So I thought I'd test the waters with a discussion about an issue that is gaining plenty of attention nationally, which is the matter of illegal immigration. Meri and I, as well as all of our friends, have very strong convictions about this matter, but it seems that our point of view is getting nowhere near the amount of press that the Latino side is getting. And that's not to say that the issue is only about Latinos, but as a matter of visibility, they are the ones who are making the most noise. First of all, I feel that the problem starts with U.S. employers who willingly and knowingly hire illegal laborers and pay them under the table. This has two serious ramifications that are impacting our economy in various ways. First, it attracts people to come here illegally because they know they can find these jobs. But creating a sub-economic labor force puts the hurt on legitimate workers who expect to be paid at least a legal minimum wage, which at this point is set at $5.15 per hour at the Federal level. Many employers pay around $4.00 an hour for illegal workers, greatly impacting those in the legimate work force who would gladly do that work for $5.15. But the employers are saving over a dollar an hour per employee on wages alone, not to mention the cost of health benefits and matching withholding taxes, which are not paid for illegals. Since the illegals are working under the table they obviously don't pay taxes. And yet they are allowed free access to many government programs, including mandated K-12 education for their children, government subsidized health care and, in most states, access to higher education at the in-state tuition level. Since they aren't paying into the system, it's you and I who are subsidizing these services for and estimated 12 million illegals now here in our country. The bottom line is that you and I are making up the difference that these employers are saving by hiring illegal labor. I feel that in order to nip this problem at the root we need to come up with some sort of system that would penalize employers for hiring undocumented workers. We also need to find some way to allow people to come here from abroad and work on a temporary basis legally. This would require that they be registered somehow and pay into the system based on their level of employment. It should be the responsibility of the employer to deduct the appropriate amount from each paycheck to insure that each employee is contributing his/her fair share to the ecomony. This is all a very complex issue and hopefully our lawmakers will come up with the right solution. But it's one thing to enact laws and quite another to enforce them. We have plenty of laws in place now to regulate the flow of traffic across our borders. But they're not being enforced, as evidenced by the numbers of unregistered people residing here now. The problem can't be solved by building a wall on our southern border. Tunnels and other means of crossing that boundery will make that a futile and expensive effort. We need a guest worker program that adequately addresses the economic and population issues that are currently being impacted by illegal immigration. While we do have illegals coming from many parts of the world to live and work here, the biggest influx comes from Central America via Mexico. I know Mexican immigrants who tell me that it's nearly impossible to live in Mexico with wages for common laborers running at $30 per week or less, while the cost of food and gas are equal to or even higher than prices here in the U.S. I have two solutions to that: (1) Either close down the country and forget about it - put up big "OUT OF BUSINESS" signs at the border; or (2) annex Mexico and make it the 51st state. Seriously, the problem is of an economic nature. Mexico does not seem to be able to bring its economic level up to that of the U.S., despite the billions in subsidies that we provide for them. Somehow we should put some of the burden on the Mexican government to solve their own problem and keep their people at home. We certainly don't see Canadians streaming across our northern border to find work here. Their country provides for it's people, as does the U.S. But why should we be expected to take care of a whole 'nother country too? It really puts a strain on us economically as well as from a population growth standpoint. Today is the so-called "immigrant boycott day", whereby we are supposed to learn a lesson that we can't live without these people. I don't expect their absence from work today to cause any impact on us at all. Who cares? I think they should all be fired for not showing up today. And students should be counted as truant for missing school. Here in Denver this is predominantly a Hispanic issue, and, sadly, many businesses here are rearranging work schedules to accommodate these truants. But what's the point? They want to show us we can't do without them, and yet we most certainly can. If they all left the country today we would survive. It might take awhile to adjust, but these lawbreakers are not the backbone of our country as they contend. We are a nation of law-abiding citizens (for the most part) and we should not condone those who flaunt our laws. Another point of aggravation for me, Meri and our friends here is the fact many of those demonstrating in favor of open borders are out in our streets today waving Mexican flags around. What's that about, anyway? I want to ask these people the significance of their pride in a country that has forced them to go to another country in order to find a suitable economic situation. Shouldn't they be trampling the flag of a country that can't maintain it's own citizenship? The concept of honoring a country that forces it's citizens away totally baffles me. My position is, if you want to live here, respect the fact that you are welcome here. Don't wave a foreign flag in my face - stand up for why you came here and proudly wave Old Glory. Show respect and support for the country that has opened it's doors to you and provided you safe haven. Also, learn to speak American. I think it's BS to allow multi-lingual education in our schools. Teach them American from the get-go and require a certain level of proficiency in OUR language in order to qualify for citizenship, if not some of the services that the illegals are claiming as their right. And the ultimate insult is to have our National Anthem sung in a foreign language. NO - the lyrics were written in American to express our pride in OUR country. Why should this patriotic symbol be distorted and perverted by being sung in Spanish. It's bad enough to have to listen to Spanish being spoken by 99% of the shoppers in Walmart, let alone to have to go to a baseball game now and have time taken out for a second singing of OUR NATIONAL ANTHEM in Spanish!!! (OK, granted, in American the song does start out with "Jose, can you see...") In closing this rant I offer the following reminder: REMEMBER THE ALAMO!!! I welcome your responses.
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