Troops on the Border
Maybe it's because I'm 15 miles from Mexico (and in the world's busiest border city), but I just don't see this crisis that the media and congress are talking about. Yesterday the administration announced that they were sending a few thousand troops to secure the border. Is anyone not convinced that this is just a distraction from the impeachable spying offenses this administration has sponsored? Any time the immigration debate get heated, it just so happens to be during a critical election period. So many of these candidates for congress are using immigration as a scare tactic to sweep themselves into office. So where does immigration fit into the terrorism, gas and healthcare problems in this country?
Terrorism is not something you can fight a war against. Terrorists aren't from a specific country, as some of the worst attacks have been committed by Red-Blooded Americans (Koresh, Applewhite, McVeigh, Rudolph), and they certainly aren't easy to distinguish from regular people. We continue to lock down in fear because of this abstract threat of something that by its very nature is rare. If all terrorism deaths in modern history were added together, they'd pale in comparison to the deaths by starvation, dehydration, and other diseases of poverty that happen monthly. 115 People die every day in car accidents, but terrorism gets more airtime. Bush claims that he's putting troops on the border as protection from terrorism, but don't we have a large border with that little country known as Canadia? Where's the troops up there? All this move tells me is that if I'm going to bomb the US, I'm going to enter through Montana or Wisconsin.
Maybe we're pissed off about the higher prices of energy because of those pesky immigrants. After all, they are the reason why we're able to eat that mega-burrito for $6. I'd much rather pay $10 for my burrito if it meant that I wouldn't have to see a Mexican in the kitchen. That way I'd be sure to get a sub-par burrito made by some lazy white man like at the Mexican restaurants in Ireland. How about that $40 bill at Vons...think you'd still be paying such low prices if the farming community was made up of American-born high school graduates with a union? Baja Fresh probably doesn't hire illegals, but their prices are higher and quality is lower than your local taco shop, which is likely to be staffed with illegals. Keeping them in the shadows actually helps us as consumers because of the lower prices. Now if we legalized immigration and made all new immigrants register with a tracking device (like people do with their dogs and cats) we could not only violate their civil rights (yes, all people are entitled to civil rights), but we could also much more effectively protect ourselves.
The other problem with using troops to secure our borders is the simple fact that we don't have enough troops in the places we actually need them! How many generals (that have been fired) have stated that we need more troops in Iraq? What about the response to Katrina? I have a good friend who is a marine reservist who VOLUNTEERED to go to NOLA when Katrina was destroying her. They planned and planned to go, but in the end, they just sat in Orlando wasting tax dollars and not doing anything to help. In the end, his platoon was told that they wouldn't go to NOLA afterall. How is it when we need troops, we cannot get them to go? I'd think that saving one of the most historical American cities or winning a war would be a good way to win elections...
To me this is not just a problem with the leadership of the Republican party. It's a problem with Americans. They are too eager to place the blame, to find a scapegoat. They don't take the time to look within and really discover what the true problems are. They elect oil men, then complain when the administration seems to be favoring oil companies. They elect a certifiable retard, then complain about how he doesn't seem to get anything and is always a step behind. This country WAS great, but we're quickly losing ground to the rest of the world. We keep trying to punish people for doing what's best for themselves and their family. Haven't we learned that punishment is not the best deterrent? Regardless, we're walking a thin line and endangering the American people by this buildup of troops on the border. It will weaken international relations and expose us in the event of a major natural disaster. A disaster is looming, and unless San Diego falls into the water, it's likely to be hudreds of miles from Mexico.
Terrorism is not something you can fight a war against. Terrorists aren't from a specific country, as some of the worst attacks have been committed by Red-Blooded Americans (Koresh, Applewhite, McVeigh, Rudolph), and they certainly aren't easy to distinguish from regular people. We continue to lock down in fear because of this abstract threat of something that by its very nature is rare. If all terrorism deaths in modern history were added together, they'd pale in comparison to the deaths by starvation, dehydration, and other diseases of poverty that happen monthly. 115 People die every day in car accidents, but terrorism gets more airtime. Bush claims that he's putting troops on the border as protection from terrorism, but don't we have a large border with that little country known as Canadia? Where's the troops up there? All this move tells me is that if I'm going to bomb the US, I'm going to enter through Montana or Wisconsin.
Maybe we're pissed off about the higher prices of energy because of those pesky immigrants. After all, they are the reason why we're able to eat that mega-burrito for $6. I'd much rather pay $10 for my burrito if it meant that I wouldn't have to see a Mexican in the kitchen. That way I'd be sure to get a sub-par burrito made by some lazy white man like at the Mexican restaurants in Ireland. How about that $40 bill at Vons...think you'd still be paying such low prices if the farming community was made up of American-born high school graduates with a union? Baja Fresh probably doesn't hire illegals, but their prices are higher and quality is lower than your local taco shop, which is likely to be staffed with illegals. Keeping them in the shadows actually helps us as consumers because of the lower prices. Now if we legalized immigration and made all new immigrants register with a tracking device (like people do with their dogs and cats) we could not only violate their civil rights (yes, all people are entitled to civil rights), but we could also much more effectively protect ourselves.
The other problem with using troops to secure our borders is the simple fact that we don't have enough troops in the places we actually need them! How many generals (that have been fired) have stated that we need more troops in Iraq? What about the response to Katrina? I have a good friend who is a marine reservist who VOLUNTEERED to go to NOLA when Katrina was destroying her. They planned and planned to go, but in the end, they just sat in Orlando wasting tax dollars and not doing anything to help. In the end, his platoon was told that they wouldn't go to NOLA afterall. How is it when we need troops, we cannot get them to go? I'd think that saving one of the most historical American cities or winning a war would be a good way to win elections...
To me this is not just a problem with the leadership of the Republican party. It's a problem with Americans. They are too eager to place the blame, to find a scapegoat. They don't take the time to look within and really discover what the true problems are. They elect oil men, then complain when the administration seems to be favoring oil companies. They elect a certifiable retard, then complain about how he doesn't seem to get anything and is always a step behind. This country WAS great, but we're quickly losing ground to the rest of the world. We keep trying to punish people for doing what's best for themselves and their family. Haven't we learned that punishment is not the best deterrent? Regardless, we're walking a thin line and endangering the American people by this buildup of troops on the border. It will weaken international relations and expose us in the event of a major natural disaster. A disaster is looming, and unless San Diego falls into the water, it's likely to be hudreds of miles from Mexico.
posted by Dan Pasternack at 1:47 PM
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