We on the Left have to step back for a second and address Distributive Justice Capitalism in relation to the current immigration question. The two matters are so interconnected yet neither is understood nor discussed in relation to the other. If we are to do so, we can perhaps have a more effective means of adddressing these issues while exposing Right-Wing hypocrisy.
All the differing sides are starting with the immigration issue from the point where people are already on the move. A possible means to more effectively address the issue is by looking at factors that cause people to immigrate.
Let me start out by saying that if I were impoverished and living in Mexico, I would want to immigrate to the United States.
If I were living in Communist China, making a few dollars a day in a factory, making television sets that will be "dumped" into the United States for sale in a local Wal-Mart, I too would be tempted immigrate--legally or illegally.
In other words, if I were getting paid a low wage not consummate to the equitable share of the profit being created by my labor, I too would probably want to risk entering the United States any way I can.
And therein lays the rub.
If workers in Communist China and Mexico were allowed to organize into unions with recrimination, have the right to strike and bargain collectively and receive fair compensation of the profits the contribute their labor made possible then perhaps there would be less immigration to start out with.
If workers in India, Communist China and Mexico were paid what they were truly worth then perhaps outsourcing would be less of a viable option for Fortune 500 corporations.
Immigration has been the cultural life-blood that constantly reinvigorates America. To that end, immigration should continue, better regulated, but still continued. Still, as the spouse and grandchild of an immigrant I have also seen how it can tear families asunder, with loved ones often never seeing each other after the émigré sets out on his journey. My own loved ones have experienced the loneliness, pain and guilt that come with separation.
With that said, I propose that if we are going to bring in from the shadows the "illegals" who merit becoming citizens and make them tax-paying citizens while simultaneously making our borders more secure while perhaps enlarging legal immigration quotas, there are yet two more vital tasks that needs to be done: exporting trade unionism and Distributive Justice Capitalism.
This is how we on the non-radical Left call the Right's economic bluff. It is how we can expose their charade of divide and conquer through wedge issues. Let's force the Right to practice a more fair and just capitalism in both America and the developing nations of the world. Let's force them for a change to accept the fact that organized labor breeds democracy better than neoconservative military interventions.
And when they balk, as they are sure to do, let's announce their hypocrisy to the world.
Yes, we will accept the newcomer, but the next time countries like Communist China and Mexico bring up the issue of trade our government must set forth a simple non-negotiable precondition for our business: if you want any special status for your products then you have to accept trade unionism and Distributive Justice Capitalism.
As must we in the United States of America.