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and it's often not a left/right issue. It's one of those things which, if our founding fathers and those who followed might have ever envisioned happening in our country, might have chosen a different route in the wording of the Bill of Rights or as a constitutional amendment.
Xenophobia is rampant in our country. It doesn't come in one size or shape fits all. People who are as liberal as could possibly be are often uncomfortable about the issue as much as anyone on the right. It's a dirty little secret that many keep hidden away, paying lip service to a set of liberal values, but secretly hope that they never have to deal with the situation in reality.
On one hand, they defend the "birthright citizenship" that is part of our Federal constitution, and on the other hand, they have severe qualms about allowing "illegals" any rights that tie them to our country.
When I lived in Southern California, I saw day workers every single day taking on tasks that most people wouldn't even consider. I ended up having to admire them for their pluck--putting needs over wants and desires. They had to feed their families, and no job was too repulsive to them as long as the end was achieved. Whether they were legal or not, they had a work ethic which was solid and consistent. And they did jobs that many of us would never even consider, never mind actually do with any conviction.
It's surprising to some that even many of our poorest have adopted some not so wonderful attitudes. Even our poorest are spoiled rotten in comparison to some from other countries, where the conditions are so atrocious that cleaning toilets and sewers in the United States is preferable to living a day-to-day existence in their own country.
The work ethos in the US has gotten steadily worse over the years. While entitlement programs have helped many of those in the most dire of situations, there are those who have used the system to their advantage, and as a result consider themselves above others. As someone once told me, the class system in our country has gotten to the point that as long as there are people who are worse off than themselves, people are often happy with their lot in life. And they will continue to be relatively happy as long as the status quo is maintained. It's a human fallibity that we can enjoy poverty or being low on the social ladder as long as we're not the ones on the bottom rung. Instead of being happy that others can get a leg up from their circumstances, we're more pleased when we can keep others down under normal circumstances. And thus, while we might denigrate illegal aliens who simply want a better life for themselves and their families, we bitch and moan that they're taking jobs away from "Americans", and at the same time are grateful that we're not in the same class as these people and that they are the ones on that lowest rung. They take the jobs that we would never take, and yet we still bitch and moan.
We hear stories all the time about how some people are brought over to the US to be essentially slaves, in such jobs as sweat shops, prostition rings and other horrible and unthinkable positions. We see it in our TV dramas, in newspapers and in the news. We will mutter to ourselves about how horrible it all is, and who would ever allow themselves to be put into such a position. But we forget that what we see as waking adults in the United States of American is all an illusion. That underneath our own reallities there is a side of life that we hope never to see and never WANT to see, either. We forget that people in other countries often find a refrigerator box a more roomy alternative to the shacks they live in; that the garbage from a good restaurant is more nutritious than what they get to eat on an everyday basis; that life in a sweat shop or prostitution ring is preferable to life or death in their own countries. We forget that even the poorest amongst Americans have color televisions, and that those in other countries might find our set of values all so mixed up and out of whack with what is happening in these places.
The third world conditions that resulted from Katrina, for example, showed a side of the reality that many were shocked by. They failed to realize that what we saw in Louisiana and Mississippi was as normal to many others in the world than we would ever care to see. Many could close their eyes--and hearts--to that reality, but every day, many of us are closer to that reality than to what was always considered the American "dream." We try to block out the grimness that is true, unadulterated poverty, but it's there, and it's not going away any time soon.
People from other countries, including--especially--our neighbor to the south, know that even living on the streets in the USA is worth coming here to. And frequently, amnesty and naturalization can take the sting out of living on top of steam vents for months--even years--at a time. And for many who make it into the country and manage to make some sort of living, the ability to succeed means that anything they can do to alleviate the suffering of their families abroad is worth it.
A century ago, this promise brought many people to the US. There were many who tried--and died--in transit. We all know at least one story of someone who escaped from politcal and financial turmoil elsehwere. In our own recent past, we have seen stories of those who have tried to come here from another country--Cuba, Mexico, South America, Laos and Cambodia, the former Soviet Union, and pretty just about everywhere. If we know anything about the history of their country, we are either in complete sympathy with their dreams or at least allow them the benefit of the doubt. If we see them somehow as "freeloaders" coming to the United States to take the "dream" away from a "native" American, we resent their presence and their desires for their families. But it's the ignorance--the galling xenophobia--that we must deal with--the idea that somehow, these people are intruders in our land. They are no more intruders than most of us are, unless any of us can claim to be completely descended from a Native American. We ALL have in our past otherwise someone who immigrated from a foreign land. We ALL have the blood of an Asian, a European, an African, South American or Australian somewhere in our past. We are ALL aliens in America, and some of us not so long ago.
One of the disagreements with birthright citizenship is the idea that these people are getting something for "free." Being an American citizen does not give anyone something for "free"--ever. The only thing being an American citizen can give a person is a promise. The promise that freedom exists, and that those determined to work hard can have a chance that they might not have in their own country. And yes, these are many people homeless here, and there are many who are unable to make that promise work for them, regardless of their citizenry. And yes, the system fails many of these people on a daily basis. But in truth, there are just as many who strive daily to make their dreams into reality and who do succeed. And there are just as many who want to keep others repressed without any ability to make that dream come true. And regardless of all else, the world we live in is not going to change any time soon in a major way, because many people are too satisfied to allow others to hop over them on that social ladder. So there will always be resentment over others coming here and trying to better themselves.
There is another factor as well. Many times, immigration to the United States is a money issue. If you are rich, your chances for becoming a "wanted" citizen is much, much higher than if you are poor and are coming here essentially with just the clothes on your back. And yet it is the poorest among us, the most down and out, who need to be able to come here and save their families from such dire straits that they're merely lucky to be still alive. If we look back to the earliest years of the twentieth century, we know that America was a mecca for so many who escaped death and horror in their own countries. It is only when shown in context of history that we realize that for a large part, we have been too blind to the rest of the world's situation to appreciate what we have already. We ARE spoiled--spoiled enough to forget the rest of the world and what is going on in other countries, even today.
I can not say that I agree with every part of the right to citizenship of those who have illegally come into the country, but I can say that too many Americans are too complacent to even consider the alternatives for these people. And I think that many here don't have the drive and the ambition that compels many of these "aliens" to come here and succeed. Many people here think that simply being American is all they need in order to manipulate the system, and don't--and won't--use their abilities to further themselves, especially when it comes to jobs that are often too dirty or too low for them to even take.
Some complain that these illegals take away jobs from Americans, but it's not true. And frankly, I think that many who complain about illegals need to spend a week in the shoes of someone who has come here to put food on the table for their families, and who will work at the least desireable jobs for that same week. We might want to bitch about someone coming here as an illegal just to "play the system" but it really doesn't wash in the real world. In the real world, even the lowest American citizen still wants to see someone lower on the rungs than himself. And that is the status quo in which repukes delight.
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