Cloaking Economic Self-Interest in Noble Language (Illegals)
The Bible says that the human heart is deceitful above all else. What that poetic language means is that we kid ourselves about why we do certain things and hold certain positions.
What that means for the illegal immigration issue is that many of the people who claim they are against enforcement of the law out of "kindness" and "mercy" are actually just acting in their own economic self-interest. They are choosing to be "compassionate" to one group (at the expense of another) when being "compassionate" costs them nothing and gains them a lot. In other words, it is phony liberal compassion made all the more disgusting when it is displayed by those loudly claiming to be "conservatives"...
(continued, click "Monday" below and scroll down for rest of story, or if sent straight to this article, just scroll down).
What that means for the illegal immigration issue is that many of the people who claim they are against enforcement of the law out of "kindness" and "mercy" are actually just acting in their own economic self-interest. They are choosing to be "compassionate" to one group (at the expense of another) when being "compassionate" costs them nothing and gains them a lot. In other words, it is phony liberal compassion made all the more disgusting when it is displayed by those loudly claiming to be "conservatives"...
(continued, click "Monday" below and scroll down for rest of story, or if sent straight to this article, just scroll down).
posted by Mark Moore (Moderator) at Monday, May 15, 2006
4 Comments:
The upper class in America tends to be in favor of leaving our borders relatively open to illegal immigrants and is generally in favor of some sort of "pathway to citizenship" (we are NOT going to call it amnesty!) for the illegal aliens already here. Most of the middle class, the working class, and the poor overwhelmingly oppose such views.
Why is this? Are wealthy people inherently more compassionate and generous than those with less wealth? Of course not. Study after study has shown that as a percentage of income, wealthy people tend to give less to charity as compared to those in the middle and working class. So why do they support having a large underclass of illegals around? To find the answer, you must follow the money.
The wealthy have high-skilled jobs that are not threatened by a massive influx of illegal immigrants. The influx actually lowers wages for the low-skill service jobs that the wealthy consume, while providing no threat at all to their econominc security. They actually save money because this lowers the cost of yard-work, nannies, construction, and other items that the wealthy consume in larger quantities than the working class.
The working and middle class on the other hand, have their economic security threatened by the permanent underclass that the establishment has allowed into our country. At certain points in my life, I have had to do some of those low-skill jobs whose wages are being depressed. I picked fruit. I delivered pizza, worked construction, and worked in a warehouse. Some of those experiences shaped and toughened me. And I could more or less survive on them for a while. Now wages for such jobs are being pushed through the floor, even when English-only speakers can get such jobs.
Our children are being systematically denied these rights of passage. Instead, they are left to play X-box all day while it gets tougher and tougher to sustain a middle-class life stye. Our middle class is being denied these jobs as a saftey valve between good jobs when needed.
It is in the economic self-interest of the upper class to have a large and permanent underclass from which to obtain labor. Since the wealthy and their children don't usually compete for such jobs,this underclass does not depress wages for them, only for other Americans competing for these jobs. And remember that most of us at some stage of our lives are competing for such jobs.
You can add to this the pyschological benefits of self-delusion. Members of the upper crust can tell themselves that they are more compassionate than the great unwashed masses who want the law enforced. They can tell themselves that they are not like those terrible racists who are against the poor illegals (after all, their gated communities are not being taken over by law-breakers).
In short, they get to have their cake and eat it too. They get the economic benefits- at the expense of their less fortunate fellow citizens- of paying lower wages while enjoying a feeling of moral superiorty. This is acted out by looking down on their "judgemental" working class neighbors who want the laws of this country enforced. They too are acting out of economic self-interest.
There is nothing at all wrong with that of course, as long as you don't advocate breaking the law to do it or delude yourself about your true motives.
Mark Moore you are full of bull. Our children don't work at many construction jobs or very many of the other jobs that illegals. I don't think they pluck chickens either, or take many dirty jobs that illegals take. Most of our children, even middle class children, work at McDonalds, other line jobs, or other comparable jobs. Many don't work at all. We are middle class, I didn't work, and I stayed at home with my children. They didn't work either except for baby sitting.
You are so off-base on this issue -- and that's coming from an un-wealthy conservative Republican Evangelical. Not that you care, I just wanted you to know.
I say briefly: Best! Useful information. Good job guys.
»
Post a Comment
<< Home