I decided that lumping my thoughts into the last post would be far too confusing, so I will start a new one. Look for new updates as I get the energy and facts to back up my points. If you make any comments while this post is in progress, you may want to indicate the "section" of this that you are replying to.

1) Understanding Terminology Used in the Illegal Immigration Debate

Before I start babbling about crime and the economy, it’s important to have a clear understanding of the terms used in the debate (especially when the media loves to spin them to death).

An illegal immigrant is someone who either entered this country without permission, or has overstayed a temporary permit (a visa)¹. Any person who is in this country, in violation of the laws of this country, is an illegal immigrant. There are different terms used to refer to people here illegally. Illegal aliens is my favorite. Liberals enjoy using "undocumented workers."

Whatever your term for people who are in the country illegally, the word "immigrant" is not sufficient. The rally over the weekend was not about "immigrants" rights, it was about "illegal immigrants" rights. The laws being debated in congress in no way affect legal immigrants. This is the primary error that so many of the protestors and students walking out of class fail to realize.

It’s not about Mexicans, Chinese people, and it’s not about legal immigrants. This debate is about illegal immigrants.

Citations: ¹Wikipedia – Illegal Immigration

2) A Foreword on Immigration

Before I get into the nitty gritty, here are some of my personal views on immigration, just so you know what my "biases" are. I believe that the United States is a great country, and something that makes it great is that we are governed by laws. As a nation we have rules and the right to enforce those rules. The United States allows immigration into our country, and people have been coming to live here for hundreds of years. I have no beef with immigrants, as my great-great-grandfather was an immigrant (I think). Many immigrants come here because they want a better life and an opportunity to have the American dream.

The debate before us now is that there are certain individuals who do not believe in the rule of law. It is within the power of the United States to create and enforce the laws. It is illegal to overstay a visa or cross the border without permission. I don’t care who the person is and no matter their circumstance, no one has a right to be in this country besides the citizens of this country. That’s correct, the USA is an exclusive club, and if you want in, you need permission. If you decide to break the laws of our country, you are a criminal.

I’m sure this will sound "mean" to people that think with their emotions. It is not racist nor predjudiced for a country to control it’s own destiny, and who we let in plays a major part in that. A quick look at France and the recent Muslim protests is an example². Just as we have decided to not let terrorists into our country, we reserve the right to say no to extremists, the uneducated, and illegal immigrants. If a person has the desire to come and enjoy the freedom of this country and the economic opportunities, I believe they should also be willing to adopt the values and language of this country. If a person is unwilling to do that, then they should not be here.

Citations: ²France – The Cost of Multicultralism

3) It’s Friday and I’m Tired.

I’m tired and don’t feel like devoting several hours of my life creating a pseudo scholarly post, so I will now be succinct.

4) The Economy and Illegals: We Don’t Need Them

All the nonsense about illegals working jobs that no one else will is total horse doo-doo. Americans will clean bathrooms, pick lettuce, and build houses, but when employers have cheap labor to exploit of course they’ll pay the lower wages. We have thousands if not millions of uneducated people that would be great at scrubbing toilets. Just go to myspace and look up all the people that graduated with you and still have no life. Illegal immigrants also love to send money back to Mexico instead of investing it back into our economy.

5) Welfare: If You Hand It Out, They Will Take It

When an illegal comes over the border they get so much handed to them. Public education, emergency medicine, roads and highways, medicare, social security, and welfare. An illegal immigrant does not deserve any of that, because they’ve done basically nothing to pay for any of it. Illegal immigrants are having babies by the thousands at our hospitals and not contributing a dime to pay for it. ONE BILLION DOLLARS. I think I’m turning into a Libertarian when it comes to economics. The solution to all of this is to make people pay for everything. Charge people $4000 to send their kid to public school, pay per miles used on the highways. In turn the goverment could get rid of property taxes or income taxes. Ultimately there should not be anything handed to illegal immigrants by the goverment reaching into the pockets of law-abiding and tax-paying citizens.

6) Illegal Immigrants Commit a lot of Crime

Crime 1: 29% of criminals filling jails are illegals, costing 1.6 billion dollars a year (they only make up around 3% of the entire population).

Crime 2: 60% of the 20,000 strong 18th street gang are illegals.

Crime 3: 95% of outstanding homicide warrants in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens.

Crime 4: A whole lot of document forgery going on!

There are tons of illegal immigrants and crime links, just search google.

7) Conclusion

That’s all the energy I have. Doesn’t seem like the politicians in Washington D.C. have the guts to really do anything, so I don’t see this problem being solved anytime soon.

One of the biggest gripes I have with liberals (greens, dems, socialists, many republicans in office, etc) is how much faith they put in the government. Besides the fact that they think a government entity should decide where MY money goes beyond vital infrastructure (see social securty, food stamps, hand outs, etc), these people put a HUGE amount of trust in the goverment.

After both 9/11 and Katrina the government doled out large sums of money. Shockingly people abused (FEMA abuse) the money handed out by the government! (Take a moment to catch your breath, I know it’s hard to believe). Why on earth do liberals trust the government with their money? How naive can you be! The government is not a support system for all the lazy, no good, worthless people in the country. I think as Christians we have a responsiblity to love our neighbor, but I don’t remember God entrusting that responsibility to the stinkin’ government. It’s no wonder that red states give more than blue states, because many liberals think paying taxes is charitable giving. Taxes are to charitable giving as cash is to a drunk outside a liquor store.

The government was not created to give handouts. If you want to throw your hard earned money at people that pay for cable tv and then sign their child up for free or reduced lunch be my guest. Nobody is stopping you from doing idiotic things with your own money, you don’t need the government.

Mike made a long and thoughtful post to my last post, and I would like to respond in two parts. First, I’d like to discuss what I believe the Green Party truly stands for, and how I think that differs from his view. Second, I’d like to look at the difference between government sponsored welfare programs and personal charity. The later I will save for another post.

Mike’s summation of the Green Party was as follows: “They (The Green Party) seek to change the current power structure of our Government, instead of top down control i.e. Nation then States, they propose we put more power back in the hands of our states, but more importantly our cities and communities.” I do agree they want to take back power from the Federal Goverment, but to say that is the Green Party in its entirety falls far short of what they really want.

For this post I will look at the 2004 Platform for the Green Party. The following excerpts are all taken directly out of the platform as decided upon by the Green Party. They are not my own ideas about the Green Party, but the official stance taken by the Green Party during the 2004 election. Below you will find the excerpts in black, and my comments in blue. The following are in no specific order.

1) Young people should be provided with education regarding their own and others’ sexuality at the earliest appropriate time.

- I don’t think the government has any responsibility to educate my future child about their sexuality, any other kid’s sexuality, or the moral judgements they would like to impose. I can almost assure you they would not be teaching a biblical perspective of homosexuality.

2) People of color in this country have legitimate claims to reparations in the form of monetary compensation for centuries of discrimination.

- This idea is riddled with problems. Who deserves money, and how is that decided? How much have they suffered, and what amount of money will compensate that? The hard truth is that the people that really suffered (slaves) have all passed on. While we’re at it, shouldn’t we just start throwing out money to every group of people that have ever been discriminated against? Native Americans, gays, women, children…on and on and it will never stop.

3) We oppose discriminatory English-only pressure groups. We call for a national language policy that would encourage all citizens to be fluent in at least two languages.

-So English shouldn’t be the language of the United States? How dare we ask that people who come to this country speak the language of our country.

4) Ending governmental use of the doctrines of specific religions to define the nature of family, marriage, and the type and character of personal relationships between consenting adults.

- This should be an EYE OPENER to any Christian. The Green Party would do away with marriage as we know it. Gay marriage, brother-sister marriage, the possibilities are endless. I happen to think the institution of marriage that has existed for the last several thousand years is a good thing for society.

5) All people have a right to food, housing, medical care, jobs that pay a living wage, education, and support in times of hardship.

- The key word here is right. I disagree, I don’t think people that are lazy, drug addicts, and alcoholics, have a right to those things. When you say someone has a right to a job, you have entered socialism. It’s no longer about effort because it’s now a handout.

6) We call for restoration of a federally funded entitlement program to support children, families, the unemployed, elderly and disabled, with no time limit on benefits. This program should be funded through the existing welfare budget, reductions in military spending and corporate subsidies, and a fair, progressive income tax.

- Ahh, more Socialism! Two big problems here: no time limit on benefits, and a progressive income tax. So you can be lazy for as long as you want, and the benefits will keep rolling in. And a progressive income tax (which we have now, though I’m sure it would be “improved” upon) does nothing but stifle the desire for wealth creation. The message that is being sent is this: the harder you work, the more money we will take. That is not the way to grow an economy and create wealth. (Note: wealth is not money).

7) We must take aggressive steps to restore a fair distribution of income. We support tax incentives for businesses that apply fair employee wage distribution standards, and income tax policies that restrict the accumulation of excessive individual wealth.

- Less government involvement Mike? This is Socialism at its finest. This is the government taking money from the rich, and giving it to the poor. I disagree that this is a “fair” distribution of income. I think a fair distribution is getting what you earn. Take a look at post WW2 Russia, China, and Cuba. It’s been tried and it has failed. Socialism puts more people into poverty, not less.

We support tuition-free post secondary (collegiate and vocational) public education.

- If someone wants to become a ballet dancer, or a rock guitar player, fine, but I don’t want to pay for it. Our public education system (K-12) teaches people basic skills they need to live in society. Anything beyond that is up to the individual. (Note: Our CSU’s and community colleges are massively government funded already, but affordable and free are very different.)

9) We oppose the arrest, harassment or prosecution of anyone involved in any aspect of the production, cultivation, transportation, distribution or consumption of medicinal marijuana. We also oppose the harassment, prosecution or revocation of license of any health-care provider who gives a recommendation or prescription for medicinal marijuana.

- To me, that sounds like no one can get in trouble for prescribing marijuana, regardless of whether or not the patient needs it. It also sounds like no one can get in trouble for having it also. Put those two together and you have the legalization of marijuana. However, if you think marijuana will make society more productive, I guess that makes sense.

10) A publicly funded health care insurance program, administered at the state and local levels.

- Ah Mike, here is your local control you were talking about. The only problem is publicly funded health care is one of the worst ideas ever, just look at Canada. Sometimes you have to wait up to 3 months just to get a special test because the system is so slow. Senator Phil Gramm said it best, “Do you really want the people at the DMV running this country’s healthcare?” I hope not.

11) We support day-care service offered at every workplace when feasible, or reasonably near-by when not feasible at the workplace.

- Sounds like more government control, not less.

12) We support the establishment of a reduced-hour work week and at least one month of vacation per year for all workers.

- Sounds like the government controlling private business. Know what this would do? The cost for companies to do business would sky rocket, profits would go down, and coupled with mandatory “living wages” our economy would turn to crap. Again, see Russia, China, Cuba, etc.

If you’re still reading this I’m very impressed, but I would like to clarify something. This post is not meant to be hostile to Mike in any way. I honestly don’t think you have a complete understanding of what the Green Party stands for Mike, and maybe the above was eye-opening. However if it was not, and you have in fact seen all these official stances of the Green Party, I would be curious to know why you agree with them. To everyone else that finished this post, I am very impressed.

I’m tired of people claiming to be “victims” and the government throwing out money to make them feel better. Here are some examples:

1) The Poor: Compared to the rest of the world you’re not, get over it! When people were “poor” 75 years ago they didn’t run to the goverment and expect a handout. No, you sucked it up and did what you had to to get by. Despite what the left would have you believe, if you’re poor it’s probably because you’ve earned it. Most of you won’t read that though, but simply put: don’t get pregnant until marriage, find a minimum wage job, and you’ll no longer be below the poverty line! Read that article.

2) Hurricane and other Natural Disaster Victims: Sorry your house fell down, but you should get insurance like the rest of us. Just because you’re poor (and we’ve established that was your fault), why should the government bail you out? I work hard and apply myself so I can afford insurance, so if my house does fall down, I’ll be covered. What is your excuse?

3) People that use Race, Gender, SES, or anything else to claim victim status: Start taking responsibility for yourself and stop blaming everyone else for your shortcomings. If you’re the victim of racism or sexism at work or some other institution and there is actual proof, by all means explore your legal avenues. What you are not allowed to do is run around crying that the reason you are not well off is everyone elses fault! How do you think it makes every successful minority feel when all you can talk about is how oppressed you are? You just sound retarded.

This is what the liberal left, and yes Mike the green party as well, will never understand. The minute the government says you no longer have to take care of yourself, people stop taking care of themselves. Let’s get back to the good old days where individuals, families, and churches took care of themselves, and the government had nothing to do with it.

So lately I’ve come to the conclusion that politicians simply have too much time on their hands. While this may also be a problem inherent in our political system, it seems politicians sit around thinking about what MORE they could do. The result is a huge bloated political system with laws and procedures we don’t need.

Here is a prime example. A senator from Rhode Island wants to keep athletes from charging for autographs. Why on earth does he think this is part of his job?! I’m telling you, he’s bored. We pay him too much money and require him too work far too many months out of the year.

This is where I’ve come up with a new theory, much broader in scope. Goverment only grows. Sure, we might cut a program or two when the deficit grows, but by and large, goverment just gets bigger. It seems that politicians today, and most of the people that elect them, have NO concept of what goverment should be doing. Instead of simply providing national defense, police and fire on a local level, roads and highways, and just keeping the peace…politicans get BORED and have made government bigger than it should have ever been.

There are two problems with this. One is that we need to first stop the goverment from growing any further, and second is to begin reducing it. To solve the first problem I would drastically reduce the time during the year in which politicians work. If senators only work 2 months of the year, they’ll be forced to focus on the things that really matter, like establishing a budget. The second issue is a much bigger one. Reducing the role of goverment in non-essential areas is almost impossible. No politicians really want to do it, because it would put them out of a job. No one wants to make themselves extinct. Any ideas?