Millennium Hand and Shrimp!

I’m going to come right out and say it: I am pro-immigration.

With all the crap about immigration laws lately I have finally cemented a position on this issue. This is not legal issue, though I think laws should reflect this, but an economic issue.

Our country, as any democracy or republic, was founded on the principle that any group of people, if given themselves self-governance, will govern themselves well. While I don’t particularly agree with our nation’s opinion to put the current administration in charge, I do think that with a decent constitution and a government with checks on it, any group of people could live and work and play in America and do so without disrupting our civil process.

There is a real argument to be said that supply and demand can’t be stopped. If there is a demand for labor here in America, and a supply of people in Mexico or Venezuela willing to do it, then those two will get together. Either the jobs are going to exit our borders, or people are going to come in. Which is a better solution for us?

Having these people in our country will be good for us. China has 1.3e9 people and India has 1e9. That means each of them has more then 3 times our population (4 times for China). In the coming economic face off with Asia, having a larger population isn’t going to hurt us. It’s going to give us a better foot hold on maintaining ourselves in the world market.

There are plenty of arguments people make about how an increase in immigration will drive up costs of housing and living and any number of other services, but that’s, pardon my french, retarded. They will increase the demand, to be sure, but demand creates supply as well. A fresh wave of immigrants would create jobs, jobs to build the housing, jobs to help cook their meals and sell them cars.

Please note, I am not condoning the illegal activities of others. I am advocating a change in the immigration laws that would allow these people to come here and become part of our nation legally.There are practical reasons to give amnesty to those immigrants who are already in the country, but that’s the purvue of this argument. I think we should be allowing more people to be coming into this country via our excellent immigration system (and it really is quite good). We need to bring people into America and make them want to stay, as has been our tradition since before our inception.

I can see being scared by some of the economic possibilities, though I think they would work out in our favor. I am having a hard time coming up with a real moral reason to keep these people out. We are the pinnacle of the free world (or so our conservative friends would have us believe). Why should we spend so much effort denying the freedom we enjoy to people who want nothing more then to come to America and do what we have done?

Ok, I had a bad week and needed to rant a little. Skaught out.

I’m a sucker for blonde joke.

This one is pretty good.

Note: I’m just going to bitch a lot during this post. I’m not being reasonable; I’m just pissy and fed up and want to complain. On most subjects, I wouldn’t bother to post about this. But I love to tirade about this particular subject. Just ignore this if you care to. I’m going to write ineloquently and fervently for a bit.

Seriously, don’t click here. You don’t want to read it.