I fully admit to being torn on immigration. The arguments against allowing high numbers of foreigners to settle here are indisputable. We have too many workers right now. It is not just low skilled or laborers. It is all types. Depressing wages by flooding the economy with foreigners is not what a responsible government does to its people. Then there’s the issue with assimilation. The Hispanics are simply not assimilating like the myth claims they will.
The statistics are grim when you look at crime, addiction and social pathologies like illegitimacy rates. Our cultural elites celebrate ghetto life (from a distance) so it should come as no surprise that the imported peasant classes embrace the black ghetto culture as soon as they arrive here. In the prior century when the elites strongly embraced White values and demanded rapid assimilation, you got a different result. That and the immigrants, except for the Jews, were from white countries.
On the other hand, low levels of immigration has worked in the past. America is better off having allowed certain types of people to settle here. The sort of person who packs up his bags and sets off for a new land is usually from hardy stock. It takes balls to do it, even with all the welfare help in place. Most people are afraid to move across town. That sort of risk taking is what keeps a culture vibrant and self-renewing. It’s a fresh injection of the pioneering spirit to keep the old stock population fresh and bold.
There are trade offs and maybe that’s not discussed enough, but the emotional side never gets discussed either. We sort of know we are getting things right when the world wants to come here and join the deal. That has value too. On the other hand, the focus on the romantic side of immigration could also be a sign that American culture is entering an the death phase. A people romanticize their past when they can no longer bear thinking about their future. That could be why we are so open to endless immigration.
The deciding factor for me is amnesty. There is no rational argument in favor of granting amnesty to illegals. None. It is simply a way to get grace on the cheap for people who fundamentally hate themselves, hate their fellow citizens and hate their country. In some cases, it is merely a way to rip off the public with some cheap labor. Put another way, the people in favor of high levels of immigration are either lying on looking to stick the rest of us with the cost of their quest for grace. If they’re for i, I’m against it.
