Several weeks ago a former Florida governor, and potential 2016 presidential candidate, Jeb Bush whizzed throughout the media announcing his new book about immigration, “Immigration Wars. Forging an American Solution”, written together with Clint Bolick from the Goldwater Institute. At that time very few people had a chance to read the book, and a few days later, the book was forgotten. This is unfortunate, as it brings a fresh approach and as such deserves more attention. We all remember Mitt Romney telling illegal immigrants to return home and get back in line. I argued that there is no line to get into, but now it is official. In the book (page 24), a reputable politician and a respectful scholar confirmed, “there is no line in which most of those aspiring to become Americans can wait with any realistic hope of admission.” In their analysis they detail nonsenses of our “immigration regime that nearly everyone agrees is profoundly dysfunctional.” (Page 6)
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Tag Archives: Mitt Romney
A few conclusions missing
To lead or not to lead?
My seventh open letter to Mr. Mitt Romney on immigration
Dear Mr. Romney,
The immigration issue is about America defining itself at the beginning of the 21st century. Is America a place where people born here are entitled to cutting coupons from the wealth accumulated by previous generations? And, should they guard this wealth from being accessed by immigrants? Or, does America embody the concept of individual freedom? The concept that the well-being of the nation would be best achieved when individuals will be guaranteed the freedoms to pursue their best economic interests? We have to revisit the fundamental question of what we want our government to do. Should it guarantee an equal right to pursue happiness for everyone, or should it provide at least a little bit of happiness for as many Americans as possible?
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Why do we have 11 million illegal immigrants and what do we do with them?
My sixth open letter to Mr. Mitt Romney on immigration
Dear Mr. Romney,
Why do we have as many illegal immigrants as we have, not five times less or five times more? Our borders are so porous that almost anybody who wants to come, could come. Why have only 11 million immigrants (or whatever the real number is) arrived and stayed illegally? Why was it not 1 million or 21 million? We have as many illegal immigrants as we have because this is the number of workers that the economy needs. If we had no quotas limiting legal immigration, if we just registered and ran a background check on every foreigner who found employment in the U.S., we would have the same number of foreigners working here as we have now, but all of them would be here legally. We would be in control; we would know who they are and what they are doing.
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Closed minds for closed borders
My fifth open letter to Mr. Mitt Romney on immigration
Dear Mr. Romney,
We have not one documented incident of national security being endangered due to Mexicans crossing the border illegally, but everyone seems to be eager to spend my tax money on militarizing the border with Mexico. Without even considering the cost, if we build a wall along the Mexican border, or even two parallel walls as some suggest, and saturate this border with cameras, sensors and armed patrols, it will only change the way the border is crossed. When it is hard to find a spot without border guards, more people will try to bribe border guards. Just a few years ago, illegal border crossing was handled by petty smugglers. With tougher border control, it is falling into the hands of organized crime. With their resources and money, organized crime is on its way to criminalizing border crossing, as it criminalized alcohol production and distribution during Prohibition.
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Chasing illegal immigrants
My fourth open letter to Mr. Mitt Romney on immigration
Dear Mr. Romney,
We can effectively seal the borders. The Soviet Union did it, so it is doable, likely with the same outcome. We can easily identify most of the illegal immigrants here simply by compiling records already available to the government: social security, tax numbers issued to illegal immigrants by the IRS, bank records, and school registries. Then, get them deported on short notice. Stalin was able to arrange forced relocations of millions of people, so we know that it can be done. We do not do it because: first, it would turn the country into a Soviet-style totalitarian police state. Second, it would hurt the economy. Therefore, the federal Government is almost literally bipolar in its acts on immigration enforcement. On one end it tries to follow the law; on the other, it knows that doing this truly is inhuman, is un-American, and that it hurts the economy.
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Why most Americans want restricted immigration?
My third open letter to Mr. Mitt Romney on immigration
Dear Mr. Romney,
Now, as it was in 1924, many Americans are against immigration, as they feel that immigrants take away from them jobs that they could have, at better pay than immigrants, if immigrants were stopped at the border. This approach mirrors the anger of workers at the beginning of industrialization, when they used to destroy weaving machines for taking their jobs. One may understand the frustration of people losing their jobs, but it takes a leader to explain that nations build their wealth not by preserving jobs but quite the opposite: by stimulating change. Civilization advances the fastest and the wealth of nations grows the most where entrepreneurs have the most freedom in innovation. Innovation can also mean the ability to find a cheaper worker to do a job. We need a leader who can tell Americans, straight to their face, this basic economic truth. Can you do it, Mr. Romney?
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Why do we have illegal immigration?
My second open letter to Mr. Mitt Romney on immigration
Dear Mr. Romney,
Being so vocal against illegal immigration, did you do your homework to find out how we ended up having this mess to begin with? Can you disclose your reasoning process?
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Why do we need a line?
My first open letter to Mr. Mitt Romney on immigration
Dear Mr. Romney,
You stated many times that illegal immigrants should return to their countries of origin and get back in line. Why do we need a line to begin with? I grew up in Poland, then a socialistic country where the government ran almost everything, and we had lines for almost everything as well. Lines are a byproduct of the socialist ideal of a centralized, government-run economy. There are no lines in a free market system. The only meaningful lines that Americans have to endure on a daily basis are the lines in the U.S. Postal Service offices, the government-run quasi-monopoly.
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