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In regards to the demonstrations in LA.
Mar. 31st, 2006 09:56 amI'd like to take this moment to say I'm for Mexicans... just not the ones the demonstrators are for.
During that year-long slump period where I couldn't find full-time work, I actually spent a month sweating part-time at a concrete company. I think I may have been the only white guy in the company save for the owner; everyone else was latino of some variety. Some were doing this to support community college and planned to work their way up the career totem pole, others will likely do manual labor until they retire. A few still didn't even speak proper English. But know what? Every last one of them was in this country legally. Every last one of them waited and worked to get in here.
It's for them that I oppose letting illegal immigrants get away with it. I find the suggestion that they take "our best jobs" laughable; they're taking the grunt labor and we all know it. But those are still jobs, and know who else might want them? The people who patiently stood in line to get into the country. And I'd much rather the jobs go to those who waited, who have proven they want to work hard and earn what they get.
I'll agree with the demonstrators on one point: it sucks that people can be less fortunate just because they were born south of a line on a map. And if it were feasible I'd be all for letting in everyone who wants in. (Hell, if it were feasible, I'd just add Mexico as the 51st state and be done with it.) But it's not feasible. We don't have the infrastructure, we don't have the security, we don't have the workload. And the best we can do is let in a few at a time, in a controlled fashion, such that our infrastructure, security, and workload can keep up.
As with all ethnicities, there are honest Mexicans and there are dishonest Mexicans. I'd rather reward the ones who've proven their honesty, thank you very much. And if we keep demonstrating to the honest Mexicans that they get ahead by being dishonest, then pretty soon they'll all just go that route and be done with it.
During that year-long slump period where I couldn't find full-time work, I actually spent a month sweating part-time at a concrete company. I think I may have been the only white guy in the company save for the owner; everyone else was latino of some variety. Some were doing this to support community college and planned to work their way up the career totem pole, others will likely do manual labor until they retire. A few still didn't even speak proper English. But know what? Every last one of them was in this country legally. Every last one of them waited and worked to get in here.
It's for them that I oppose letting illegal immigrants get away with it. I find the suggestion that they take "our best jobs" laughable; they're taking the grunt labor and we all know it. But those are still jobs, and know who else might want them? The people who patiently stood in line to get into the country. And I'd much rather the jobs go to those who waited, who have proven they want to work hard and earn what they get.
I'll agree with the demonstrators on one point: it sucks that people can be less fortunate just because they were born south of a line on a map. And if it were feasible I'd be all for letting in everyone who wants in. (Hell, if it were feasible, I'd just add Mexico as the 51st state and be done with it.) But it's not feasible. We don't have the infrastructure, we don't have the security, we don't have the workload. And the best we can do is let in a few at a time, in a controlled fashion, such that our infrastructure, security, and workload can keep up.
As with all ethnicities, there are honest Mexicans and there are dishonest Mexicans. I'd rather reward the ones who've proven their honesty, thank you very much. And if we keep demonstrating to the honest Mexicans that they get ahead by being dishonest, then pretty soon they'll all just go that route and be done with it.
