Seems to me that we and our leaders must become more common sense about our problems. Otherwise, how can we take care of our own people ? Without having to provide for people who want in ? That Is The Question . . . . . . . . . . .

Blog