[QUOTE=magellan01]
No problem. I appreciate your earnestness.
May I suggest reading about the American Revolution and the Declaration of Independence. The very document that created this country is based upon a concept of self determination. That we have the right to govern ourselves, and to look out for our own interests. The idea of a nation is that a group of people have common beleifs and interests and they form a government to help realize them. That government is duty bound to act in the interest of the people it represents. This is not unique to us, though. I’d say every nation on earth is operating in a way that they think benefits it. Take Mexico. It is in their interest to have as many of their citizens working in the U.S., legal or otherwise. Not only does it relieve their government of providing jobs and services for millions of people (a great number of whom are low-skilled), but the also get more than $30 billion sent back into their country, and economy, every year. I don’t blame them, as they are looking out for their own interests, except that they are not being good neighbors when they encourage their citizens to brazenly break our laws.
Due to a decades-old hate of Castro (rightly so), we have a policy for Cubans that is different than that for any other island-nation in the area, or any other nation period. The policy states that if a Cuban emigrant (escapee) can make it to the U.S. mainland, that they automatically are granted asylum. Over the years you may have seen boats of people from pplaces like Haiti sent back. This is one of the reasons that Miami has such a large Cuban population. Thid, obvioulsy, isn’t fair to other people who are as eager to get here as Cubans.
Sometimes fences are necessary. You may choose to place one on your property or you may not, as circumstances suggest. It appears that we don’t need one on our northern border, as Canada is a much better place to live than Mexico. Also, many perople come here through Mexico, from points south. North of Canada you get polar ice.
Yes. As long as we cold be sure that the money would not be stolen by the corrupt, which is very unlikely, especially in Mexico. But I do support encouraging the private sector to invest in Mexico and form partnerships to create a healthier business environment.
Right now, ten percent of the Mexican population is living in the U.S. I forget the exact number, but there have been recent polls showing that the majority of Mexicans would move here of they could. If so, Mexico will never get it’s act together. They need to vreate an engine that creates it’s own wealth. And maybe if the government didn’t have the easy $30 billion falling into its lap every year (the single largest contributor to its GNP), the people would demand that they get their act together.
Well, they have to recognize them. They are legal boundaries, agreed to by the government of Mexico through agreements and treaties. If there is a Tiffany’s store built on a block you lived on the was taken through emeinent domain, you couldn’t just choose to disregard the new situation and help yourself to the store.
I have no doubt that they are coming here to improve their standard of liviing, just as millions of other immigrants have. But you have to do it legally. Borders, and laws, have to be respected. There are many things I could think of doing that would improve my standard of living, but there are those pesky things called laws again.
Some things you might find interesting, if you haven’t already:
John Locke – Two Treatises of Governement
Thomas Paine – Common Sense
Thomas Paine – The Rghts of Man
Bernard Baylin – The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution
The Declaration of Independence (I like rereading it)
The writings of the Founders, particularly the letters of T. Jefferson and J. Adams
Anything on Natural Law Theory, which is at the foundation of much of the Declaration of Independence
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I’ve read Locke. I’m actually a big fan of Locke and John Stewart Mill. We make governments in order to secure our goods. That’s pretty much the purpose of them, because in a state of nature, anything goes. Our neighbors can do anything to us, and likewise. That’s why we have the police (according to one that would follow Locke).
At what point, assuming that Mexicans are going to be injected/siphoned into our country continuously, can we start talking about annexation of Mexico? After all, we get to a point where it’d be cost-effective to absorb that nation and gain extra space.
You’d want more dollar diplomacy in Mexico? Hasn’t Mexico had enough of our culture and dollar diplomacy? (I don’t necessarily agree or disagree, just making the statement).
Citizens don’t have to recognize the boundaries that states offer. States also set the definition of what a state is and what should or shouldn’t be a “boundary”. Of course, that would be self-serving to the states. Citizens (or just people) not recognizing these borders is one of the problems that’s here. It may come down to whether or not you (that’s a rhetorical “you”) believe that states or individuals are the primary focus of government.
Jefferson also said “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free … it expects what never was and never will be.” and “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. … God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion; what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms.” The system as it is is flawed. That much I think we can agree on with no squabble. Why don’t we fix the system and get it configured so we can’t make these new immigrants into more productive citizens? Discussion on exactly WHAT those changes are is fodder for another thread. (Hm. Maybe it isn’t.)
As a hijack, what was so rightful about the disdain for Castro? Feel free to email me a reply if you desire, unless you wanna assist me in said hijack.