dizzier wrote:
it's a matter of how much money do you have to bribe the immigration officer
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in my view mexicans have every right to be here. we STOLE half their country!
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with lines like "learn english" you are only confirming your prejudice!
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things did not fall apart after slavery because the system was *immediately replaced* by sharecroppers and immigrant labors (both of which were de facto forms of slavery).
If you're pointing out other flaws in the system, I'm not disagreeing. But the right thing ain't doing the wrong thing no matter how it makes you feel. Assuming the bribing of INS officials were necessary, and I know a number of people who've come to the U.S. in recent years and there wasn't any payola exchanged, that would end if Immigration opened up the number of slots each year to do the jobs Americans won't do.
Who is "we" and "they"? England, France, Spain and Portugal conquered the Americas. England (America) fought with Spain (Mexico) for the southwest. They weren't fighting original inhabitants for their land. It was conquerors fighting conquerors--America and Mexico--who'd thrown off their original masters--England and Spain.
Portugal got Brazil. France got Quebec. England got America and most of Canada. Spain got everything else.
Spare me any of the nonsense I sometimes hear about the Indians feeling a kindred spirit with the Spanish that they never felt with the English. Horsepoop. The Spanish were the most successful conquerors in the New World and just as brutal the rest. It's the history of the world--not evil America.
America is the only country without an official language. Our de facto official language is English, but it ain't law. It is in every other country, and a common language unifies a people. Learn English ain't racist or prejudiced. It's practical, sound advice. I lived in Miami for a year, and I got by on English just fine. If you only know Spanish, even in Miami, you are confining yourself economically. If English were the official language, then resources could go into educating people. DW and I had a number of friends with relatives who would refuse to speak English, and they would refuse to speak Spanish to force them to speak English. My anecdotal observations told me that most immigrants who come here want to learn English and they want their fellow immigrants to learn English.
There's always going to be some form of exploitation. Things don't conclude with a perfect ending the first time out. Jefferson struggled with whether to include racial equality in the Constitution, but he feared the revolution might fall apart.
The point you seemed to have missed is that with the immigrant worker issue, we are yet again hearing the battle cry of "But the economy will collapse without these illegal, underpaid, exploited workers." Do you mean to say that you're advocating we continue using exploited workers?
