Working Against Our Own Best Interest

An ongoing exploration of how America is working against its own best interest.

 

Does anyone know what our Immigration policy is?

Part 2

Doesn't it strike you as strange that most of the big problems in America today are of our own making. Too many times we act as a nation or as a people in ways that are not in our own best interest. We Suboptimize* the public good  by optimizing our personal, professional, or corporate gain.

Exactly what are our guiding principles, our goals and our core values? Lets start with something basic. Does anyone know what our Immigration policy is?

Ok, I know that there are millions of pages of immigration statutes and laws. Certainly there many rich Immigration attorneys. There are also many thousands of immigration workers and boarder guards all working to keep America safe. But what exactly is our Immigration Policy?

Damn If I know. Is it nudge nudge wink to the 12 million illegal aliens in the country?

Is it "Give me your poor"? By the way that last one is not in the constitution and yet the sentiment spoken during the 19th century endures today. But is it our policy?

And why do we bestow American citizenship on anyone born in America even if born of an illegal alien? That sounds like a disconnect. It rewards being an illegal alien with an American child and creates yet another emotional barrier to solving our immigration problems. Tell me is that our Immigration Policy?

 

I don't pretend to know any of the answers. What I do suggest is, that since there appears to me to be no answer to what our Immigration Policy is, that there should be a national dialogue about what our Immigration Policy should be. An honest dialogue about our current system, possible outcomes from doing nothing to enacting various alternate immigration policies would go along way to creating a future that is manageable, fair, and in our own best interest.  

For instance we might discuss;

How large should our  country's population be now and in the future?

How should our immigration policy work and for whom? 

If we know that we need x amount of farm laborers ( and have done so for many years) lets be honest about that. Lets create fair and honest guest worker programs or bestow citizenship on those who fill our pantries, but lets be honest.

Should our policy be to let anyone immigrate, or should we allow only immigrants who meet educational, skill levels, or income criteria's?

Should our policy be to do what we have always done because we are a nation of immigrants, or should we assess immigration in the light of what is in our best national interest?

Oh, and what is in in our best national interest? Now that would be in our best national interest to decide!

 

*Suboptimize

The act of committing energy and resources to maximize a portion of a process or system that undermines the effectiveness of the overall process or system. http://www.electronictrainingsolutions.com/glossary/suboptimize.htm

The Delta and "All those kind of things" Or How to Party Like its 1902

News item

(06-15) 11:00 PDT Bakersfield, Calif. (AP) --

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he supports a controversial plan to build a new canal to pipe water around the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

The governor told a gathering of business leaders and farmers Thursday that California needs more water and should build more reservoirs and a canal.

"We need more water," he said at a Bakersfield town-hall meeting. "We need to build more storage, and we have to build conveyance, the canal, and all of those kinds of things."

It's the first time Schwarzenegger has publicly called for a canal that could divert water around the delta from Northern California to Southern California, a proposal voters defeated in 1982. The plan was envisioned as a way to preserve the delta estuary but became politically controversial when it was seen as water grab by Los Angeles-area water users.

Schwarzenegger's endorsement came after the state shut down its pumps late last month over concerns about a massive decline in delta smelt populations.

Sport fishermen and conservation groups blame the pumps for sucking in smelt and other fish as they migrate down the delta, but San Joaquin Valley farmers say authorities are overlooking other sources of stress on the fish and that restricting water could harm crops.

 

Commentary

A cheering Bakersfield crowd applauded Schwarzenegger call for a canal. The Southland, in its frenzy to acquire water, parties as like its 1902. The Ghost of Mulholland must be smiling down as he envisions the drying up of the delta in the service of Southern California. The Governor, who most recently had a near brush with wisdom, when he said that perhaps we should not build houses behind levees until the levees can protect the houses, might go that one better and say we should not be building in areas where there is no water.

The Governor who is not a full time resident of Sacramento (he lives in a hotel here while he is visiting) should stay here a while to enjoy the natural beauty of the delta and lecture Southern California on the environmental arrogance of draining one area to benefit another. Or perhaps he could fly off to a foreign country and lecture them on global warming. The problem with the delta is not the dying smelt or a canal (or, as they now call it, a conveyance) it is that too much water is being diverted from the delta and all of those kinds of things!