dropdeadpolitics

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Arizona is going about illegal immigration the wrong way.  The recent bill to pass the state Senate, that has already passed the House, is headed to the governor.  He should veto it.  The bill doesn’t address the actual problem.  Rather it merely addresses the symptoms.  It’s a common push by conservatives who think that tough enforcement of the law against illegal immigrants is the answer.  It’s not.

Immigration works like a flowing fluid.  When you have air in a balloon, it’s at a higher pressure than the air outside the balloon.  Let the end go and the air rushes out to fill the massive void in the room.  This is referred to as a pressure gradient.  There is an economic gradient that drives immigration, both legal and illegal, in the United States.  It’s not as simple as we have jobs and they want jobs, that’s just what’s visible on the surface.  The real issue is why are there jobs that illegal immigrants are sought after for.  This is the heart of the issue as it seems as Americans we have reached a point where we are refusing to do certain jobs.  I can’t say if it’s declining work ethic or being sold on an American dream that is all gains and no hard work, but somehow we’ve lost our willingness to do these jobs.  I know some will shout back at me that we haven’t.  But that’s frankly wrong.  If we were lining up to pick lettuce in Arizona, then there would be no illegal immigrants filling those tasks.  If we were so eager to clean houses, then why is there room in the labor market for illegal immigrants in that industry as well?

The answer isn’t a lack of work ethics a lone.  I’ve seen plenty of hard working people out there.  The other part of the answer is our culture.  We have a nasty habit of praising certain job types and looking down on others.  When someone tells you they clean houses for a living, you know it’s hard to hold back the judgment.  In fact, it’s hard not to pity people who do what many of us consider ‘menial’ jobs.  Career snobbery is part of the problem.  No one ever judges someone for being a lawyer or a vice-president of a failing bank or a doctor.  Of course the irony being that none of those professionals could function without someone to take out their garbage, clean their offices, watch their children, or pick the crops that become their food.  Without someone doing those ‘menial’ jobs, society would cease to function.  And yet we tend to think that such jobs aren’t necessary or are less important.  That’s wrong, they are vital.  More so than a lawyer.  Who cares about the law if you spend all your day growing food to last you the year?

The other part of this problem is in two parts.  One is the American Dream, and the other is the undervaluing of labor.  Our government and our corporate plutocracy is hard at work selling us on the American Dream.  Everyone should own their own home, right?  Look how well that one worked out for us.  We think America is a house in the suburbs with two kids and a dog, two cars in the garage, and never having to say no to the things we want.  Within reason of course.  We subscribe to the more is better policy, like most humans do, and our society embraces that natural instinct to horde.  Wal-Mart’s slogan is “save money, live better.”  In other words, buy a bunch of cheap crap and you’ll have a better life.  That cheap crap of course is made overseas because even labor in Mexico is too expensive for them.  How ironic is it that Wal-Mart passes itself off quite successfully as an American institution with nearly 90% of it’s products are made in China?  What’s even better is that so many of the ignorant citizens of this country actually buy into it.  And so we push a lifestyle that involves a too big house to hold our too much stuff so we can pretend to be happy.  And we all know you don’t get the too big house and too much stuff picking lettuce in Arizona.  Why?  Because the owners of those fields would rather undercut their competition anyway possible so they do it by cutting their biggest expense which is of course labor.  And in order to do that, they cut wages to the point that most Americans refuse to take the job given they can do slightly better at McDonald’s, though we have plenty of snobbery when it comes to working in fast food too.  This underpriced wage makes it that much easier for illegals to fill the void.  It’s simple economics.  If you have a job that needs doing and you offer five bucks an hour and no one applies, you aren’t paying enough.  Food tends to be a high demand item.  Not being able to sell it, especially since almost all our food comes from large industrial farms that have plenty of means to move their product, is rare.  What that means is you can offer 7 bucks an hour and raise your price of the lettuces, which would be much less than two dollars a head, and fill the job.  Assuming seven dollars is a high enough wage.  Remember, your potential American employees are looking for that too big house with too much stuff from Wal-Mart to fill it.  They might not take anything less than ten dollars an hour.  And we wonder why illegal immigrants flood the nation in spite of stricter laws designed to keep them out?

So how do we fix it?  First, we stop with the right wing, conservative clinging to an idea that doesn’t work.  They simply don’t want to address the real problem because doing so would hurt their donors, the business community.  So they attack the people who have no political clout, the illegal immigrants.  We have to realize that this is our problem too, not just theirs.  We have to start accepting that unadulterated consumerism isn’t equal to freedom and liberty.  It’s the opposite.  That’s how slaves are made.  We need to start accepting that our lettuce and other goods and services in industries that are hiring cheap illegal labor are going to get more expensive if we hire Americans to do the same work.  There’s no getting around it.  The labor market demands a certain wage and that is what it is.  We will have to live with a medium sized house that is properly furnished and outfitted.  I know, not very American of me.  We need to be willing to look at the issues actual root causes, not the ones that we see on bumper stickers or the ramblings of the likes of Tom Tancredo of Colorado.  We have to be willing to address our own faults that contribute to the problem instead of trying to blame it completely on the immigrants themselves.  Finally, we need to remove race and talk of culture from the issue.  Immigration isn’t about either.  It’s about economics.  If the culture and race aspects distract us, they will take over until we find ourselves divided over which group said what instead of unified in stopping the economic gradient that creates the influx of immigrants.

Barack Obama announced that he will lift the drilling ban on coastal regions in the Gulf and off the coast of Virginia.  I know this will upset environmentalists and rightly so.  But the measure will include other things such as a clamp down on drilling in sensitive areas in Alaska, fuel standards for trucks and cars, and the purchase of hybrid vehicles for federal fleet.  Barack Obama has proven he can compromise, but the question is will those on the left accept it?

I know what liberals are thinking.  They’re thinking we had eight years (but it was really only six) of Republican rule in Congress and the White House.  They forced their stuff on us, tax cuts, wars, Patriot Acts, and now it’s our turn.  While that may sound fair, it’s far from mature.  And the reality is, liberals voted for some of those things that were allegedly all Republican ideas.  Apparently both sides enjoy shoving things down throats, which raises a number of awkward questions that are beyond the scope of this discussion.   As liberals, we like to think that we are the champions of the environment but that’s a bit of a myth.  There are many conservatives who do quite a bit for the environment.  Some, such as Teddy Roosevelt, have been thrown out of the conservative camp as a result of it by talking heads like Hannity and others, but the reality is conservatives have their fair share of environmentalists.  Even George W. Bush, Mr. Oil himself, has many green technologies at his Crawford Ranch.  The house has solar panels, geothermal pumps, and the recycling of water from the house to use for irrigating the landscaping around the home.  How many of us liberals have homes like that?  Not that many.   You could argue we don’t have his money, but if the cause is so important to us wouldn’t we find the resources to do what we could?  My point simply is that those of us on the left aren’t the only ones worried about and taking action to help the environment.

As for compromise, Obama has a history of it.  He did it back in the Illinois state legislature and was praised for it by republicans there.  Anyone voting for the man with the expectation that he would be a crushing conqueror of right wing policy simply didn’t know enough about whom they were voting for.  The health care bill is a prime example of a compromise.  You know how I know?  Because no one’s happy with it.  Those on the right didn’t get what they wanted in reform and those on the left didn’t either.  They each got pieces of it, but not all they wanted.  And so they will whine about that, but the truth is, that’s compromise.  And this proposal is reeking of compromise as well, both on energy policy but also as a bit of a peace offering over health care.  Liberals may question angrily why Obama would do this, but we must remember that not every American is a liberal and liberals alone didn’t vote Obama into office.  He cannot cater his policy specifically to us and get re-elected.  The alternative to Obama in 2012 isn’t promising for liberals anyway.  The president is an office that was supposed to be above the partisan bickering by design.  We’ve since altered that design under the guise of democracy, but the truth is Obama is playing the executive role that all good presidents realize they must do.  They must compromise.  There is no such thing as a mandate that lets them steamroll their agenda over opposition.

The 2010 elections are racing towards us and the Democrats are worried.  But the truth is, the Republicans aren’t really on solid footing either.  Their reputation still hasn’t recovered from 2006 and while Karl Rove is predicting victory, he also predicted victory in 2006.  The Republican strategy is to oppose him at every turn and force his agenda to crash and burn.  Well they lost on health care, they lost on the jobs bill, and to make matters worse, Obama is now stealing their thunder on energy independence.  He’s not the stubborn ideologue they were hoping.  You can’t blame Republicans for assuming he was, after all so many of them are these days.  Obama’s compromise may anger some of us on the left, but it’s necessary to keep the right from forcing their agenda…uh…down our throats?

Former President Bill Clinton was taken to a New York hospital today because of chest pains. Clinton underwent an angioplasty to insert two stents into his heart to open a blocked artery. Clinton has a history of heart problems including having quadruple bypass surgery several years ago. Coronary heart disease is chronic and tends to reoccur every 6-7 years. A spokesman for Clinton states that the procedure went smoothly and the former President is resting.

Rep. John Murtha, a retired Marine Corps officer and Vietnam veteran turned Congressman died Monday at the age of 77.  The Pennsylvania Democrat was often the focus of political attacks by the Republicans, Fox News and conservative talk radio for his outspoken opposition to the Iraq War. We thank you for your service, speaking truth to power and for your years of dedication to the American people.