« Arizona depression I | Main | Arizona depression III »

May 20, 2010

Comments

Feed You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

I don't plan to watch McCain win.

There IS an excellent alternative.

Independent Democrat and former long-time Phoenix area investigative journalist John Dougherty is well-qualified, well-positioned and well-poised to mount a serious grassroots campaign for the US Senate seat now held by McCain.

Remember that Dougherty is the journalist that broke the Keating Five story in the late 1980s. That was only the beginning. Dougherty is the man who can and will capture the imagination of a broad range of Arizona voters and even more so, the imagination of America in what will be a major game changing campaign this fall.

http://www.JohnDougherty2010.com

The time is NOW.

Steve M: thanks for the info. It looks like Mr. Dougherty will get my vote.

Mr. Talton wrote another great article here, but I offer these thoughts.

I support the Arizona law. It is not perfect, but immigrants are stealing jobs from Americans. I personally know of many instances where Americans have been fired and immediately replaced by illegal immigrants. In one case, management bragged that illegals don't ask for overtime pay or lunch breaks.

Anyone who wants to stop the replacement of Americans with immigrants gets my support.

It would be better to impose severe, crippling penalties on employers who hire illegal immigrants. If I were King, the government would provide access to systems that would allow employers to verify a person's citizenship status. Anyone who knowingly hired an illegal, or who failed to verify, would be sent to prison and fined millions of dollars.

Americans are begging and groveling for work. Every day, I see American citizens diving into dumpsters for food. No one can get a job.

We don't need illegal immigrants. Cities would not collapse without illegal immigrants. Instead we would be much better off -- employers would have to hire Americans who are begging for jobs.

This debate has absolutely NOTHING to do with racism. This is only about WAGES and how much workers are paid. Employers don't want to pay Americans to work.

The United States needs an absolute moratorium on immigration. Employers need to hire Americans instead of firing Americans and replacing them with anyone who will work cheaper that day. We are caught in a cycle where Americans are fired and replaced by Immigrant A. Immigrant A is fired and replaced by Immigrant B, as soon as Immigrant B will work for less than Immigrant A. Next, Immigrant B is replaced by Immigrant C, who works for even less. So now the American citizen and Immigrant A and Immigrant B are begging for jobs.

This is the root of the problem. Racism is a red herring. It has absolutely nothing to do with this.

This debate is 100% about jobs and wages.

It's possible to make a coherent critique of unchecked illegal immigration, but it would necessarily have to come from the left. Low wages, decreasing union clout, and hostile labor law have made the playing field all the more attractive for cheap imported labor. The Growth industry has driven the economy to extremes along with the geography of wealth distribution.

The right should have been compromised by its toe-tapping dalliance with the open-borders folks. Just who do the plebes think has funded the campaigns of Republicans? Corporations have a vested interest in cheap labor and growth. Illegal immigration was a double-barreled blast for the plutocracy. For the talk-radio audience, not so much.

As with so much in our politics, the lack of a genuine populist party has enabled these "malefactors" to simply disguise their real aims by hiding behind xenophobic smokescreens. It's instructive to read Bob Robb for this reason. He was against SB 1070 for libertarian reasons, but was happy to join the xenophobes in condemning boycotts and the moral outrage that impels them.

John McCain will win re-election and promptly set out to restore the luster to the laurel wreath prop he wears inside the beltway. The national media will swoon as he self-deprecatingly explains his sinfulness as the inescapable evidence of too much partisanship in our politics. He'll vow to elevate the discourse by booking himself on Meet the Press more frequently.

Since it's probable that the new law will not usher in a restoration of sparkly whiteness, what will the 'phobes think when McCain takes off his nativist warrior paint? My suspicion is that they'll simply move on to some new faux outrage, like a certain circuit court's strike-down of their favorite new law.

Wonder if Candidate Dougherty still has his pony-tail? He's cleaned up nice!

Joanna:

Immigrants haven't "stolen" a damn thing, although they've been accused of doing just that forever. Google "Irish immigration" and you'll see that the same thing was said in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Globalization (in which the US plays a huge role) has activated immigration on a massive scale. I'm astonished that people think that low prices come without a cost. Also, while I'll take you at your word that your support of SB1070 isn't based in racism, for far too many people, it is exactly that.

South Carolina is the latest state to sign into law tough, new illegal immigration measures. SB 1070 does not stand alone as a sovereign state legal tool.

Diane D'Angelo,

It sounds like I must have misunderstood something. Or vice versa. Don't think I mentioned supporting SB 1070. As a matter of fact, I am producing a video about the history of immigration, particularly women losing their right to citizenship when they married. It effected women who married between 1907 - 1922. So, maybe we have a communication snafu?

I just added a comment to Part I. A comment to Part II will be forthcoming. Please read -- and consider -- the comment to Part I, which asks Rogue Columnist readers to consider an important (and perhaps unfamiliar) argument in discussions about "sprawl".

Wow, the most grounded and well-informed AZ-based political analysis I've read in recent memory. I'm an instant fan of yours.

Verify your Comment

Previewing your Comment

This is only a preview. Your comment has not yet been posted.

Working...
Your comment could not be posted. Error type:
Your comment has been posted. Post another comment

The letters and numbers you entered did not match the image. Please try again.

As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments.

Having trouble reading this image? View an alternate.

Working...

Post a comment

Your Information

(Name is required. Email address will not be displayed with the comment.)

My Photo

Your email address:


Powered by FeedBlitz