The reason why the government doesn’t fully enforce its own immigration laws is because wherever it does, it is profoundly bad for the economy. Just
this summer vast amounts of fruit were left to rot on trees because there was not enough people willing to work-travel for the trivial wages.
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Immigration can have all the benefits of slavery but almost non of its ethical disadvantages given it’s self-confessed libertarian nature. And this
is why (like oil) the American economy is somewhat addicted to it.
However what I take issue with is the idea that the need for workers somehow equals a need for new citizens. The right wing can point to many areas
where this is having a destructive influence on the lives of Americas born; precisely because it is having a destructive influence.
Look at Iraq (a country of many different ethnic-cultural sects) during the good economic times citizens
generally pay little attention to
peoples cultural differences. However come an economic recession the politics of fundamentalism inevitably rises from the ashes (in all its forms be
it nationalism, racism, or xenophobia). For well documented psychological these are the things that are attractive to the minds of the unemployed,
with too much time on their hands, and in a desperate situation.
However a society strongly united along
both its racial and cultural composition will generally pull through without too much internal
conflict.
After all if there are not very many “foreigners” to blame then the tensions between the majority and minority populations, then the overall size
of the tensions is
almost inevitably limited (they would always be limited if it wasn’t for the power of propaganda, which is a slightly
separate topic).
The problem for America is that it is becoming so multicultural that it is increasingly beginning to look like bastion of multiculturalism Iraq was
become the economic recession of 1991. And you don’t need a war or UN sanctions for a sever recession to happen.
In this event the political parties will probably remain united in ignoring most of the extremism festering within the majority population. However
this will do nothing to stop internal conflict, or street internal fighting, across the “American” population. And this way the American
government could look very much like stranded Iraqi government of today looks.
The Solution…
Both the government and the right wing in America need cry “work permits” not “no more immigrants”. Since it’s the no “no more
immigrants” bit which detaches their message from America’s economic reality, it makes they’re right wing message unpopular with the short term
interests of the economic elite. America simply needs a system of temporary work permits,
and once more a system of enforcing them when they
expire this would acturally make economic sense because it would actually save the economy the cost of looking after unemployment permit holders,
and it would stop this system of
ever more cultural and ethnic tension building up in America, that’s just waiting for the day when it can
explode.