On the Presidential Address
May 15, 2006
I just sat through the Prez’s address - despite the fact that my Pistons are on TV tonight. I’m so tired of politics. I didn’t want to watch it, but I felt like I had to - you know - at least to familiarize myself with the lunacy that runs our country these days. So I’ve got a quick rant, and then it’s back to the basketball game…
In case you didn’t know, according to G-Dub: Immigrants drain our social services like schools and hospitals. They also bring crime to our neighborhoods. And we are a nation of laws that mus be enforced.
For starters, the case that "immigrants are a drain on our social services" is dubious at best, there are certainly other cities like Marshalltown, Iowa, that have greatly benefitted from an influx of Mexican (or otherwise) immigrants. And insofar as their relatively cheap labor frees up money to be used in the pursuit of other human desires, it’s probably a wash. Even assuming that they do severly tax our system, it is not necessary to assume we need to eliminate their numbers - one could argue that the "urban poor" are an equally significant drain on our economic safety nets, as well. What to do about them? I’d say, and I’ve said it before,< here, and also here) that this "problem" is easily solved by eliminating or greatly reducing the benefits provided by such safety-net programs.
The notion that "they bring crime" to our communities is equally specious. Among every possible socio-economic division of humanity, there persists a subgroup that is inclined to use force and fraud against others. The possibility that "some" of them "might" bring crime to our neighborhoods is never valid justification for preventing all (or most) of them from taking the opportunity to better their futures.
Last but not least… I have to chuckly at Bush’s suggestion that "we are a nation of laws that must be enforced." I think that among this group - this goes without saying. The current administration has basically shat on every law, every precedent that isn’t in its immediate, proximate interest; Constitution bedamned. Despite the fact that a great many of the laws are absolutely anathema to liberty, I do believe we are a nation of laws, and largely, the laws must be enforced. But it is never proper for the government to determine which laws it is bound to obey, and which ones it can ignore and when.
cross-posted at Bureaucrash
Related posts:
- On Bernanke’s 1/17 Address
- Exploitation: Immigrants and Slaves
- Illegal Immigration
- If You’re Going to Commit Armed Robbery…
- Won’t Someone Please Think of the Children?
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