Post from lyla hardin's Blog:
Illegal immigrants are not our biggest threat...
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There is so much smoke and mirrors involved in the immigration issue. Most Americans allow themselves to be easily distracted by racial issues, national employment issues, or shallow cultural concerns.
This is about vast sums of money, the consumption of natural and human resources world-wide, and who is going to control the riches of this planet. 5% of Americans control 35% of the entire world's resources. I am certain that this 5% of our population feels invulnerable to any of the misfortune and misery that the rest of the world either experiences every moment or is only a couple of paychecks removed from.

This is not about race or culture, although it serves a purpose to keep us all arguing about our xenophobia. This is about the HAVE-MORES of this world cornering the market on every natural and man-made resource, and the HAVE-NOTS becoming nothing more than cannon fodder for their efforts.

It is unfortunately so like Americans to be short-sighted and easily distracted by a wedge issue like illegal immigration. Even those who are adamant that the source of their concern is over-population, do not understand that the 25% of the world's resources that are consumed by Americans equates to more comsumption than that of the top five most populated countries in the world. We, the richest country on the planet out consumed more than all the poorest on the planet combined. Stop allowing yourselves to be manipulated and played for fools. This is not about jobs, or race, population control, or cultural security. This is about greed, acquisition of wealth and resources, and concentration of power.

Americans need to stop wasting their time and energy scapegoating the poor and powerless and start speaking truth to those who are taking us all for a ride. We should be demanding accountability and responsibility from the corporate rich and powerful. It is the corporations that are fouling our environment, it is the corporations that are outsourcing our economic security and selling our jobs overseas to the lowest bidder. It is the corporations that are dumbing down our culture into little more than a mindless consumer-driven rat race.

We are going to grant amnesty to 20 million people whose only crime is coming to this country in hopes of a better life.
Amnesty for immigrants is not going to hurt our children, this is not going to destroy our economy, this is not going to make us less secure.
What is hurting our children is a government that continues to give tax-breaks to the richest Americans, and tells us that some of it will trickle down to our children someday, and we believe it.
What is destroying our economy and lowering our wages are policies of deregulation and free trade whiich allows corporations to monopolize and enslave labor markets in America and everywhere else in the world.
What makes us less secure are politicians that are dismantling our social safety nets, underfunding education, and enabling corporations to cripple our healthcare system in the name of profit.

The true enemy to democracy is not sneaking across the border, harvesting our food, building our homes, or cleaning our hotel rooms.
The true enemy to our democracy is holding court in American boardrooms and laughing at us all the way to their newest headquarters in Dubai.

Reader Comments
  
thank you lyla
By D. Tree May 18th 2007 at 6:01 pm EDT
people get so heated about all "the illegals," when they should focus their energy on the culture of Corporate Suprematicm (to use a Lou Dobbsian term!).

if anyone thinks we are going to solve the problems of our economy and the lack of jobs/good wages for the American worker by getting rid of "the illegals" they are in for a rude awakening!

getting rid of "illegals" will do nothing to help american workers. Illegal immigrants are not the ones making the decisions that hurt the American economy -- its companies that outsource their jobs overseas, and the government that refuses to invest in a modern & competitive education system that must be held responsible.

Then there is of course what I call the culture of "white collar entitlement": people like Karl Rove who said that he welcomes immigrants to the low paying jobs because he "doesn't want his son" doing jobs like that. Well, y'know what? We would be in a lot better shape if people like Karl Rove's kids DID work minimum wage jobs for a little education on something called WORK ETHIC.
  
Bravo!
By Alex May 19th 2007 at 1:07 am EDT
Beautiful discription of Smoke and Mirrors.
  
Excellent Observation
By FreedomOfSpeech May 19th 2007 at 2:17 am EDT
You are correct. It is our government and it's corporation pals that are destroying the very fabric of our nation. We need to vote their butts out of office from both sides of the aisle no matter how much we "like" them. It's a start, but it's something we the people have the power to do.

Well put.
  
Very well put
By Matt May 19th 2007 at 10:04 am EDT
We need to start paying attention to those of us without a voice and demanding accountability from those with the loudest.

Congress has got their priorities all mixed up and corporate America will do what they can to maximize profit. That's what they're in business for and we know what to expect. It is up to Congress to make sure business is not exploiting people.
Re: Very well put
By Unknown user May 19th 2007 at 11:20 am EDT
Thanks for the support for my post, but I don't believe that we can count on Congress, any Congress to keep corporations from exploiting people. The place we are in today, the people in Congress are exploited by those running the corporations. For example, much in complained about Halliburton's no-bid contracts, but nothing has been done about it, even in light of clear corruption and price gouging, Halliburton is still the primary contractor for the war.
To really change things, I mean really change things is going to take something so drastic that no one will come out of the process unscathed. It is vitally important that we put a 8-year viable democrat in the White House and maintain majorities in both the house and senate. We are all in for a very bumpy ride in the next 10 years and while they aren't perfect I trust the dems to ultimately act in the common good, and believe me we are going to need that with what is coming.