A matter of balance

[The Traveler]

The immigration controversy has me thinking, once again, about America's apparent inability to find its sense of balance. We teeter, Clouseau like, over the minor random obstacles children cast on the living floor. The immigration issue is, perhaps, a rather large toy on the floor ... but that makes it all the more wondrous that the Inspector could not avoid its clutches.

Now, I live in a neighborhood that has in every measureable way been adversely impacted by an exploding population of illegal, Hispanic immigrants. Many of them like to sip beer on hot summer days while working on their street machines. I do, too, so I know quite a few of them. And I like them. Whatever you do, do NOT deport MY buds.

Because, you see, there is a flip side to this coin. Sure, the schools are collapsing under the weight. The hospitals are overwhelmed. There is a definite increase in crime. But ... there are also more really good restaurants, bright music in the streets, smiling strangers in the stores, more aware adults to watch over the kids as they play in the parks (Hispanics seem REAL protective of children, BTW) ... it just seems to me that the problem is not with the PEOPLE who are here, for the most part. But rather with the unplanned and unmanaged growth in the population, which is, of course, in large part due to their illegal status.

Amnesty? Sure. Why not? I have a seven year old that has native born American friends whose parents are illegals. Those children are CITIZENS goddamit! What are we gonna do ... rip families apart to enforce the dictates Lou Dobbs' "conscience"?

And yet, it is a problem here. An emormous growth in population without a commenserate growth in tax base resulting in a slow motion crash of infrastructure and social services that is most pronounced in the schools. So ... my wife and I feel we gotta move.

I don't wanna move. I like it here. I kinda resent being in this position.

And there is the rub, and why I believe some of the hysterics on both sides of this question exemplify the problem. See, There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch (TANSTAAFL). A lot of businesses are padding their profit margins by exploiting undocumented workers around here ... which means taxpayers here are paying for their free ride. Exploitation of illegals manifests an enormous subsidy to the very upper middle class and the rich. People like my family just can't afford the consequences of paying for that free lunch ... one way to mitigate the costs is to move.

Most people are basically reasonable. Find a way to manage the problem fairly and well and they won't beef. Fail to do that and they will demand the problem go away. This is what is happening. It is unreasonable to expect them to react otherwise.

Mention a "guest worker" program or a path to citizenship and Lou Dobbs (who I sometimes admire) achieves stroke level blood pressures. Why? Dobbs is no bigot. Mention that we have to gain control over our borders and others more leftish lose their wits. Why? These people are not anti-American conspirators who want to destroy us as a sovereign nation. It is becuase they are, philosophically, purists.

As an engineer, experience has taught me that purists suck. Engineers make compromises naturally, effortlessly ... 'cause we gotta make things work well enough at an affordable cost. Compromise is our way of life.

Instead of seeking a point of balance, where the least harm and greatest possible good may be found, as a people we seem to want to explore the extremes. And it is this flirtation with extreme viewpoints that brought us the welfare state, generational poverty, Vietnam, stagflation, Iran Contra, the S&L loan scandals, the so-called War on Drugs, the Iraq war and the very likely possibility that we are on the verge of nuking a country because they MIGHT one day develop nuclear weapons.

"We must destroy the village in order to save it." Purists suck.

Clouseau stumbles and falls ... we laugh ... but Clouseau suffers. One of these days, he will break his fucking neck, and we will be strapped to the back board with him.

Look. These people are here, now. Most of them deserve to be. Let's control the borders, the rate of influx ... sure. I really think we need to do that. But let us bring our own into the main stream of our society. Legalize their stay here, guide them towards citizenship and full social and economic rights ... and stop paying for the lunch of the rich.

One of my buds recently complained loudly about Mexican flags being waved at protests. "I'm gettin' me an AMERICAN flag, dammit. Cause I AM an American except for the fuckin' papers. I just want you to admit that I am." He suggested in more colorful terms that those who wanted to wave Mexican flags should go home. He is 25. He came here when he was 12. This person is NOT a Mexican anymore. He belongs here, and should never live under the fear of deportation.

Hey, man, the ones that are here are the ones with the guts, the pluck, and the luck to sneak across the border into a strange land and make a life for themselves. I cannot see how acknowledging them as Americans will, in the long run, weaken us as a people. But it is unreasonable to expect any of us to be comofrtable with policies that bankrupt our public infrastructure to support an uncontrolled tide of undocumented people.

TANSTAAFL. Live and let live. What is done is done, but we can gain control over our borders, and it is not evil to do so.