Crossing the Border, a look at immigration

So as promised about 7 weeks ago, here are some thoughts on immigration.

Listen, before I go into this, I feel like I need to lay out a few things.  I don't really agree with any major position I've heard in the news.  I'm sick of slogans and people just mindlessly repeating whatever talking points they have heard from their favorite talk radio cartoon.  Most importantly this is an issue that deals with real people, you know human beings, and any position that treats them as anything else is unjust.  So here it goes.

Here are my issues with what appears to be the right wing's positions. 
1. I don't get how the state of Arizona can pass a law requiring you to show proof of citizenship on a whim.  What are the criteria for when you have to show proof?  Who has the right to force this on someone? How does one do this exactly???  Does that mean you would have to have a national I.D. card??? (something the right wing seems to oppose)  Or should I just carry my birth certificate around?  But just because I was born on American soil does that make me a citizen or an.......
2. Anchor baby???  What the heck is this exactly?  An evil plot by illegals to come to America while they are pregnant and then wait 20+ years till that child is an adult so that he/she can file for parental citizenship.  Oh, that pesky 14th amendment to the Constitution.  I'm pretty sure this is how I became a citizen.  So you should also carry your parent' birth certificate??? Oh and their parents, and their parents, and ........... That's it! If you don't have documented proof that you are a direct descendant of a recognized Native American tribe then you can just go back to wherever your ancestors came from.
3. Do you really plan on rounding up millions of people?  To send them back across the border?  People are coming here to seek opportunity and a better life for their children.  Life is really really bad in northern Mexico right now and people have been crossing the "border" for thousands of years. (Both ways, in fact Texas was settled 200 years ago by Americans who were crossing into Mexico for land and opportunity, you have to be a fan of history to enjoy the irony)

Here are my issues with what appears to be the left wing's postions
1. um
2. well
3. they don't have one! And that is a huge problem.  At least have the guts to take a stance.  Don't spend all day spouting out obscure legal precedents on MSNBC.  Most people zoned out before you even started your sentence.  Why don't they take a position on the issue?  I think its because the left realizes the problem that immigration causes in the existing party structures.

They're caught in a pickle. (A baseball term when a runner is stranded between two bases and the opposing side keeps him there by throwing the ball back and forth)  Warning, I'm about to get really general here just to demonstrate the problem both sides face.  Obviously it is much more complicated.

The right's pickle: which base do you choose?  The wealthy and large-business class who would benefit from the dilution of the labor pool by allowing the immigrants to stay and compete for jobs(driving wages down)?Or the southern whites who would rather not see America get any "browner"?
The left's pickle: which base do you choose?  The immigrant, if they became citizens, would probably vote for you? (and you can feel very philanthropic as the different .edu's gave out humanitarian awards) Or do you consider the small businesses, trade unions, and labor workers who will see their earnings driven down by the influx of cheap workers?  (your traditional voters)

Whats the answer then?  Well, I'm not fully sure but I think we have to start with what the realities are and work our way form there.
We need to help end all the violence.  I'm sick of being the world's policeman, but this isn't half way around the world.  This is happening off our southern border.  This doesn't mean we should charge in, but we should be spending time meeting with the local and national Mexican govs and trying to find solutions.  These people want to be here.  So lets look at the positives of a growing population instead of just the negatives.  There are cities all across the mid-west that are shrinking and falling apart.  Some cities are bull-dozing houses just to re-claim the land.  Is there a way to direct the flow of people in order to turn the situation around for these metro areas.  Finally, we need to ask what is the just thing to do?  What choices honor our highest held beliefs and ideals?  How would we want to be treated if we were in their shoes?

Anyways, I'll end it on a lighter note. (one that will only make sense to "Arrested" fans)

Thanks for the read.

Michael: "I'm going to have to start putting people in the trunk."
Narrator: At that very moment, Buster was climbing into the trunk.
Buster: [videotaping himself] "Mother, when you see this tape, you will know that I've left. Not out of cowardice, but out of... man, it's tired in here!"
Narrator: Six minutes later, Michael stopped to drop off his mother's housekeeper.
Buster: [Buster climbs out of the trunk] "Mexico."
Narrator: In fact, Buster was in Santa Ana, a town six minutes inland from his own, but the combination of losing his glasses and breathing carbon monoxide had impaired Buster's judgment.
Buster: [seeking shelter] "This will keep me safe from the hot Mexican sun."
Lupe: "Excuse me, what are you doing?"
Buster: "I'm trying to find a place to live!"

Toy Woe Ta

Toyota Motors is facing some serious problems.  Let's be clear about this, there is definitely something wrong with some of their cars, Toyota probably knew this could be an issue, they built the cars any way, and now that people are dying from these problems Toyota is scrambling like mad to figure out a way to save face.

 Toyota CEO before Congress (who wouldn't want to save that face?)

There are hundreds of thousands if not millions of these cars on the road in the US.  Even if just a small fraction of these cars have sudden acceleration issues, that still leaves hundreds of cars with problems.

I don't really blame Toyota, I blame the Government...... right???? It's all their fault! Right???  That's all I am hearing.  So what are our political superheros saying???? how are they making our lives better????? well, let me enlighten you.

This is FLOW the FAULT FINDER(insert political talking head here)

she finds the Government at fault for everything

(The next section is much better if you use a cheesy super hero voice when text is italicized)

Last month, Flow blamed the government for raising fuel standards a few years back, which forced Toyota to use electronic gas pedals in order to save weight.  Those horrible senators! How dare they want us to burn less fossil fuels! Go! Flow! Go! tell us more about this! Yes, the politicians raised mpg standards, because some of them want to try and prevent global warming, didn't they see all the snow last month? Global warming is a lie!  This same big government policy is going to be taking over your health care soon!!!!!  I wish I was making all this stuff up :(  Really? I mean Really??? So you are saying its the Gov's fault all this is happening because they got involved in the car business? So no Gov involvement is Flow's policy right?

Not so fast evil doer! Last week Flow blamed the Gov for not doing enough to prevent this. Say what?  Yes it seems that Toyota has a lobbying firm that has made contributions to politicians in order to let them do their thing.  You know like every other large company in the world that pays off DC.  Flow may have a valid point here.  Since several of the members of congress which will conduct the hearing of Toyota actually received campaign contributions from Toyota.  But alas Flow could not stay on target, soon she was on to attacking certain politicians and then it bled into labor unions and then, well, the usual, and these are the people that are going to be running our health care!!!  This should have been a good example as to why companies should be limited in their campaign contributions.  So Gov should be involved more??? or less??? not sure on this. Sounds like they took their pay off and turned a blind eye.  So essentially the Gov did nothing, isn't that what Flow wants???? Less regulation????

But the Eeeeeevil Plot Thickens

This week Flow has a found a new fault.  The Gov is now piling on and taking advantage of Toyota.  How dare they! Those foul creatures, are they even human!?!  Now that Big Gov has taken over GM and Chrysler they are using this to their advantage.  And wasting tax payer money going after what should be a private matter between consumer and producer.  Not only that, but Gov's evil side kick the Press is now in on the act.  Reporting on all the different stories of peoples cars suddenly accelerating.  Surely these are all frauds. If I was driving a car and it started to speed up, I would just step on the brakes. These must be sick people the Press has paid off, since some of them are willing to put their lives at risk for their 15 min of fame!  .....and these people want to take over our heath care!  

I really think Flow took this too far.  Hey, I don't care what you would do if your car started speeding up and you were prepared for it.  These people had about 30 seconds to asses the situation and make a decision.  They didn't have hours to plan the perfect way to stop a run away car.  So quit telling me they are faking it.  I would have stepped on the brakes with both feet, and pulled the emergency brake, and put the car in neutral, and turned the car off!  Just, stop it!  13 people have died from this just in the last month.  Let me repeat that.... 13 people..... with families and lives...... just since the recall was announced.  So let's stop using them as political ammunition to take shots at the Gov.

Here is where I land on this.

1. Toyota built the cars, they are the ones to blame, they should do every thing to make this right.

2. The Gov should do everything it can legally do to make sure this gets fixed.

3. We should use this to make cars safer and people better educated as to what to do in an emergency.

4. Flow needs to hang up her cape for while.

Thanks for the read.

Do you health care?

Can we have an open and honest conversation about this without one of us being labeled a socialist and the other being called uncaring?  This is my biggest issue with what both political extremes are doing.  They are making it a "all or nothing" "for or against" "life or death" line in the Alamo sand. You aren't allowed to ask questions or try to be reasonable and no one is putting it in a context that makes it easy for us "normal" people to understand.
Yes, a small % of yahoos thrive on political jargon.

I'm not one of them.
And chances are you aren't either.

All I know is that we are going to have to change and we can do better.

But,  "America has the best health care system in the world" this is probably true, but so what? How do you prove or disprove best?  Don't look at me like I'm crazy when I say we could do better. "What country has better health care? oh yeah? well why don't you just move there?"  Come on be reasonable.  So we have the best health care, and blockbuster used to be the best way to rent movies.

We used to get in the car, drive to the buster, wander the rows trying to find what we want, take it home, forget to take the movie back the next day, and end up paying late fees.  Now we either get DVD's from a redbox, use on-demand, or watch movies online.

GM used to be the biggest and "best" car company.

  

Then they failed to be innovate and change with the times.  Then Toyota became the latest greatest and everything was great for them....... till their cars started accelerating on their own.

Let me list some things and see if they sound right:

*Health care expenses are one of the leading causes for American's to go bankrupt.

*Medical malpractice is the third leading cause for death in the US

*American spends 18% of its GDP on health care costs, Canada and UK around 12%

*Billions and billions are wasted every year on coverage litigation.

So what do we do?  Well..... we have to be open minded, and we have to listen, and we have to come up with a solution that is going to make things better.  I don't want the government intricately involved in what I eat or how I live my life.  But I also realize that there is a place for government to be there for people who need public help. Since neither extreme is going to be reasonable or come down from their soap boxes, its time for the 90% of us in the middle to start talking to one another.

Leave me a comment and tell me what you think.  If I get enough responses I'll send them to our officials.

Thanks for the read.