The idea of "they're stealing our jobs" is almost as old as the country. And almost as wrong.
Conservatism is about the free movement of capital and labor. The anti immigrant bunch is simply on the wrong track here.
Are there jobs to steal for a group largely composed of uneducated and low skill? The country NEVER had borders where people just walked across.
So I am getting that you feel that that by allowing ILLEGAL immigration and not just a trickle but a flood of immigrants is good for a country with a lingering 7 percent unemployment rate? When those on disability and dropping out of the work force is on a steep rise?
Here's the problem with that.
Any time you have a system which gives out money........ there are going to be people who adjust their lives to get that money.
If I had a stand outside my house which said "Free food to anyone with a pink shirt, and flip flops", eventually we would all be shocked at the number of pink shirt flip flop people there were in the area I lived.
This universally true. I read this story recently about an older guy who needed to go into a nursing home, but didn't want to pay for it. So he applied for Medicaid to cover it. In the process, they discovered that in order to qualify for Medicaid he was not allowed to have over $50,000 in assets, and this guy had $140,000 or so. So he bought himself a bran new Cadillac SUV, because Medicaid allows you own a car of any value, which is not counted as an asset.
Thus his 'counted assets' dropped below requirement, and now he's collecting Medicaid welfare, while driving around in a $100,000 dollar luxury car, which of course will be transferred to his children on his death.
So back to the topic at hand.
The problem in this case isn't' illegal immigration. The problem is the system.
Because as long as you have the system of giving out money, people will change how they live to get the money.
Instead of complaining about illegals abusing the system, which is a tiny tiny fraction of those who abuse the system.... why don't we just complain about abuse of the system itself? Because that's the problem. If there were no immigrants at all, we'd still have people abusing the system.
Now, let's get back to immigration in general.
I don't have a problem with immigration. Legal immigration.
I have a problem with illegal immigration, because it inherently undermines the rule of law. Respect for the law, is a fundamental aspect of all civilized society. Without that, nothing else really matters.
So all laws, including immigration laws, should be fully and completely enforced.
Beyond that, immigration is only a negative, when we have a socialized system.
Under socialism, everyone collects from society, whether that is public housing, health care, welfare, food stamps, cell phones, free internet, and so on and so forth.
See under socialism, every additional person, is a burden on society. And this is also why inherently socialism leads to tyranny. We socialize health care, and then start complaining how people live, and passing laws on cigarettes and banning big gulp drinks in New York. Why? Because people have poor health habits, and it's a burden on the rest of us, so now we have to micro-manage how everyone lives.
But imagine a free-market capitalist system with immigration.
Imagine if the only time an immigrant had a cell phone, was if he paid for it. The only time he had food, was when he paid for it. The only time he had shelter, housing, cars, TVs, or anything, is when he paid for it, with his money, that he earned.
That immigrant poses zero burden on society, and instead, is a benefit to society. He's working, which means he's producing wealth, and he is purchasing from society, which benefits the economy, and many even invest into society, with their own businesses, building homes, and so on.
Under a free-market capitalist system, every human being in society is a benefit to society, not a burden.
Under that system, we would *WANT* as much immigration as possible. Immigration is a positive for the country, and everyone in it.
