Thoughts on Pending Immigration Legislation

Back in June, when so-called immigration-reform legislation was pending in the Congress, I received an email forwarding a letter from a mutual friend detailing how different today’s “immigrants’ were from those that passed through Ellis Island one-hundred years ago.

I responded with a slightly updated version of an earlier blog. I repeat it because I feel so strongly about the subject. For me, the purpose of an intellect is action, not merely understanding. This is my action.

Here we go again. Although I agree completely with Rosemary’s point that things have changed since Ellis Island days, I fear she has made the exact same mistake that the Congress and the media are making, regarding the estimated 12 million illegal aliens resident in our country

The mistake and the response to Rosemary’s letter is simply that the 12 million or so aliens who reside illegally here are not immigrants. They are more correctly called “alien workers”. My Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary, 10th Edition, defines the term “immigrant” as “A person who comes to a country to take up permanent residence.”

Most immigrant ancestors of today’s U.S citizens were malcontents. So fed up with the situation in which they found themselves in their home country, that they sold out everything, packed up the entire family, and came to America where they had no job waiting and often could not speak the language. These immigrants were committed. They had no intention of returning to their native countries. For them, God Bless their courage, it was sink or swim in the new land of America.

There is a very old and simple analogy that describes a true immigrant: In the process of providing a ham and egg breakfast, the chicken is involved, but the pig is committed. And so it is with most illegals. They are merely involved in U.S. society and culture. They are not committed.

Virtually none of the current illegals came to the U.S. with the intention of taking up permanent residence. Most, if not all, came solely to earn the money needed to support their families who remained in their country of origin. They want to stay in the U.S. to work, but not to immigrate. They don’t wish to become citizens. They wish only to obtain documentation that assures them permanent residence. That being the case, they do not bother to learn English or to honor our flag. Hence, when they participate in a demonstration of support for their group, they fly the flags of the their mother country, proving my point.

Which is fine. Each year, thousands of true, legal immigrants come to our country, as they have for a couple centuries.

The legislation currently being considered by Congress is totally flawed, beginning with the name and purpose of the bill. We U.S. citizens and the 12 million illegal aliens, don’t need to reform “immigration.” We need to define and pass laws governing the rights, registration, and control of resident alien workers.

These aliens are here, most are hard workers, elements of our economy depend on their labor, and we need to recognize them. We don’t need to provide a “path to citizenship”. They didn’t arrive here with any desire for becoming citizens, so why provide a special means to do so. They want work, not to be one of us. Our current laws already provide a well-proven process for becoming a citizen. The ancestors of the vast majority of American citizens followed it.

To put my position in as simple terms as possible. Devising a successful solution to any problem begins with a clear understanding of the fundamental cause from which the problem arose. One test of understanding is to be able to assign a name to the problem. We won’t get anywhere with our illegal alien problem until we stop calling it an “immigration” problem and begin calling by what it is. An alien worker problem.

My Thoughts on a May 17 Speach by Senator Joe Lieberman

Ginger, my Washingto, D.C contact, sent me the text of the the Senator's speach to a meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition.

My response follows.

In my view, Lieberman repeats the same tired and erroneous reasoning as the Bush Administration: Al Qaeda and our war on terrorism demand that we “win” the war we began In Iraq. I wish it were that simple. There is no question that both Al Qaeda and terrorists are fighting us in Iraq. In fact, it is accepted by both the military and intelligence agencies that Iraq is a training place for terrorists. But only because it is the perfect opportunity to hone their skills.

Lieberman makes all sorts of wild statements predicting doom and gloom if we “lose to Al Qaeda and Iran in Iraq.” But he gives no rational for such wildly exaggerated statements. It is like saying, in 1970, that if we lose in Vietnam, China or the USSR will attack us. Nonsense. Iraq, like Vietnam, is a minor war where no vital U.S. national interests are involved, and where a very large part of the indigenous population view us as aggressive, oppressive invaders, with the addition of a religious motivation thrown in.

The fact is that, like Vietnam, winning in Iraq is not worth the cost, so, as we did in Vietnam, we should simply declare the war over and leave.

As I have said before on this blog, the test of Lieberman’s position, and all those like him, is to ask him to state in fifty words or less our mission in Iraq. Never mind all the boogie-man bullshit. Just tell me, succinctly, the goal we hope to achieve in Iraq with the killing and maiming our youth. Mind you, I don’t mind the killing and maiming of our youth. That’s what war does. I just want the losses to mean something worthy of their deaths. Like Vietnam, so long ago, I listen very carefully for just such a statement, and have never heard it.

My Views on Taxation

Been busy completing the third draft of a 100,000-word manuscriupt of a novel I've been working on this year. While working away, I received an email from a friend lambasting the level of federal taxation we citizens pay. Here's my response.

My view of taxation may surprise you. I have an entirely different view of taxes than most folks.

When I got out of college in June of 1956 and was looking for work, the Korean War had ended in a cease fire a few years before, and the arms race of the Cold War had started in earnest. I decided that a career in the Defense Industry would be a good idea because I would be working with cutting-edge technology on systems that were considered critical to our nation’s defense. Thus, the prospect for long term employment looked very good. Equally important, the prospect for interesting and intellectually challenging work also looked good.

So, in October of 1956, I took a job with Electric Boat working on the first nuclear submarines. This was the beginning of a most enjoyable, 48-year, engineering career, that was personally intellectually and financially rewarding. A career that was paid for entirely by taxes on the citizens of our nation and, later, those nations of my foreign clients.

Thank you, good citizens everywhere.

May the Soviet Union rest in peace. As stated in my first positing on this blog my toast is: “So Long USSR, And Thanks For All The Threats.”