Re: Continuation of May Day thread

You can't want to keep giving aid to people who
either don't get it because someone is stealing it or don't know what to do
with it.
-------

This reminds me of Belize (hey! it's right next to Mexico, and there are a
lot of similarities). American "friends of Belize" congregate on a
particular bulletin board on a particular website, and they chat and whatnot
(similar to SMT). Anyway, they are always raising money for this or that
thing, or people are asking, "what can I bring with me that will help the
locals?" People suggest things like school supplies, books, backpacks, etc.

One ex-pat gringo who has lived in Belize for nearly 15 years told them, "if
you really want to help, bring birth control!"


--
Kathy
www.ambergriscaye.com/villadelsol
"JulieW8" <seemysig@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:4458eccd.69315159@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
What's with all the extra symbols? Ick!

First I think it's important to have an understanding of the world we
live in, and global politics. It's been a long time since it was
written, but Nixon's "Beyond Peace" was a brilling look (and insight)
into world politics. Whatever else you can say about Tricky *** (and
there is a lot to say!), he had a great grasp of foreign politics and
he and Kissinger were an unparalled team. "Beyond Peace" is a
fascinating dissection of his last-published view of world politics.

I had a couple relatives who worked for the Organization of American
States (OAS) and my uncle said one of the most difficult aspects of
working with Central and South American countries was investing in
them in a way that benefits them and us. However humanitarian we want
to be, we want our efforts to be beneficial to all parties - you can't
throw good money after bad indefinitely. One problem in these
countries is the corrupt governments. We have all these warm, fuzzy
feelings for our fellow human beings, but throwing money at them or
letting them come here in droves doesn't solve the underlying problem
- it's like giving someone aspirin for a 104 fever without addressing
why they have a fever. You can't want to keep giving aid to people who
either don't get it because someone is stealing it or don't know what
to do with it.

But - we also don't want to police the world, which would be the only
way of getting past the corrupt governments. The same people who think
we shouldn't be the world police seem to be the same ones who think we
ought to be the world charity bank. Neither by itself is productive.

IMO, the solution to illegal immigration has to be concentrated,
enforced and consistent - and I'm not sure our government is capable
of doing that. The liberals want to throw money at it instead of
solving it - Barbara Boxer got millions of dollars for California
hospitals to offset some of the costs of treating illegal immigrants,
but she didn't do anything to enforce current laws to stem the flow.
The Republicans just want to build a fence because a lot of their
corporate buddies are using illegal labor. And nobody - especially in
an election year - wants to piss off a growing population in the US,
illegal or legal. However, the majority of Hispanics in this country
aren't citizens and the ones who are aren't registered to vote or
don't vote. Whether or not they can change that in time for the next
election remains to be seen.

And as much as I'd like to cut off public benefits for illegals, it
has the potential to create not only health problems, but make the
subclass burrow further into the shadows. However, it's something that
ought to be considered if the other solutions don't work, or don't
work fast enough.

It's also touchy to pressure other countries to change their politics
and improve their economy. If you withhold aide, you hurt the people
who need it the most. Continuing to give aide doesn't resolve the
problem; and in fact, allows the government to continue business as
usual without any incentive to address its problems. I believe that
helping others help themselves is always the best solution, but it's
difficult or impossible to do in some of these countries.

So you see, there are no simple solutions. <G> Sometimes, the solution
creates unintentional consequences that are worse than the original
problem.

I think the first thing we need to do, however, is go after the people
who employ illegal immigrants in large numbers. I'm not talking about
the nannies and housekeepers - that's small potatoes. I'm talking
construction, farming, restaurants, trucking, etc. In conjunction with
that, use this great internet we have to make it easier for employers
to identify fake IDs and to find the people using them before they
disappear again. IOW, don't leave an excuse for the employers to say
they didn't know, they couldn't check, etc. And make the punishment
hurt enough that they have a real incentive NOT to just hire someone
whose papers are questionable, knowing they will probably never get
caught.

I would also like to see an amendment to the Constitution so that only
children born to citizens (not even guest workers) are citizens.
Children born to legal immigrants who are not citizens should be
granted expedited citizenship when their parents obtain citizenship.

You asked for it, Judity. That's my objective analysis and solution
suggestion. <G>

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To send me e-mail, use juliew8@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


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