Raise Your Hand

By the time you get done reading the first few paragraphs you will probably label me as somebody or something I’m not so let me start by saying that I feel illegal immigration is hurting our country. Hopefully that will lead you to read the whole article.
I want you to raise your hand if you think this is true: We need to build a wall on our border to stop illegal immigration.
If you think that is true and you aren’t raising your hand, why aren’t you? I know why. It’s because you might be embarrassed if someone saw you. You might feel uncomfortable raising your hand just sitting in front of a computer. It would go against the social norm and to top it off, you don’t think that raising your hand is gonna make a dang bit of difference. You’re the type of person that knows there is a problem with this country but are too busy or overwhelmed to take it on. Even worse, you are probably waiting for someone else to do it. Thank heaven Rosa Parks didn’t think like you. Let me tell you something, people like you are more detrimental to our society than Juan and Maria Gonzalez crossing the border looking for work. You’re the reason the radical minority is taking control of our country. Your silent voice does more damage than the loudest opposition. So until you are ready to feel uncomfortable in a room full of people in order to stand for what is right, until you are ready to be a voice, no matter how small, then don’t complain about where we’re headed.
So let me say this again. Raise your hand if you think this is true: We need to build a wall on our border to stop illegal immigration. If you are raising your hand thank you. Don’t let it stop there. Write your political leaders. Do something besides just shaking your head. Unfortunately, if you are raising your hand then you belong in Washington. That’s basically a polite way for me to call you an idiot. It’s not your fault you are an idiot. You have probably formed this opinion because you have listened to our politicians spit off numbers regarding the harm of illegal aliens. To be honest it’s probably the best option of the ones we have been presented, so I’ll try not to be too hard on you.
What I don’t understand is why the solution to all of our problems is to spend money? Some reports have this wall costing upwards of 2 billion dollars. But in America, where our fiscal national debt averages 500 billion dollars annually over the last 8 yrs, what’s an extra 2 billion right? Don’t even get me started on that attitude.
Before we get busy solving the problem I think it would be helpful to determine what it is about illegal immigration that we oppose. For the majority of us, it isn’t the color of their skin; it isn’t their nationality, or their name. Those things are not important to America. Every one of us has a friend, a co-worker, someone at church, or a neighbor of Mexican descent that at the very least we respect. In all actuality we probably like them. Our situation is not like the one between Israel and Palestine. Mexicans and Americans can co-exist. We are not mortal enemies.
The language issue is a little annoying. Good luck finding a sign written in English when you drive through down town Phoenix. But if you have ever traveled abroad you probably realize that in almost every hotel, restaurant, and airport in every major city in the world you will find signs and menus in our beloved English. The French have been telling us since we bailed their butts out in WWII that if we wanted to go to Paris we needed to speak French. We’ve reacted by rolling our eyes and speaking English. The world is globalizing, it’s shrinking. Get used to it. Learn Spanish, it could bring down some barriers and help you make some friends. That is my suggestion
I know some of us are worried about losing our national identity. It’s a valid point. But as long as I’m alive, Saturday in America will normally feature at least 1 flag football game. As long as I’m alive at least one of us will order apple pie. Live your life, keep what you love, and be open to what our southern neighbors can add. Who doesn’t love homemade tortillas?
Financially, it is killing us. Maybe killing us is the wrong word but it is hurting us. This is where I get fired up about the subject. The shortage they are creating is a shortage of money. They are draining our tax dollars in our schools, our prisons, and especially at our hospitals. But it’s not like they are taking anything that we can’t regulate. It’s not like they are stealing our rain water and unless they leave we will die of thirst. They aren’t stealing our oxygen causing a national asphyxiation. We enroll them in our schools, we give them the health care, and we give them social security. If you are not fine with that then say so. Say that you aren’t going to foot the bill to educate illegal alien’s children. Stand up and say that you are tired of wondering how you are going to buy groceries because you can’t pay for a surgery being performed on a man that has no business being here. If it really is a problem, then why are we footing the bill? Our government is writing the checks and then complaining when they get cashed.
It is our fault. If we would just stop enrolling them in our schools, if we would stop giving them the health care we can’t afford to give them. If we would stop hiring them for jobs that could be filled by Americans then they would stay in Mexico. If they did come up, it wouldn’t matter, because it wouldn’t cost us a dime.
So don’t build a wall, it would cost too much money. Don’t deport them; make them find their own way home. They walked the desert to get here let them walk it back. Pull the rug out from under them. Don’t intentionally cause them harm, but don’t help them overcome the consequences of living here illegally. Strand them on an island of isolation and do not throw them a rope. Make it almost impossible for them to tolerate living here illegally. Make them long for the days of their Mexican village. If we want to stop what is hurting us, then we need to stop writing the checks for them to cash even if it leads to their temporary discomfort and suffering. We need to do it immediately.