Ruben Navarrette Jr., a CNN contributor offers a reasonable response for fixing our immigration system.
SAN DIEGO, California (CNN) — In a recent commentary, I spelled out what bothers many Hispanics about the immigration debate. In response, many readers demanded to know — for all my criticisms — how I would go about fixing our broken immigration system. I thought they’d never ask.
First, let’s keep it real. Congress doesn’t have the appetite to reform the immigration system — no matter which party is running the show. It’s always the same story. After all the huffing and puffing, any workable solution needs to have two components: employer sanctions with teeth and a tamper-proof identification card for all U.S. workers to tell employers who is eligible to work. Republicans won’t allow the first; Democrats won’t allow the second. Game over.
But, if it were so inclined, here’s what Congress should do:
1) By way of enforcement — stiffen penalties against employers with a “three strikes” law (first offense, a warning; second, $10,000 fine; third, 10 days in jail); revise the 1996 Immigration Reform and Control Act by removing the word “knowingly,” as in employers only face punishment if they knowingly hire an illegal immigrant; create an identification card; instead of adding more border patrol agents (the agency can’t meet hiring goals as it is), give the agents already on the line better tools, including tunnel detection equipment; extend the deployment of the National Guard on the border, now set to expire on July 15; continue workplace raids but, for heaven’s sake, arrest an employer every once in a while; and speed up deportations.
2) By way of legalizing the undocumented — make it contingent on meeting enforcement goals, or “triggers”; establish a cutoff so that only those who can prove that they’ve been in the country for five years or more are eligible to apply for legal status and deport more recent arrivals; require applicants to learn English, pay a $5,000 fine, undergo criminal background checks, return to their home country to be processed, and take their place in the back of the line behind all those who are trying to enter the country legally; and, for those who are eventually given legal status, institute a lifetime ban on receiving welfare, Medicaid or food stamps but allow them to collect what they’ve contributed to Social Security.
3) By way of reforming the system for those who immigrate legally — increase the allotment of green cards and work visas, including H1B visas for highly skilled workers; triple the number of legal immigrants currently admitted from 1 million to 3 million, or 1 percent of the total U.S. population; abandon the current system of using family reunification as the main criteria for admitting new immigrants but don’t adopt the silly and offensive idea of a point system that rewards education and skills; instead, let the market drive the process by making labor demands the major criteria so (how’s this for radical?) we always have jobs for those who come here instead of admitting engineers and doctors if what we really need are teachers and nurses.
This isn’t brain surgery. But some of this will take courage and common sense. The bad news is, those can be scarce commodities in Washington.
We should never give up one ounce of freedom for this idiotic, cowardly nativism sweeping the country. The cultural pain of this immigration wave will subside in one generation but the freedom we surrender might never be regained. It’s not worth it.
1)Beat up employers who create jobs??? Self-defeating.
Identification Card? Not just No…HELL NO!
2)Not bad but remove the requirement to learn English. It’s a direct assault on freedom of speech. You’re strengthening the hand of the nativists.
3)Yes, the free market can regulate immigration levels. However, no dual citizenship.
JUST for GIGGLE and JIGGLES,
The answer maybe Jenny Craig.
I am posting the following here JUST in case it doesn’t show up under the 1st thread ( bloggers for borders on BVBL)
NO one can say that I am LESS patriotic 🙂
LOL
Here it is:
http://www.bvbl.net/index.php/2008/06/23/our-unsecured-borders-national-suicide/
6. starryflights said on 23 Jun 2008 at 6:14 pm:
I don’t care for the name calling at all.
7. Red Dawn said on 23 Jun 2008 at 7:07 pm:
Starryflights & Advocator,
I agree with the name calling.
“I know you are but what am I shit”
It is just a game of blaming SOMEONE.
Advocator, I would say you are and (HAVE) been guilty of this in your comments, so seriously, WTF?
Depending on where you sit to watch the show ( the venue depends on which blog), a fat broad or a standing man with hanging balls can obstruct the view.You can’t go wrong with looking up.
8. Red Dawn said on 23 Jun 2008 at 7:17 pm:
Advocator,
What did you mean by repelling this invasion? With Jenny Craig?
Seriously, the fat broad shit is old. And yes, I have a few extra pounds to carry and am tired of carrying MY ass around but that is NOT the point.
The point is the stupid ass name calling that only gets in the way and I would think ” Gospel Greg” would agree…let’s see if my comments stand.
🙂
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pB53M1kGM3A
Leave a Reply
Mackie,
I an so in agreement with you and good ole Ben:
“All human situations have their inconveniences. We feel those of the present but neither see nor feel those of the future; and hence we often make troublesome changes without amendment, and frequently for the worse.”
Benjamin Franklin
hmmmmm….Red Dawn, over on the bvbl it says your comments were edited. I see a couple asterisks in the place of ‘i t’ but thats all. How come that is a naughty word in one post but not in the other. Help me grasp why you were ….( booming voice)……EDITED. I guess that is one way to get your point across. Post it here.
HSS! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~:<
Naverette has a good approach. I like it.
What’s wrong with a National ID card? You already have:
1. A Social Security Card/Number
2. A Driver’s License from One State or another.
3. A Voter’s Registration Card.
4. At least one Credit Card that is accepted internationally.
5. A Health Insurance Card (if you have insurance).
We are not that difficult to find and track by any governmental agency you know.
What’s wrong with mandating at least an understanding of English? How can you pass the Citizenship test that is given in English if you have no understanding of it? How can you pass the test for a driver’s license that is in English? Its a fact that English is the predominant language of the land so the minority speakers (whatever language is their own) need to have a modicum of understanding of the main language.
A common language unites us.
Red Dawn,
BENJI was da shizzle! Unfortunately even he was susceptible to some nativism when it came to the german immigrants of his day. He said the same things about them that lil’Gregg’s peeps be saying about us brownies now. All of a sudden the descendants of those Germans don’t like brownies no more, even though we’re still sweet as always, haha. Well, us brownies won’t let it get us down, we still know how to party. You wont see this at a booring HSM meeting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QS7wWzwak4
Lucky Duck,
You’re well slaved into the matrix. Your children will inherit your slavery.
1.You’re not an animal. You are free. SSN has far surpassed it’s original intent. We should eliminate them.
2.Drivers License should not be to prove your identity, it should only be to prove that you passed the driving test.
3.Maybe get rid of this
4 & 5. Bullshit
Exactly…that’s a problem. Your anonymity is your first line of defense when it comes to your freedom.
I would hope that love of freedom is a longer lasting glue. After all, remember the civil war. What language did both sides speak?
Lucky Duck. Your children will inherit your slavery, or they will inherit your freedom.
You choose.
I like the thumb-print method. Your print is your I.D.
Mackie, it’s what people DO with the information they have about you, not HAVING the information that is the problem. In times when communities were smaller, everyone knew everyone else’s business all the time. The only thing that has changed now is that the word-on-the street has been put into a computer. Personally, I could care less so long as I am left alone to live my life in peace. THAT is freedom.
Moon-howler,
At least he posted it and I suspect it to be edited later.
Lucky Duck ,
“What’s wrong with a National ID card? You already have’
True! So why add ONE more when just ONE of those can destroy a persons life with id theft? I would think there are better odds at having ALL of the above but your talking to a gambler..LOL
mackie,
Good video and I enjoyed it. The point I was want to make is pretty much the same to Lucky and that would be we have to LOOK AT THE BIG PICTURE 🙂
Mackie, on some levels you preach anarchy.
You already have a SSN, so if the Congress declared THAT card the National ID, you’d be in, regardless of if you liked it or not.
No Mackie, a Driver’s license should prove who YOU are. If you are driving drunk in an accident, the police, the public and the courts have a RIGHT to know that you are who you claim to be. Driving, by law, is not a right. I don’t want your brother, your father or your son to be using your license. A license should prove WHO you are. The Circuit Court for Florida upheld that concept last year when a Muslim woman wanted to be photographed on her license wearing her veil and the courts refused.
Some form of Identification SHOULD be presented to vote. The Supreme Court, in this term, just upheld a voter identification requirement for several States.
No BS on Health Insurance ID or Credit Card. Your health information is already kept and shared by how many Walgreens nationwide? How many Giant Markets? Get over it, you can’t prevent it.
So Mackie, do we want 27 States speaking English, 14 speaking Spanish, 8 speaking Urdu and 1 speaking German? There has to be some uniformity among the 50 States and language is it.
In the Civil War, both sides felt they spoke for freedom on their side. One side was dramatically wrong, but one fought for Nation and the other for State’s Rights.
YOU Mackie my friend, like me, are ALREADY in the Matix…I just showed you how.
Lucky,
I know this was for mackie but:
“YOU Mackie my friend, like me, are ALREADY in the Matix…I just showed you how.”
My reaction to this was “Oh God!” You are right and truthfully, it cannot change. ( this is my religious belief..as it was written)
Red Dawn, we are all already in the systems of so many levels of Goverment – the County has records on you, as does the State, as does the Feds. So many private entities do also, your doctor’s, your medical insurance agency, all three major credit history companies, your credit card companies, your home and auto insurance companies, geez, even your cell phone company.
Did you know that private companies and Law Enforcement agencies purchase software that gives them information on you such as your electric bill, your sewer bill, your water bill as well as the information of anyone with a name close to yours? You can even have the software identify neighbors on the block as you. So your address and your personal information is already out there.
So what is the problem with a National ID? That information is already in so many people’s hands.
Lucky,
You left out the grocery stores to the department stores that ask for your phone # or zip code.
You are right we are already in the matrix.
On a side note, I will tell you I have been getting calls at my home and WORK about people that I have know in my lifetime ( family, friends and EVEN the PRIOR owner of a home I bought in Centreville) to try to somehow connect the dots to get a hold of them to pay a bill.
Why not embed our national id card maybe as a memory chip into our forehead or hand? As they say [sarcasm button off].
Lucky Duck,
No, government HAS it’s place. But it’s place is dictated by us, not the other way around. The price of freedom is pain.
Haha. Yes, it is a strong net that has been woven…but it has holes, if you look for them. And there are many of us who have found the holes. We’re working on creating more, and we help each other. We see whats coming. We’re getting ready. The biggest hole is simply to get out of this country before the 1% ruling elite drag the 90% sheeple like you into a nuclear war with Islam over cheap oil. Once that war begins, all those of age will be enslaved under the modern day slavery called conscription, and literally fed into the machine. Welcome to the machine Unlucky Duck. If there is any mercy for you…it will be that you will die before you realize that your children were fed into the machine…by your own hands:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00BONBEpy84
It’s quite sad to see you wallowing in your own chains…embracing them…passing them onto your children.
‘The sins of the father are visited upon the son’
Mackie, a common language does unite. It doesn’t mean that you have to give up any other language or freedom of speech, just learn to communicate in the common language, which obviously you can do. In fact, promoting a common language was one of the measures to prevent genocide, something I would not think you’d be averse to.
Very briefly, cause tonight I am going to bed before 2:00 a.m.!
1)I am uncomfortable with the idea of having one more form of ID, I have enough, if what I have won’t suffice, then figure out why it isn’t working. I inherently believe that in order to have a safe society, it is fair to have some formal identification. I just don’t see why we need to add another layer with a national I.D.
2)There is no way you can ask people, who have been in this country for several years, established homes, work, families, etc, to go home and wait to come back in to the country. I see that as having a devestating effect on all already vulnerable economy.
3)Increase border security with technology while concurently helping Mexico create a better job market for their own citizens, and most importantly, help them deal with the drug cartel. I would rather invest money in that direction than billions on a wall.
4) I believe we are a salad bowl, not a melting pot, but any really good salad has an awesome dressing that coats all the different veggies, that “dressing” should be English. Communication is the key to any healthy society, and if we can’t communicate, we create confusion and misunderstandings.
We have a common language. English. That should not and does not imply that English is the only language spoken. However for government purposes, it is the language of the country. Can you imagine how expensive it would be to have to provide official forms in 300 different languages?
People who refuse to learn English in this country give up any economic power that might have been theirs. There are exceptions, but very few.
For many years people have studied English because of it is the language of money. I expect Chinese is the new English. Americans who can speak chinese will be able to call their own shots.
On the other hand, many Americans without a basic knowledge of a little spanish are already finding things a little awkward. That is probably why push 1 for English 2 for Spanish gives some major heartburn.
-RIP George Carlin-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaS2bRGS86c
RedDawn
You crack me up! LOL
I loved George Carlin, thanks for the youtube post Bring it On.
Dignidad:
We had the American Civil War in this country where more Americans died than in all our other wars combined. Both sides spoke the same language, worshiped the same god, and honored the same constitution. Your theory shatters in the face of this reality.
Keep your english and your attempt to place a monopoly on our culture that suits you. No one is obligated to speak any language so that you may feel more comfortable.
The price of freedom is pain. Human beings are not perfectible. They will do evil things just as they will do good things. Genocides happen mostly because of gun control. One side imposes gun control on the other and then slaughters them wholesale. Or even worse, some arrogant, farcical organization like the UN goes into places it doesn’t belong like Rwanda and actually disarms the the people thereby turning them into victims in the name of ‘world peace’. Then, after laying the groundwork for genocide, they abandon the helpless victims to their fate and breathlessly blame the US for avoiding entangling itself in a quagmire.
After all, it’s kind of hard to commit genocide on someone who is shooting high caliber slugs at you. Genocide doesn’t seem so much fun anymore under those conditions.
Good post, Elena. Thank you! I totally agree.
Mackie, your paranoia is striking.
Those on both extremes of the immigration issue offer little help in
reaching a viable resolution – so it is of value to have suggestions
like those from Mr. Navarrette that offer rational ideas on what
actually might work.
Would add:
– Migrants cost LOCAL government money even as they fill federal coffers.
There should be a plan to mitigate the cost to the most heavily impacted areas.
– There must be a reasonable range of laws that jurisdictions can adopt and
enforce to maintain stable neigborhoods standards even through demographic
changes in those communities.
What is wrong with you people? I like the broken immigration system the way it is because I can take advantage of it! I am entitled to everything in this country, including free medical care, free education for my children, even those born outside the country. I am entitled to have multiple children born in your maternity wards, while giving you false payment information. You will pay for their births. As they grow older, you will pay to subsidize their food through WIC, and as long as I can keep her pregnant, you will pay to feed my woman too, because I, my mate, and my children are entitled. I am entitled to work and not pay payroll taxes. I am entitled to stand outside the local 7/11 to solicit this work, and while doing so drink Modelo Esecial beer. If I have to releive myself, I am entitled to do so wherever I please. I am entitled to drive a car without a license and I refuse to be bothered by insurance. I will buy fake documents on 18th street in DC, and will use your children’s social security numbers whenever I please, to take out loans and mortgages, and if I can no longer pay, I will default on them. I will live wherever I damn well please, with whomever I care to do so, your local zoning laws be damned. I don’t care about social graces, and I will leer at your wives and daughters and catcall in spanish. I don’t care about you silly “age of consent laws”. No girl is too young for me. If I need strong bonds of companionship, I am entitled to band together with my countrymen and form a gang, and we are entitled to engage in all manner of criminal activity, up to and including preying and victimizing people of our common ethnic background.
And when you object to my behavior, I will call you a racist and threaten to sue you and your governement. I will get my liberal benefactors to carry my fight to the highest court, and get your elected officials to pander to me. You know what? I believe that I will win this invasion. Too many of you are guilt-ridden idiots who can’t see what I am doing. The rest of you are elitests who believe you will be able to exploit me for your own political and financial gain, but in the end it is I who will be in power over you. The few who oppose me on rational and legal grounds, I will marginalize you with names like “biggot”, “racist”, and “nativist”, and there are plenty of your countrymen who will help me do it.
One for the road,
Long post, just say “I disagree to think about a solution”. I met a lot of Polish illegal aliens in Chicago that don’t fit your stereotype.
I agree with Poor Richard!
wrong point.give chance who came legally.
bad idea.All the people who came had their own dream.
TH – I’ve met a lot of illegal aliens right here in PWC (at the 7-11) that do fit my stereotype. And we are talking about PWC here, not Chicago. Why is it that every time I go to buy some beer at the 7-11 I have to see all these illegals hanging out there looking for a handout?
Lucky Duck:
One day I woke up, and these harmless working class people were all being driven out of their homes and exiled from our county because a few of them well ill mannered and rowdy. It’s staring to spread all over the country. A loving son who takes his undocumented mother to the supermarket to buy medicine is now a felon in Oklahoma.
Unlucky Duck, your complacency is striking.
Mackie, I am not complacent…you don’t know me at all. You have no idea.
As I wrote earlier, you have a different perspective on illegal immigration, which I can respect, but do not agree with. Obviously you will not agree with my perspective, but it is my right to possess it, as you do with yours.
If all of these “harmless working class people” that are being force to leave are illegal, well, there are consequences for all of our actions. As I have stated many times, I too, would try to do anything to better my life and that of my children including sneaking in to the Country or overstaying my Visa, but I would know that there is a price to pay if caught. As long as the actions taken by the US are lawful, well, they are our laws. If you don’t agree, vote ’em out.
Lucky Duck,
I am wondering, you do respond to Mackie’s point? I too sometime have wondered if Mackie is summarily “over the top”, but then he brakes it down to this simple example, and then I wonder about myself instead! I think being outside of the “mainstream and paranoid ” can sometimes be in the eye of the beholder.
Here is an off topic analogy about being seen as WAY out of the mainstream. I had a planned homebirth with midwives with the birth of my second child. Once I did all the extensive research, I came to the conclusion that our maternity health care system is broken. It serves the needs of the doctors, hospitals, and insurance companies. I cringe when I see the c-section rates reaching epidemic poportions. There are people who believed I was paranoid, not trusting the birth model in hospitals that has become so accepted, but I saw it quite differently. I believe that I was perfectly reasonable to see the hospital as more of a risk than a place of safety for a healthy mom with no pregnancy complications. Others of course, saw me as over-reacting and distorting the facts that I contended so clearly documented the risks of our current materal health care system. I believe that sometimes we live in a bubble, seeing only what is right in front of us, but once we search a little deeper, a whole new world can open up.
Lukcy Duck, I see that you responded to Mackie. Your point is well taken, we do have laws. But how can we reconcile laws that may be out of touch with our economic needs that have fueled the influx of immigrants? How do we reconcile a civil offense, like crossing the border, with our need as a civil society to be humane in our implementation of laws?
Elena,
Do you think c-section rates were hitting epidemic proportions because the doctors, hospitals, and insurance companies had come to see it as a more reliable source of profit than a regular childbirth? Are they tricking the vulnerable mothers into forced c-sections? I don’t know anything about this subject and I’m curious. If that is what you’re saying, it’s truly an ominous sign. How they could so easily exploit mothers giving birth to their children is deeply disturbing. I haven’t heard anything about this issue on the news. Our media drops the ball once again.
Hi All,
Please read the libertarian party’s stance on the illegal immigration mess and how to fix it. I think it’s the best stance yet from any political party. In an insane world, sanity can seem out of place:
http://www.lp.org/issues/immigration
1. A Social Security Card/Number
Yes, every US Citizen has one by now.
2. A Driver’s License from One State or another.
Not everyone drives believe it or not –
3. A Voter’s Registration Card.
Not everyone votes, believe it or not (or has registered to vote).
4. At least one Credit Card that is accepted internationally.
Not everyone has a credit card, believe it or not.
5. A Health Insurance Card (if you have insurance).
Not everyone has health insurance, believe it or not.
We do have a national ID – it is called a passport – it is the Only nationwide identifier that the US Government has for civilians – and it should be required that you get one. I can present you SS Card – it means nothing – no identifiing info, just a name and a number, so it is not an identifier.
Elena, I see your example of your medical decision as being “outside the box” but that was a personal choice that you made, one that was well thought out, researched, planned, valid and legal, against a broken system.
I don’t see that simply because our immigration system is overwhelmed and broken (we all agree on that) that we can simply disregard any parts we want and go from there by following our own choices on what is most correct to us as individuals. We, the citizens, the voters, are the ones to influence the changes anyway we want to through our elected government. If that government is not doing it, we change it by the legal process we have lived by for 232 years. We reconcile laws in a legal process that is set forth by our input to our government. I don’t agree with HSM but they influenced the process while the rest of us were sleeping. The counter balancers influenced it back by voicing the opposition to their BOCS members.
Our tax system is broken and unfair, do we pick and choose what taxes not to pay? Aren’t there consequences for doing this? You and I pay taxes even though its a broken system we may not agree with.
If we don’t follow the laws, any laws we don’t like, what type of civil society do we have, if any? We reconcile our broken immigration system with a fair, lawful and carefully planned path to citzenship with definitive checkpoints that must be met or people are out of the chance for a pathway and then must be deported.
Lucky Duck, you miss the point of this article and discussion. The current immigration laws were never intended to be written and followed as the “rule of law” contingent so often implies. Its’ both naive and uninformed. If you go back and read the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, the idea was to move undocumented people into the system, the to give small businesses and farmers the ability to continue to hire unskilled, undocumented workers with no fear of penalty.
Further, there is no real evidence that most undocumented people want a path to citizenship. The majority would like to work here and be able to return home when they want. Our own border policies have compelled millions of people to stay here because it’s too dangerous to risk a trip back, so they set up housekeeping here. Then after 10 or 20 years, sure they want to stay. That should not be a big surprise
When it comes to immigration, our policies are our own worst enemies.
We have to go after citizens–small and large business owners who profit from the work of undocumented labor. They cannot get wrist slaps (as the current laws allow), but serious fines and prison time. Once they understand that they can’t get away with exploiting the labor, they’ll start to come into line. We’ll also need temporary visas, and as far as I know, no county IN THE WORLD that is able to control their immigrant entries have ever done so without a national I.D. card.
This is just the reality, folks.
One mention aside about the medical system and c-section rates: this is very old news. Doctors know that c-sections are much more dangerous to women and newborns than vaginal births, but they continue to do them because 1) they make more money and 2) they are more convenient. If you want specific references to this in the medical literature, just let me know.
Sara, the 1986 reform addressed the situation as it was in 1986, leaving no room for expansion of the immigrant labor pool – hence more people coming here illegally for jobs that have been created since 1986. The reform did not adjust for jobs inflation, so to speak. That’s not naive or uninformed, its a fact. And yes, Sara, the 1986 Act was written as a law to be followed, not just on a “casual basis”.
You again speak of the “the present laws don’t work, so we’ll disregard them and do what we want” mindset. You don’t like the laws? Work to get them changed. You’re right Sara, that stiff penalties on the employers will end the hiring and force the expansion of legal temporary work visas – thats a good thing. But selective obedience to parts of the law you favor isn’t working and never will.
Lucky Duck:
I do my best to avoid the tax system every chance I get as do most Americans. The income tax is actually unconstitutional. The Fed Govt is not given the power to levy a direct tax on We the People. Reason being is that it makes you a slave of the Fed Govt.
Of course, if you don’t pay those guys with shiny badges, lofty titles, and cheap Burlington Coat Factory suits come to your door. They come to your door, freeze your assets and throw you in prison…until you learn to obey the Rule of Law…a law that doesn’t exist that is…
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1656880303867390173&q=freedom+to+fascism&ei=xEphSILdBIyArgKTosmxBA&hl=en
Mackie, I said a common language unites. I didn’t say that it deemed it impossible to have conflict or wars. If you truly want to be part of a solution, it would behoove you to be more open minded.
Sounds like you are uncomfortable with the dominance that English has in this culture. I’m sorry you feel that way, it was not my intent to offend.
Lucky Duck,
Actually, home birth may be a more appropriate analogy than I first thought. You see, in the state of Virginia, until three years ago, it was illegal to have Certified Midwife at your birth. She could be trained, she could have all the skills required to become certified, but she couldn’t ACTUALLY take the test. I will not go into details of my birth, but suffice it to say, I had quality care, the best I could get, nothing was more important than the safety of me and my baby. Just a few days ago, the AMA (American Medical Association), has put forth a resolution deeming home birth unsafe, not based on any emperical evidence, but because they choose to wield their power against the rights of families to choose their birth setting. Virginia has already begun falling back on the rights of women to choose their provider and birth setting. There is the possiblity of a panel being set up to assess which moms can choose homebirth and which ones can’t. So it may become illegal for moms to choose where they will give birth, but is that fair? Is it fair that individual rights are being trampled because a billion dollar business may lose a small pittance of their cash cow to women who choose a safe alternative birth? I guess my point is this Lucky Duck, you are right that we have laws, but how do we navigate those laws if they are inherently unfair? We work to change them, I agree, but the process is slow, and people are suffering in the meantime.
Elena,
It reminds me of this story about homeschooling in California
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/07/MNJDVF0F1.DTL
Dignidad,
I’m not uncomfortable with the dominance, what a fitting word, that English has in this country. I just think that forcing people to speak any particular language is wrong whether that language is English or Spanish, it’s still wrong to use the power of the State to ram down your self centered desire to force everyone else to speak the language you understand. Instead of forcing others to conform themselves to you, why don’t you advocate that those who cannot speak Spanish should freely choose to do so? If everyone can speak both spanish and english, then the problem is solved right?
Rd Dawn,
If I am able to give my children homeschooling, I will definitely do so. What better way to raise your kids?
Mackie,
Hats off to the option of homeschooling 🙂
Well, no, because some speak Italian, German, French, Portuguese, Farsi, Urdu, Arabic, Pashtun, Thai, Russian, Swahili…we’ll have a regular Tower of Babel. No one will be able to understand anyone else. That should go a long way towards peace, cooperation and understanding.
Mackie, it’s clear that you despise everything about America, don’t you? You continually talk about a very grim future full of hatred and genocide, because you don’t like the way things are now, and and you are arming yourself for some future imagined war against God knows what.
Perhaps you can find a more enlightened, progressive place to live, one where ALL cultures are respected, where immigrants–both legal and illegal–are embraced wholeheartedly and provided with nothing but the best the country has to offer–let’s see, how about Mexico?
Emma,
Why do you assume we can’t live in peace with one another if we speak more than one language? They used to say we could never live in peace if we allowed more than one race to have equal rights. They also used to say it would be a disaster if we allowed more than one gender to have equal rights. What are you afraid of? As long as everyone’s freedom and rights respected, why wouldn’t the country get along. Ahhh…maybe that’s the problem. Because the ‘dominant’ group WILL violate the rights of the minorities by forcing them to assimilate. And the minorities will resist, and then the ‘dominant’ group will say it was because we spoke a different language, not because we were stepping on their necks. Just like the neocons say the muslims hate us for our freedoms not because we’ve been supporting brutal dictatorships throughout the middle east for decades.
Yes, I believe the future is grim. But there is hope if we educate ourselves about the situation we’re in. American people have much more common sense than their leaders. I’m not arming myself for a future war. I think it might be a good idea to leave the country until our political leaders begin to behave with some sanity though.