I doubt this country "gifted" you anything. My best guess is that you earned it. If US citizenship is a great privilege to you, it would be to more or less everyone who wants to be here.
"Illegal aliens" are "illegal" because we said so. Or, to put it another way, when I was running for office in my neighborhood one year, an elderly Cuban…
I doubt this country "gifted" you anything. My best guess is that you earned it. If US citizenship is a great privilege to you, it would be to more or less everyone who wants to be here.
"Illegal aliens" are "illegal" because we said so. Or, to put it another way, when I was running for office in my neighborhood one year, an elderly Cuban woman I canvassed made some comment about "illegal aliens." I asked her if she understood why she wasn't an "illegal alien." It was because we said so. If she and her husband could get here, we welcomed them in.
The people you describe as "illegal aliens" came here for precisely the same reasons you did, and for precisely the same reasons my forebears did: things weren't good in the old country, and they wanted better lives and more opportunity.
When you say you "want them out," you might not be familiar with some of our former efforts to get them out, and how that harmed our country. You know, the "melting pot." They do jobs we don't want to do, and they do them for less than we would demand. If they don't speak English when they get here, their offspring will, and they'll become important parts of our society. People like Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are pathetic, because they're both Cuban immigrants (their parents were), and they've made great success for themselves. And now, they, too, "want them out."
> I doubt this country "gifted" you anything. My best guess is that you earned it.
No, it was a gift. I came here as a child. Did nothing exceptional for it, mostly just followed the laws and had a childhood. My parents worked hard, but they aren’t citizens (and don’t even want to be).
A nation is like a family. Its territory is like the family home, a collective possession. The only ways to join are to be born into it, or to have the family choose to adopt you—as America adopted me.
Illegal aliens are like people who break into the home and squat in its rooms. Some are desperate people fleeing difficult conditions in search of a better life, others are just bad people—either way, it’s trespassing, and it shows complete lack of respect for the owners.
> They do jobs we don't want to do, and they do them for less than we would demand.
In other words, they drive down wages for American workers?
Immigrants and immigration have contributed much to this country, but there have also been major problems and conflicts. Bringing new people into our big family is a weighty matter—must be done carefully, slowly, with proper vetting, and respect for the needs and attitudes of all our people. And we certainly should not be prioritizing squatters!
Exactly. Well said. It’s a weighty matter. I am all for people who want to be here, are of good character, who want to become American eventually. We all started that way (parents, grandparents et al). And America is very good about bringing them in, and they (immigrants) bring us their cultural advantages, too.
But slowly, carefully, with people who want to become here, want to have their kids assimilate…
I used to agree with Elon, in fact, on the H1B thing, but now I think it’s bad.
This is a stupid myth, that “nobody else will do these jobs.” It’s garbage. If you are paid a nice fat check and you can sit on your butt, yeah. But if you actually have to make a living, then you will do those jobs, and you will get paid relatively well for them, too.
I don't mean to offend you, but I'm going to ignore most of your response. What I want to say to you is that when you say that doing jobs other Americans don't want to do, and for less money, drives down wages for American workers, you're ignoring how tenacious Americans have been about having free labor from slaves, and what has happened when some states (Alabama several or more years ago), made laws that prohibited undocumented people from working there. Their agricultural industry crashed, and they had to rescind the exclusion of undocumented people. Similar has been true in California and other states. I don't know how old you are, or what you do, but why don't you tell the states to get rid of the "illegal aliens," and offer to do yourself what they were doing? And if you want "real Americans" to do all the work, then pay the higher prices that will result. I'm sure that in your house, you don't have anything made in China or other parts of east Asia, and no food grown in Mexico, right? Vastly easier said than done.
So you are saying that we need illegal immigration… because it exploits people for cheap labor, just like slavery? I’ll take the more expensive strawberries, thanks
It would be interesting to know if you will. "Will" sounds like the future.
So, nothing in your house from China, etc, and no food from Central and South America, huh?
Immigration doesn't have to be illegal. We have to welcome them, and make them legal, just as your parents are legal. Interesting that they don't want to be citizens.
I never mentioned race at all. If you are making associations with race where none was intended—maybe you should consider why you are jumping to those conclusions.
I doubt this country "gifted" you anything. My best guess is that you earned it. If US citizenship is a great privilege to you, it would be to more or less everyone who wants to be here.
"Illegal aliens" are "illegal" because we said so. Or, to put it another way, when I was running for office in my neighborhood one year, an elderly Cuban woman I canvassed made some comment about "illegal aliens." I asked her if she understood why she wasn't an "illegal alien." It was because we said so. If she and her husband could get here, we welcomed them in.
The people you describe as "illegal aliens" came here for precisely the same reasons you did, and for precisely the same reasons my forebears did: things weren't good in the old country, and they wanted better lives and more opportunity.
When you say you "want them out," you might not be familiar with some of our former efforts to get them out, and how that harmed our country. You know, the "melting pot." They do jobs we don't want to do, and they do them for less than we would demand. If they don't speak English when they get here, their offspring will, and they'll become important parts of our society. People like Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are pathetic, because they're both Cuban immigrants (their parents were), and they've made great success for themselves. And now, they, too, "want them out."
> I doubt this country "gifted" you anything. My best guess is that you earned it.
No, it was a gift. I came here as a child. Did nothing exceptional for it, mostly just followed the laws and had a childhood. My parents worked hard, but they aren’t citizens (and don’t even want to be).
A nation is like a family. Its territory is like the family home, a collective possession. The only ways to join are to be born into it, or to have the family choose to adopt you—as America adopted me.
Illegal aliens are like people who break into the home and squat in its rooms. Some are desperate people fleeing difficult conditions in search of a better life, others are just bad people—either way, it’s trespassing, and it shows complete lack of respect for the owners.
> They do jobs we don't want to do, and they do them for less than we would demand.
In other words, they drive down wages for American workers?
Immigrants and immigration have contributed much to this country, but there have also been major problems and conflicts. Bringing new people into our big family is a weighty matter—must be done carefully, slowly, with proper vetting, and respect for the needs and attitudes of all our people. And we certainly should not be prioritizing squatters!
Exactly. Well said. It’s a weighty matter. I am all for people who want to be here, are of good character, who want to become American eventually. We all started that way (parents, grandparents et al). And America is very good about bringing them in, and they (immigrants) bring us their cultural advantages, too.
But slowly, carefully, with people who want to become here, want to have their kids assimilate…
I used to agree with Elon, in fact, on the H1B thing, but now I think it’s bad.
This is a stupid myth, that “nobody else will do these jobs.” It’s garbage. If you are paid a nice fat check and you can sit on your butt, yeah. But if you actually have to make a living, then you will do those jobs, and you will get paid relatively well for them, too.
Great, Mr Cook. Or is it Dr Cook? You see to it that they're paid a nice fat check, which will be reflected in the price you pay for things.
You're really not paying any attention if you think everyone gets paid "relatively well."
I don't mean to offend you, but I'm going to ignore most of your response. What I want to say to you is that when you say that doing jobs other Americans don't want to do, and for less money, drives down wages for American workers, you're ignoring how tenacious Americans have been about having free labor from slaves, and what has happened when some states (Alabama several or more years ago), made laws that prohibited undocumented people from working there. Their agricultural industry crashed, and they had to rescind the exclusion of undocumented people. Similar has been true in California and other states. I don't know how old you are, or what you do, but why don't you tell the states to get rid of the "illegal aliens," and offer to do yourself what they were doing? And if you want "real Americans" to do all the work, then pay the higher prices that will result. I'm sure that in your house, you don't have anything made in China or other parts of east Asia, and no food grown in Mexico, right? Vastly easier said than done.
So you are saying that we need illegal immigration… because it exploits people for cheap labor, just like slavery? I’ll take the more expensive strawberries, thanks
It would be interesting to know if you will. "Will" sounds like the future.
So, nothing in your house from China, etc, and no food from Central and South America, huh?
Immigration doesn't have to be illegal. We have to welcome them, and make them legal, just as your parents are legal. Interesting that they don't want to be citizens.
This post is low-key racist.
I never mentioned race at all. If you are making associations with race where none was intended—maybe you should consider why you are jumping to those conclusions.
It's quite telling that you can't/won't see how your post is racist. What country did you come from?
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