When Will The Insanity End?

Illegal immigration. Border security. Healthcare. Social Security. Terrorism. The Constitution. Hot topics all, with some, seemingly, demanding a higher priority among our elected representatives than others, depending on the decibel level of the cries of outrage from the lower classes. An interesting word...."representative"....I am beginning to wonder exactly what it does mean.


A little while back, as I was making a short trip to run some errands, I heard a news broadcast from one of the more prominent Dallas radio stations. I had to do a mental double take to be sure I had heard what I thought I had heard. The news broadcaster was saying that the Dallas Independent School District had just "negotiated" an agreement with Mexico's Secretary of Education, to help provide more bi-lingual teachers for the Dallas Independent School District. About 40 such teachers would be brought to Dallas from Mexico under the H1B Visa program to help alleviate the shortage of "bi-lingual" teachers here. Then later I learned that the DISD is not the only school system to reach such a deal with Mexico. Several other States, in fact, around the USA have made similar deals.


Now isn't this an interesting turn of events. On the one hand we have an "out of control" illegal immigration" issue that our House of Representatives and Senate of the Federal Government are working feverishly, and I use the word "work" loosely, to pass legislation that would spend billions of U. S. Taxpayer dollars to build a massive 700 mile fence along our common border with Mexico in an attempt to stem the flow of illegal immigration across the Mexican border. On the other, we have administrators of our school systems, who are hired by the elected representatives of our local governments, making deals to import even more foreigners legally, to help teach the children of those who are already here, many of whom are here illegally. Am I missing something here? Does this picture look right to everyone except me? Am I the only one who doesn't get it? Or, perhaps I am one of the few who really does get it!


Why don't we take a step back here? Take a deep breath and see if we can relax our "boggled" minds for just a few minutes? I would like to make a point here that is extremely clear to me, whether anyone else can see it or not. Through our laws and regulations, we have created the incentives (carrots) that become the "magnets" for the world's (read, primarily Mexico's,) tired, poor, downtrodden, who come here seeking our economic bounty. Our Congressional, Executive, and Judicial Branches of government, over many years and many laws (some which include the perversion of our Constitution's 14th Amendment), have provided a very strong magnet that works a lot like the "energizer bunny" in reverse. Instead of just keeping on "going and going", it just keeps on "taking and taking", and the "taking" is self-perpetuating.


I should make very clear, that I have no problem with the Mexican people, or some of the other Latin American People, who are coming across the border. With the exception of the criminal element they are generally hard working family oriented and responsible. The bottom line is, however, that if they are here illegally, they are law breakers and we have to deal with them or suffer the consequences. Here's my case for radical change, and it has to come soon! Forget about the fence, the solution is to remove the carrots so that those who are coming will stop, and then stop the welfare for those who are here, and they will self-deport gradually over a period of time!


Carrot number one. We have convinced ourselves that as a generous, giving people, we must confer citizenship upon anyone whose mother can manage to get inside our boundaries before the birth occurs. Unconstitutional by just about any measure one can apply, but we allow it.

Carrot number two. We have promulgated regulations relating to "family reunification" that will eventually allow this new "citizen" the ability to bring every member of his immediate and extended family here too. In fact, taken to the extreme, the current "chain migration" policy would eventually extend to every person on the planet. How foolish is a policy that does that? But we do it anyway.


Carrot number three. We have chosen, generally, not to enforce our immigration laws to the extent that we allow local governments to decide whether or if they will even try to determine the legality of any immigrant that is exposed to their law enforcement and justice system. What good is it to be a "nation of laws", if we choose not to enforce them? But selective enforcement is allowed.


Carrot number four. We have structured our tax regulations so that the "poor" or "near poor" do not pay income tax, and, in fact, will qualify, through means testing, for the Earned Income Tax Credit. (This means that the rest of us pay them for working at low paying jobs, and having large families.) Statistics show that the hoards of Mexican's streaming across our borders fit into this category, and the percentage of those qualifying for the EITC by head of household, is almost 50%. We pay them for doing the low paying jobs, supposedly those that Americans won't do, so that we can have cheaper "everything" that we consume, or their employers will have a blacker bottom line.


Carrot number five. We also allow these same people in the previous category to access our "welfare" system through the same methods. Means testing, for which they generally qualify by default. They come here with little education or means to earn higher incomes, so they put a heavy burden on a wide variety of public programs. (Programs included in this list would be TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families), SSI, general assistance, Food stamps, public/rent subsidized housing, WIC, and Medicaid.) Nationally, almost 29% of immigrant households use a welfare program, compared to a little over 18% of natives.


There are a number of other "carrots" that I will only mention here in passing because I think by now anyone who has read this far is on mental overload. But there is the "Visa Lottery" (Luck of the draw, no special qualifications), and H1B (work) Visa's, which are grossly abused, just to name a couple. There are others as well, and when taken in the aggregate the opportunities that all these "carrots" present are simply an overwhelming enticement that cannot be ignored, not just by individuals in foreign nations, but the poor nations of the world themselves, who see this as a golden opportunity to lighten their load.


Finally, the dramatic increases in enrollment in many school districts around the country are being proved not to be just the "baby boomer echo" as has been suggested, but the additional 10.3 million school age children of immigrants between the ages of 5 and 17 who account for over 19% of the total school age population with the promise of increasing to 21% in the coming years. Unfortunately, the numbers of children of immigrant parents is disproportionately larger than the corresponding tax revenue collected from immigrants to pay for the additional burdens due to lower incomes generally for immigrant families. This "shortfall" has to come from somewhere, and guess where "somewhere" is? And now we are spending some of the "extra money" that is required to educate children who shouldn't even be a part of the education system in our country on teachers from their "home" country who will teach them in their native language. (Anyone want to venture a guess as to where these "foreign" teachers will send their newfound wealth?)


I guess if I could ask any question that I was absolutely sure I already knew the answer to, it would be, "Are we crazy?" And the question that I am absolutely sure that I don't have the answer to is, "When will the insanity end?" We have an immigration/healthcare/education crisis of epic proportions cutting deep into the fabric of the America that has tried to "save the world", and which threatens our very existence. Our "representatives" in the Congress, Executive, and Judicial Branches of our government don't seem to have the backbone to do anything about it. Is the power of "political correctness", and "special interests", so strong that our ruling elite will shirk their duties to uphold our Constitution for the tax paying American Citizens who voted them into office?



I certainly am not suggesting that it should happen, but if our "representatives" continue to ignore the political will of the People on these grave matters at hand they could look up one day and see an angry mob coming up the street with torches, clubs, ropes, and lots of tar and feathers, a very unpleasant thought, but a possibility none the less, and any potential "trial" would be very brief, something like, "The Republic has failed on your watch. Did you cast your vote for the American People?"


If the America that we have today (what's left of it) is to survive beyond the next 20 to 30 years, hard choices and changes must be made. Laws must be passed and enforced to take away the "carrots". Employers, including individual homeowners, who offer jobs for cheap illegal immigrant labor must be disciplined to the extent that is necessary to create a void where those jobs now flourish. Something other than a minor fine should be in order. Perhaps loss of liberty and treasure, just like a dope dealer? When illegal immigrants come here and low paying jobs are NOT plentiful, they will go home on their own. The creation of such a climate would be cheaper, by far, than any other method. The message has to be communicated to the world that America does not have the ability to be, nor should it be, the teat that nurses the world's problems. We must take a stand now, or we will eventually become a non-factor in world affairs, unable to support our citizens, and on an economic par with those developing nations who are electing to dump their poor on our shores today.


God save America.


Bill Reid is a life long resident of Texas. Born during World War II, and raised in West Texas on a dryland cotton farm during the 40's, and 50's. As the first of five boys, born to parents who were children of the depression, and raised during tough times on the farm, work became a way of life at an early age, and valuable lessons learned continue to serve him and his family well. Now retired from a succession of careers, including the military, equipment operator, truck driver, and business man, Bill is using his many talents and skills for the benefit of anyone who is seeks to better themselves. As a very active student of computer technologies, the Internet, and social and political issues Bill has become a very strong resource and willing mentor for young and old alike. You can learn more about Bill Reid and view his recorded presentation of "A Virtual Business Overview" here.

A Movement Worth Joining

The time has finally come. A time when it appears that the established governing authority must be "retrained". Will you be a part of the "movement" or will you remain in the "silent majority" and allow our country to wilt and die this self inflicted death?

As we move near to the election in November of 2008, there are many whose "idealistic ferver" has blinded their common sense. A confluence of events and circumstances have created a fertile field of discontents who are willing to accept ANY "change" in the hope that the change will be something positive for them. Such has been the case in a number of "overwhelmed" nations in the past, like the German Nation of the 1920's and 30's, post WW I. And there are others. The theme is "change", and, even though the promises are empty, the desperate are willing to accept anything other than what they are currently saddled with.

Unfortunately, too many of the desperate are looking for a "gift", or an "easy" way out of the circumstance that all too often is the result of an overburdened bureaucracy that has come to be more intent on serving itself, than the people to which it is obligated.

There is no "easy way out". It is time that those who have some semblence of common sense left to take control of the run away madness that is the Federal Government. It won't be easy, but it must be done and the only way to effect "good" change is to demand "good" change from those who cast the votes in our "Representative Republic".

This message of change is the right one. Not the empty rhetoric that we are hearing from the candidates who seek the highest offices in our Nation.

This is a movement worth joining. But we must begin now. If we wait until the situation is completely hopeless, then drastic measures will be necessary, as the speaker says, just like in the first American Revelution. Let's not allow our country to degenerate to that level. We can take back our government, no matter who the President is, if we will assume control of our elected representatives in the House of Representatives and the Senate of the United States. Follow the advice of the Speaker in the video behind the link here. Call the number. Demand "good change".