OH MY! What a firestorm that email/post caused! I never knew that so many of you had so very, very many strong and diverging opinions. (Yes, I'm totally lying!) I am honored that you feel confident enough in our friendship to be able to speak your mind. (And knowing me that well you realize that was my goal from the get-go, don't ya! MWAHAHA!)
First - Please stop with the "You're a racist" stuff. If I was a racist or a bigot, half of you wouldn't be on my mailing list in the first place.
Second - Please stop with the "To hell with them all" comments. If I believed that the only people who belong in America are Americans I'd need to delete about 2/3 of the people I really care about off my Christmas list. Just about the only ones left would be Hubby's paternal family since they are directly descended from Native Americans.
Since most of your comments have to do with just one topic, I'm going to answer you all at once to keep from getting typer's cramp.
1. Immigration: A. The problem is not just Mexicans. B. I am not against immigration. When done properly the resulting cultural diversity makes for a richer and much more interesting life experience. What I AM against is the encouragement of people to hop on over expecting to get all the rights and privileges of those who came here through proper channels or worked their butts of to make it legal once they got here.
I do not want all "illegals" deported. I know and love a great many who either are here or come from families who came here in the dark of night. By and large they are honest, hardworking people who just want what we all want: a better life for ourselves and those we love.
What I DO want is to find a way to make EVERYONE accountable like the rest of us because I also know a number of people - not just Mexicans and not just illegals - who are here doing their prospering thing but never paying a dime in taxes yet enjoying the educational and social benefits afforded by those of us who do.THAT bugs me! No matter who you are or where you are from, PAY YOUR FAIR SHARE OF THE FLIPPING TAX BILL.
While I'm on a soap box, whether one is born here, crawled through the desert or floated for days on end to get here, mooching is not acceptable. Period. And we, as a nation, need to stop encouraging it by allowing people to just take and take without giving anything back. As any good parent knows the more we give our children without expecting them to earn it the more they want and the more they feel entitled to get everything for nothing. There's a lot of infrastructure work out there that needs doing. As far as I'm concerned, every able-bodied person who expects something free should be required to get out and paint, nail, mow, clean, etc., etc., etc....
Come on, folks, we are a bunch of smart sunnaguns. Surely we can figure out a way to allow people to come here and participate in (not mooch off of) our American dream!
2. Healthcare: I am NOT against healtcare reform. I AM against letting the government run it. There needs to be some major changes across the board. I have my opinions and my own fears.
Mostly I fear allowing the government to take over cuz they don't do such a good job at stuff, ya know...
However there's another very sad part of the healthcare thing that dovetails in with the immigration thing. I recently had to take one of my 'kids' to the local county hospital. But that's a story for tomorrow. Come on back for the continuing saga of the AARP letter and its fallout.
Until later,
Peace, Blessings, Love, and Respect to all.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
2 comments:
WELL HOWDY!! Thanks so much for popping in to leave a note. PLEASE be sure to check the box by "E-mail follow-up comments to..." so that you'll get my response to your comment. I almost always respond personally And sorry for making you do the Word jumble mambo. I wish there weren't A***ole spammers running rampant in the blogverse!
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(1) As an environmentalist, I share your passion to limit the number of people in the U.S. At the rate we use resources, there are simply too many of us. The reality, though, is that immigration control is hopeless: unless we want to create a Big Brother government of 1984 proportions to track our personal lives, immigrants will always find a way to get to a better place. Always have, always will--whether the Jews who left Ur for the comfort & prosperity of Egypt, or the Turks that flooded into Germany in the 70s...
ReplyDelete(2) America sorely needs a government administered public option in healthcare. Overhead with Medicare is very low, efficiency is very high. It's a good public option. Similarly, our highway system works pretty well, and that's gov't run too. There is a reason that America's healthcare is at a crisis point: we are the last nation in the industrialized world without a public plan.
I agree with holding people accountable. It drives me crazy to go to the Medicaid office and see almost all Mexican immigrants, not because I'm racist or anything, but because the majority of the ones in that office are not legal yet that are getting assistance. I agree with EcoRover on the healthcare issue though. A Medicaid type program for everyone would help those of us without the option for insurance and others with extremely high deductibles and/or copays.
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