Taking It To The Streets

We might be demonstrating for all of the world to see that we are finally and irretrievably beyond the capacity for democratic government. We seem incapable of grappling with complex issues or even proposing viable solutions to our problems. Those who should be crafting answers to the issues are more interested in pandering to the potential electorate, thus insuring their continued incumbency. Meanwhile the citizenry, those who are given the task of offering meaningful input to the elected officials, are proving themselves too ignorant to be relevant. That sounds harsh and it is meant to be.

Yesterday the future voters of the Dallas area poured out of their high schools and middle schools in outrage over proposals to deal with the question of illegal immigrants in America. Ditto for LA, Phoenix and other cities. Yes, these kids were getting involved in the issues—yeah, right. They were simply taking a day off of school for a street party. Students Hit the Bricks

In Dallas, they stormed City Hall. It seemed to be beyond their understanding of our federal system of government that metro government was not making these policy decisions. They were outraged that something was being done by somebody that somehow might mean something at some time in the future to someone they know. They were mad as hell and simply wouldn’t take it any longer. And in the process they cut classes, smoked a few joints, trashed the park in front of City Hall and went wading in the fountains. It might have been a bit more meaningful for the future of the republic if they had stayed in class and had a discussion of the issues and possible solutions. They might have even learned about representative national government, responsibilities of citizenship and the economics of the situation.

They could have been exposed to Tony Blankley’s op-ed piece in the Times:
Blankley at the Wash. Times

It seems that everyone has a dog in this hunt, but no one knows exactly what the quarry is supposed to be. Let’s see if we can make some sense out of this.

Can we agree that there are millions of illegal immigrants in the country? Most reports are now putting the figure at eleven million. Is this a problem?

It would be hard to deny that a population that large is significant. In a period of global terrorist threat, it makes sense to say that there needs to be some form of control of the influx. We, meaning the US, need to get a handle on who is here. Further, we need to gain some control over the comings and goings across our borders. All well and good.

Simplistic solutions shouldn’t be on the table. Can we now agree that we can’t round up 11,000,000 people and deport them back to wherever it was that they came from? They aren’t all from Mexico or even from Central America. We don’t know where they are and we don’t know where to send them. They aren’t about to turn themselves in to the authorities to be deported. (And, Sen. McCain, they aren’t going to turn themselves in to pay a $2000 fine either!) So, let’s eliminate that as an option, even though many will find it attractive.

Can we agree that a large number of these people are doing jobs in the US? Might we even stretch that basic truth to include the caveat that these are menial jobs at low wages with no benefits that American citizens seem reluctant to do? Deport these illegals and there is going to be an economic impact. Either work will not get done, or the free market response to a labor shortage will be a rise in wages for the work which translates into much higher prices for the consumer. Those are probably not acceptable alternatives.

Let’s stop yelling about the question of “amnesty.” Once we get convoluted around whether or not an amnesty will result in jumping ahead on the citizenship train, we can no longer deal with the issue of who is here. Let’s accept that “amnesty” is not a good thing, but that is tempered by issues one and two above—we can’t deport and we can’t accept the economic impact.

Now, let’s add in the fact that eleven million folks absorb a lot of tax supported services. They attend schools, get sick, seek welfare, and even commit some crimes. If they are not somehow registered within the country, they often don’t pay taxes or contribute to Social Security. Without identification, they wind up driving vehicles without license and consequently without insurance. Bottom line is that we need to get a grip on this population and integrate them in the society. (At this point please return to points one and two above…)

Guest worker proposals are viable. In order to work, an individual has to be registered somewhere. Remember when you got your last job how you had to provide your employer with an I-9 form? And then a W-4 for withholding? While we can’t round up illegals and they won’t voluntarily turn themselves in, we CAN and must force employers to track their workers. Sure there will be some slippage and some illegal workers will fall through the cracks. But, we will get a grip on a large percentage of these folks who are already here and who are really seeking the American dream. That simple act provides improved security, better government funding, and eventual reduction in the scope of the immigrant problem.

With registered workers and a serious effort at record-keeping (which has been noticeably absent at Immigration and Naturalization in the past), we can then get to work on securing the border to reduce the influx of future illegals. If there is a process for guest worker documentation, we might be able to control the rest of the border with something less than our own version of a Berlin Wall.

If we don’t deal with the folks already here in a realistic manner, this problem isn’t going away any time soon. Oh, and let’s also get over the business about making them speak English. Taking pride in our predominant mono-lingualism is embarrassing. The rest of the world is speaking their own language and English as well. We somehow managed to survive the colonial period at the birth of our nation when we had sections of the nascent nation speaking French, German, Dutch and Spanish as well as English. If society needs English speakers, folks will speak English. If the society finds Spanish as a more functional communication medium, that will happen as well. Rescue us from our own form of Quebec-ism or the offense-taking of Jacques Chirac.

Meanwhile, back in civics classes in America, explain to the kids that City Hall doesn’t make immigration policy and truancy is punishable.