I am continuing to read misguided op-eds in major news outlets and posts on blogs in support of the rioters in Baltimore. In some cases it’s being characterized as a last resort.
That is nonsense. It’s a first resort. They’ve been trying the same thing over and over again for the last 80 years and expecting different results. Don’t rob a convenience store. Organize politically.
Here’s a wild idea. Vote for somebody other than a regular Democrat. There are other alternatives out there after all including Greens, reform Democrats, and (gasp!) Republicans. The perfect is the enemy of the good.
Hear, hear!
There was a lot of discussion during and after Ferguson concerning the racial mix of the authorities there. In Baltimore there are black elected officials and blacks are well represented in the police force (ranks as well as leadership) so obviously that alone is not sufficient. The people in those positions have to actually address the problems, and community leaders and citizens have to hold their feet to the fire.
Here’s a wild idea. Vote for somebody other than a regular Democrat. There are other alternatives out there after all including Greens, reform Democrats, and (gasp!) Republicans. The perfect is the enemy of the good.
And what good would those choices do? All three alternatives (and the Libertarians, too) favor open borders, mass immigration, and the attendant suppression of wages & employment.
The perfectly terrible is the enemy of incremental progress.
I realize this is a particularly emotional issue for you, Ice. But what concrete actions would you take to eliminate those legal and illegal immigrants already here, and to stop those heading our way?
Regular Democrats seem to have one objective in mind, to supplement what they perceive as the stock of liberal voters, their supposed union and minority buddies be damned.
What would incremental reform really consist of?
At the very least, the government could stop telling them they’re welcome. Rhetoric isn’t the be all & end all, but it does matter.
Second, stop granting asylum to anyone & everyone.
Third, reduce the H-1B visas granted by some large amount.
Fourth, cut down the allotment of legal immigrants permitted into the country.
Fifth, deport the illegals we catch. If any of our allies complain, we will offer to fly them to the nation complaining. (I guarantee the Japan, S. Korea, and Israel won’t make a peep.)
I could do six through ten easily enough, but I’m on my phone and need to do something else. More later, though I imagine some ideas will be tagged by others in the meantime.
My strategy would be somewhat different from Ellipsis’s. I’d start issuing national IDs with biometric identification, take some of the budget from border enforcement, and start devoting it to workplace enforcement. I’d also put some teeth into penalties which right now are a slap on the wrist.
I’ve already provided my solution to the H-1B issue any number of times.
I don’t agree with Dave about decreasing funding for border enforcement. However, the efficiency and clarification of border enforcement merits improvement with the funding it currently has. While workplace employment is also poorly enforced, it’s not necessarily due to inadequate resources but rather because of the willful dismissal of laws on the books governed by the PC approaches mandated under the current administration. Basically, there are too many political cross currents at play in our enforcement of immigration policies, which have led to bitterness and chaos in the national perspective on what immigration should look like.
And what good would those choices do? All three alternatives (and the Libertarians, too) favor open borders, mass immigration, and the attendant suppression of wages & employment.
I look at it as interjecting competition so that the parties can’t take their constituencies for granted. It’s like cable/DSL companies- Comcast has a monopoly in my area and I don’t think ATT would be much better but they’d both have to at least consider offering some customer service if they had to compete for my business.
Dave, I was getting to that. I was list omg them off the top of my head, not as what I thought most effective. I do believe I probably mentioned the ones that are easiest to implement.
But CStanley, it isn’t competition if everyone has the same position. A cable company can offer better service than a rival for the product you want. But in this case people might want a different product entirely.
WRT immigration that is in fact the case. A super-majority of Americans would prefer less immigration to more. The position of the Congress is more in line with that of elites who in essence favor an open borders policy.
But since we aren’t getting a meaningful difference in policy, this shows that our political markets are not in fact open & free.
@ ellipsis- I see it as a necessary first step. I can’t see how each party could continue performing so dismally if they had to show some results for the voters. Right now they each get elected and reelected by convincing their base to turn out to defeat the other party- so results don’t even enter the equation. The rhetoric is all about how bigoted-homophobic-misogynistic-crazy Republicans are and from the other end it’s about defeating the pinko-socialist-communist-baby killing- feminazis.
My policy view is to find pundits who complain that illegal immigration is inevitable given the incentives to move from poor countries to rich, but also complain about policies that target illegal immigration with negative consequences on the hiring of illegal immigrants. For example, when Professor Taylor complains that Alabama passed a tough law that forced illegal immigrants to flee the state and hurt farmers dependent on them, that is a law I can get behind.(*) Someone should ask him for a list of illegal immigration policies that would harm U.S. business; I wouldn’t have to think so hard.(**)
(*) I didn’t like the implementation. All farmers should be given the certainty of no major legal changes between when they plan for next year’s farming and harvest. I also would support subsidies to assist farmers to transform operations to less dependency on manual labor. I tend to favor such short-term “transformative” subsidies, and despise the sort of nearly perpetual subsidies that eventually outstrip demand or taxpayer patience and we get a bunch of bankruptcies.
(**) Don’t have a problem with legal immigration, but would like the labor shortage to be established and documented; if for no other reason than to signal to young people getting educated in this area will be worth your time and effort.
I can’t see how each party could continue performing so dismally if they had to show some results for the voters. Right now they each get elected and reelected by convincing their base to turn out to defeat the other party- so results don’t even enter the equation.
Yeah, and it’s been thus since the end of the Cold War. I’ve seen two flashes of true dissatisfaction in that time frame: the Presidential runs of Ross Perot, and the Tea Party movement. Perot faded, having accomplished pretty much none of his goals, IIRC. The Tea Party was quickly co-opted into just another wing of the Republican Party.
It can keep being this bad, and looking at the contenders for the Presidency in 2016 it appears that things will get worse.
…
As an aside, I’m considering volunteering for the O’Malley campaign. It’s not that I agree with his policies (there’s pretty much zero percent chance of that) so much as it is an attempt to snuff out the Clinton’s dynastic ambitions. I don’t think Jeb will survive the primaries, but Hillary looks likely to. Maybe I can do my small part to at least stop THAT nightmare from happening.
Don’t have a problem with legal immigration, but would like the labor shortage to be established and documented; if for no other reason than to signal to young people getting educated in this area will be worth your time and effort.
The Southern California Edison IT department story has convinced me that we need to stop the H-1B pogrom NOW, every last one of them, and start expelling the current holders of the VISAs as soon as practicable. The employers are, in fact, using this program to destroy American workers and line their own pockets with no concern whatsoever for their fellow citizens. If they don’t give a damn about us, we shouldn’t give a damn about them. And there’s more of us, too.