Time to beat the immigration reform drum again...

My friend Jake (you met him last month through my blog post and his comment about the joy of grandchildren) sent me an article yesterday that put an interesting twist on the immigration issue that I hadn't considered before. Here's the quote:

"The United States is the only politically and economically united country in the world that occupies a continent. This has meant, among other things, that much of the money that might otherwise have been spent on tanks and guns to defend land borders instead has been spent on development, and has made the United States the world's largest economy by a factor of three. Ironically, one of the "downsides" of all of this is that the U.S. population is extremely well-educated. And because the naturally occurring percentage of "unskilled" workers is rather small, there is an interesting dilemma: The country can seal its borders, thus forcing the skilled to take on menial jobs, or open its borders and give nearly unlimited access to those willing to do such work."

Now, that's a very cogent observation. Because we haven't had to invest in border defense, we've been able to build a native population that has, quite literally, educated itself out of the willingness to do menial work. And since nature abhors a vacuum, people will rush in to fill it, looking for their piece of the economic and educational miracle that's America.

Well, I don't have a problem with that, nor should any real, thoughtful American. This is, after all, a land of opportunity that has always welcomed immigrants (if sometimes grudgingly). But even though "security" is a much-abused term nowadays, it's still a serious concern. Part of our security, whether we wish to admit it or not, is our ability to rely on the rule of law and the control of our borders to keep us safe. And that's precisely what the crowds in the streets want to ignore. They want to reward people who have willingly broken the law. They want to give people who ignore the law the benefits and rewards that really should belong only to law-abiding citizens. And businesses want lots of cheap, exploitable, easily-replaceable labor.

Unfortunately, my prediction is that Congress will cave in to political pressure in search of business and Hispanic votes, and will end up letting the world know that it's not necessary to obey the law in America. Unless, of course, you are an ordinary middle-class US citizen. No one rallies huge crowds to protect your interests.

Okay, I've beaten this topic to death. I won't talk about immigration reform again until Congress does something worth commenting on. And that may be a long time.

Have a good day. Obey the law. Work to change it if you don't like it, but obey it in the meantime. It's what protects you.

Bilbo