I am still trying to figure out what "act like Americans" means. The problem that I keep having with this immigration issue is just this: We are all immigrants to this country. It seems that now that our families are here and "integrated into the american culture" that we want to close the gate. Kind of a snooze you loose mentality.
Upscale Americans are pretty well known for not wanting others to "catch up" with them. The Elite out in Malibu? I believe they'd pay for an Elevated Highway One to be built right over the existing Coast Highway, if we'd let them -- yes, indeedy, I believe Malibu Residents would prohibit anyone who is not a Malibu Resident from even driving through Malibu, if they could.
Check out Lafayette Park or Carthay Circle in L.A. -- Lafayette Park, in particular -- they outright barricade and fence off the roads through their enclaves. Me, I was thinking those roads were public.
I think immigration and cultural diversity are good for America.
Know when to say when.
When I am lucky enough to travel outside of America, just about the last thing I want to run into is a big heaping dose of All Things American. It is more than convenient, it is comforting to be able to go to so many countries and find SOMEONE who speaks English, but I do NOT particularly want to find McDonalds, The Gap, Banana Republic, Tiffany's, Chanel, Burger King, Niketown and Pizza Hut.
A certain amount of diversity is good, of course. For those who subscribe to it, I've got news for you -- besides being creepy, the Aryan Race thing isn't practical. A hundred years down the road, you're grandchildren's children will want a little more pigment in their skin. The Aryan Race of legend would fry.
Homogeneity, thy other name is Boring.
HOWEVER, comma, who died and said that WE have to be the "Melting Pot"? I watch KENYANS and FRENCH celebrate the election of an American president who is so far afield as to have his ELIGIBILITY in question, and I'm supposed to feel better about that? Why? Because Kenya and France always come to my country's aid when, as now, my country is in a bind?
Will Kenya welcome a half-American into THEIR government? Do we find France weaving American, Mexican and Zimbabwean influences into the fabric of Parisian culture? I think not.
American Culture was cool. It wasn't just for crap jobs that people came here. They dug the Rock 'n Roll, too, and the Levi's. Burgers and shakes, popcorn and movies. The age-old battle between "upwardly mobile" parents and their rebellious teenagers who will turn out to be more like their parents than their parents. When I want to celebrate Cinco De Mayo, I'll go to Mexico. I don't dig it, that people march waving flags from other countries while demanding taxpayer-funded benefits in mine.
Like I said, I am abidingly appreciative on the English thing but I surely don't expect the other countries to which I travel to help me out financially. If we don't get our shit together and pull something out of a hat pretty quick, I'm outta here. I haven't decided where to go but, I'm not gonna lie, it'll suit me just fine if it has Socialized Medicine. Beyond that? I expect my adoptive country to pretty much do NOTHING for me but accept me, and my taxes.
Government welfare, on the other hand, is not.
Welfare is riddled with Moral Hazards -- just shot through and through. MORAL HAZARDS, plural, and EXORBITANT EXPENSE are my objections. That seems so obvious, right? But it isn't, entirely.
See, if we were rolling in dough, I wouldn't care that much about the Expense. I don't WANT ill-fed, ill-clad, ignorant people running around -- that ISN'T an esteemed aspect of American Culture. If we were rolling in dough like Saudi Princes, what do I care about the Petty Schemers? Life is short, y'know? The Moral Hazard angle is theirs and the Crooked Bureaucrats to sort out with their God, yes?
But we are NOT rolling in dough. We are REELING -- teetering on Calamity, in point of fact.
SOMETIMES THE RIGHT ANSWER IS
TOUGH SHIT, WE CAN'T AFFORD IT
America is in economic free-fall. The FIRST responsibility of American Government is to American citizens.
Sometimes you gotta lighten the load. Benefits To Illegals are like the piano that gets tossed from the struggling helicopter at the conclusion of Hot Shots Part Deux -- totally ridiculous, but it's gotta go. Totally ridiculous that we went from being the penultimate economic powerhouse to not being able to afford stuff like food stamps and lunches for elementary school children, but there you have it.
