Friday, May 04, 2007

Oklahoma legislature passes tough illegal immigration bill

Regardless how many times I post on this topic and how many times I make it clear that I don’t oppose immigration, I’m still called a xenophobe on a regular basis. I’m sure today will be no different.

I’m all for immigration. I think it’s as American as apple pie and baseball, but baseball has a steroid problem and immigration has a legal problem. So it’s illegal immigration that I adamantly oppose. This post could go on for pages and pages. I could get into the “respecting our laws” aspect or the national security threat that illegal immigration poses. But, today, I want to focus on the social impact.

Why do people come to America? They want a better life. No one argues that. They want work, education and health care. They want a decent place to live. Fair enough. I think it’s wonderful that no matter how much this country is bashed in the media and in the political arena both domestically and internationally, there are still many people who view America as a better place. So let them come, as long as they obey the rules and adapt to our culture.

I think English should be the official language of the US. I think immigrants should be well-versed in US history. They should know the words to the Star-Spangled Banner (something that even natural born citizens have trouble with). I think you should be a citizen or a documented legal immigrant to be entitled to a job, a place to live, an education, a driver’s license and social security benefits. I do not think that being born on American soil entitles you to citizenship, but being born to a citizen or a documented immigrant does. These are my opinions and some may disagree, but there are many out there who are with me.

I’ve heard the arguments. I know the human rights issues, the civil rights issues, it’s all a bunch of yah-yah to me. The fact is that American culture is vanishing. People don’t know her history and there is no pride in their “new” country. Talk to anyone who immigrated to American 40, 50, 80 years ago and they’ll tell you the same thing. There is no incentive to learn English, and there is a waning incentive to avoid the entitlement programs that are crippling our budget. But, still, it’s such a major human rights issue that the pro-illegal immigration crowd seems to think that we are obligated to give these people the things that our citizens receive, while not expecting them to live up to the duties (namely taxes) that the citizens must meet. It’s a debate that will rage for years and the federal gov’t isn’t likely to do anything about it (until we are attacked via our porous border). So I have a solution.

It’s simple. I propose an opt-in tax to fund entitlement programs for illegal immigrants. We put a check box on our tax returns. This box, if checked, will allow any taxpaying citizen to opt-in their support of illegal immigrants in this country. It will an additional 5, 10, 20% or whatever is deemed necessary, to that person’s tax bill. If someone has a firm belief that Americans should pay these things for illegals, then simply check the box on your tax returns. You have that right. But, you don’t have the right to force me to do the same when my beliefs are different.

There you go. Simple. Effective. An end to the debate.

5 comments:

Dan Trabue said...

Could we do this same thing for the Iraq War? Let those who believe in it, pay for it?

Do you suspect (as I do) funding would dry up pretty quickly that way?

Anonymous said...

John...Dan,

I think you two are onto something here. Perhaps we, those of us who are tax paying American citizens, should be able to have a check off list of things that we would like to see our hard earned money fund.

I personally would select not to fund those that use are welfare system as a way of life. Perhaps then we could see the system go back to it's original intent of being a helping hand up from poverty and a short term stop gap means of help.

I would also select not to fund our ridiculous education system until a serious change is made. Talk about having a performance incentive, If the schools don't perform we could just elect not to provide funding with our tax dollars.

The silent majority might actually have a means of making their voice heard.

By the way, for the most part the silent majority is silent because we are to busy rowing the boat while the cry babies of this world look for a reason to rock it. So back to work I go....

This could be huge!

Robert

Dan Trabue said...

Okay, so - playing devil's advocate - people check off general categories of where they want their money to go.

Suppose we drop from spending 1/2 a trillion dollars on our military budget, we drop down to only $100 billion.

Suppose we drop from the current $25 billion we spend on welfare to $15 billion. What are the effects?

Will we be limited to having only a truly defensive military? Probably.

On the welfare side, what if our decrease in welfare spending led to an increase in homelessness, drug abuse and crime? Will all of these end up costing society more?

I'm not saying anything, just asking...

It would be an interesting experiment.

John Washburn said...

Sounds good to me Dan. You've earned your money and certainly have the right to decide how it's spent. If you choose not to fund the troops, then more power to you. I support your right to do that, as long as you extend me the same courtesy.

And, the Bush people have kicked around the notion of selling war bonds to fund the war. I'd be first in line to buy some, and I'd buy much more if the gov't would allow me to opt out of illegal immigrant entitlements.

So, I wonder if our little experiment became reality, who would get more money...the illegal immigrants or the troops?

Dan Trabue said...

Polls have suggested that people think we spend way too much on the military - once they see the numbers.

I've also seen polls that think we spend WAY too much on foreign aid. That it should be more like only 3-5%.

In reality, we spend less than 1% of our budget on foreign aid.