I have been looking forward to publishing my first diary with KOS. A lot of stuff has come to mind but the issues around immigration have really been part of my experience for the last twenty years - so I thought that topic ought to first.
If as Mr. Romney thinks, you believe Hispanics other than Marco Rubio are an invasive species, you may also embrace Mr. Romney’s bold immigration plan known as “self deportation.” Certainly others have pointed out the absurdity of this idea but I would also like to take a whack at it. As I understand his position on immigration, as expressed in a number of very weird Republican debates; Hispanics will, as they are denied driving privileges, basic social services, and a way to make a living, leave on their own. Thus the term: Self-Deportation.
George Orwell would be proud that such a sterile phrase could be brought to bear on a policy that targets a minority, denies them fundamental human rights, and finally when they are starving – forces them south across the border – into a drug war financed by an American appetite for pot and cocaine, and fought with the American guns.
“SELF-DEPORTATION” …that’s priceless!
Besides the immorality of the idea, I think the policy of sending a few million 18 to 30 year-old men back to Mexico where the only jobs available are drug smuggling and soldering for rival cartels needs a closer examination.
For now; however, it is the immorality of the idea that challenges my senses. I have been a building-material salesman in the housing industry for almost 30 years. I have watched as Hispanic labor took over the housing industry - and how builders used Hispanic labor to drive the unions out of the industry. And by doing so, drop the associated labor costs for the many of the trades to the bottom of the barrel.
At the same time that transition was taking place I also witnessed the price (what consumers paid) for housing come uncoupled from the actual cost. We know now that housing prices were driven by a credit glut propelled by complex financial shenanigans that toppled the economy in 2008.
During the boom years I saw many housing tracts in Northern California where someone who bought a home could sell it a year later for a 10% or 15% gain…and then do again the next year. What made the housing industry particularly profitable to house flippers, builders, and investors (and yes pension funds too) were the double whammy of driving labor costs down to nothing by dismantling unions - and cheap, easily available capital, with no downside risk to the mortgage industry.
But here’s the real kicker: Everyone in the housing industry – and I mean everyone from sales guys like me to the builders and bankers behind the projects knew the labor was illegal. Everyone knew there were document mills pumping out ID’s and social security cards. When a project needed to move faster, the suits from corporate headquarters just said get more guys – and they knew they weren’t coming from a union hall. Anyone in the industry that claims they were ignorant about the nature of the Hispanic labor– is a bald face liar!
So here we are in 2012 – those that worked the least and made the most are getting a tax cut …and those that worked the most and made the least are getting starved and driven into the teeth of a drug war fueled by American money and guns.
And into the void of such an immoral and racist policy our religious institutions stand deaf, mute, and purposely impudent. Mormons, Jews. Catholics/Christians, and Muslims; where are their voices? Is it possible the battle to subjugate women requires so many resources our religious leaders have no energy left to defend those who need them the most? I wonder if the men and women that profess to carry the mantle of god are merely a reflection of us…or have they shaped us - to allow their dogma to numb our shame?