"In other words, they’ll be a permanent underclass that’s completely dependent on government for its continued existence in the country. That might be great for the Democratic party, but it’s terrible for the people they supposedly “support.” (I guess that’s par for the course!)"
If you look up Cesar Chavez and immigration, you get these bemused articles about his "complicated" and "nuanced" views on immigration. Cesar Chavez is a hero of the left until they realize that he understood one very basic fact: mass immigration leads to a struggle for resources among workers and decreases the leverage of all workers.
So this isn't really about creating a single underclass. It's about decreasing the power of the masses over all.
The Zoom class knows they are dependent on people who work in the real world to keep the AC/heat working, elevators running, food appearing at their doorstep, etc. The Zoomers also know that a large part of this group despise them. It’s bad to rely on people who despise you to provide the necessities of life.
Better to have an alternate group of real-world workers over whom you have leverage, but hide it under the guise of compassion.
Justin Trudeau does not have easy access to a group of alternate workers. He was forced to display the heavy hand of freezing bank accounts of those who dared to disobey. Not a good look, and to be avoided if possible. Hide the true intent using a cloak of compassion and caring.
May 22, 2023·edited May 22, 2023Liked by SimulationCommander
IMHO Libertarians are free thinkers who define themselves and despise big government. I've considered myself a libertarian since I first heard Ron Paul speak and after I heard about NORML. While I hate that America has become top-heavy with useless bureaucrats and that, like the Europeans, we are now ruled and dominated by a tiny group of elites far from our homes, my "libertarian" beliefs stop at the border. We need to protect our nation's borders or we will soon stop being a nation. If #FJB is not the Beast of Revelation (see Revelations 13), he is certainly a traitor and an old gangster.
Once we have established and consolidated the Libertarian Utopia within the territory of the United States of America, THEN and ONLY then can we start opening the borders to the rest of the world to philosophical fellow travelers -- Americans who just happen to be born somewhere else.
I think what gets missed (or at least not discussed enough) is that for borders to be open, the to/from society must ALSO be some flavor of free or the flow of people going one direction only becomes unsustainable
But it's okay for the U.S. to be a beacon of freedom, and allow entry to more than those who choose to leave, speaking of which, can we *force* those who "threaten" exit for political reason to follow through?
As you note, NYC is now shipping illegal aliens to upstate cities. In Syracuse, near where I live, the illegals are going to be housed in the Candlewood Suites hotel. I guess they will have to evict the transient drug users who live there now (and they will cuz govt money for illegals is so much more than govt money for legals). The mayor of the town that hotel resides in has his panties all in a wad over this. Apparently the mayor said we don't want them and the NYC mayor said "tough nuggies!" That should be the libertarian mantra in the free movement of people supported by taxpayer money - tough nuggies!
> The mayor of the town that hotel resides in has his panties all in a wad over this. Apparently the mayor said we don't want them and the NYC mayor said "tough nuggies!"
So, don't let them off the bus. Tell the bus to turn around. Send them back.
"Go Fuck Yourself. Syracuse isn't a 'sanctuary city'. NYC is. Keep them."
(Assuming that's actually true. Syracuse may also have shot themselves in the foot with that sort of declaration. In which case... open wide.)
I'd send them right back, but this is govt. They are all in the big "cools kids" table group together. Syracuse is a sanctuary city, cuz diversity or inclusion or something...
But the illegals are not being housed in the city, which has no hotels because the city is a dump. The illegals are being housed in the suburbs of the dumpy sanctuary city.
Democrats are making an assumption that these illegals would vote for them. That same assumption with regard to Latinos and Arab Americans has not gone according to plan.
Democrats are, at the least, ensuring that the next census pumps their state's population numbers- increasing the Representatives in the House. It matters not at all that the new population aren't citizens.
In a way I wish we could do what other countries do which is admit those with skills that we need. I also know that right here in Texas there are lots of places begging for help. But, housing here is unaffordable, even people who live and work here can barely make it. I would love if immigrants could learn the language, have some basic life skills, and have a bit of money so that they can survive themselves. No handouts, because they don’t work. I also think the influx of others into the country will have an effect on who and who isn’t elected. Many feel that the democrats are letting all these people in so they can vote out every republican, and I can see that. But after they have been here a while their personal beliefs will come to the surface to change their vote. Democrats might just be inviting the next wave of staunch republicans who don’t back down.
The reason why is that these wonderful new soon-to-be Americans understand (more, sometimes much more, than the average American) that the Democrats are *exactly* what they flee.
They from what I have seen, work hard, want to help, are eager to learn, kind, and in awe of kindness. My friend in the delivery room said the moms giving birth were pleasant, grateful, and loving towards their children. I also know them to be conservative, pro-life, want to improve themself, and know it takes work to do these things. They are not shy of working. Granted I don’t look for, actively seek out the trouble makers, and my experience is limited.
Me too. Over my working life, I have worked with lots of Hispanic immigrants. I have found them to be friendly, hardworking, and happy to be participating in America.
The elites who seem to believe these immigrants will join the woke victim brigade are once again showing their ignorance of who these people really are. Most immigrants that I’ve known despise that whole concept even more than conservatives do.
I'm all for simplifying/streamlining LEGAL immigration, and making that process more affordable - $1500 and a ride to the border right now from a coyote is more appealing than over $10,000 in fees and court costs and 10+years of paperwork.
Also - how sure are we that of ~10,000 illegal border crossings we have each week that they're all nice Honduran gentlemen that just want to pick lettuce or mud sheetrock? What if some of them are ChiComm special operators or jihadis or Spetsnaz?
I liken the border to the line at a packed bar - sure, everyone wants to come in, but we still gotta card you to make sure it's OK for you to be here.
Oh but we do..... It's just nobody ever checks to see if those workers actually return home after harvest season; many do, many do not. How can we know? Nobody in officialdom seems to give a rip.
It's worse than that. My husband works for a large corporate vegetable farm, and for the first time, had to hire HB1 workers. After paying their way here, providing food, housing, and medical care even before they started working, a significant portion disappeared and were never seen again. Many of the rest did as little work as possible, because they must be guaranteed a certain wage. It took threats of deportation to get them to pick the vegetables. The whole program is a disaster.
Considering the amount of black and hispanic voters turning away from the democratic party as they realize they were “better off under Trump”, it becomes obvious the libs have to replace their dwindling voter base with a new voters. What better way than create a new class of welfare recipients that will be dependent upon the benevolence of the Democratic Party. One can only hope that at least some of these people will realize the trap they’re walking into…fleeing one repressive regime straight into the arms of a political party who only cares about their vote, not their freedom or well being.
Permanent underclass has a formal name, even: Lumpenproletariat.
Engels described with near-100% accuracy what is happeing to the West (he was hardly alone in that during his time, many others did so too); sadly, the description of the dangers of capitalism and cosmopolitanism-from-above is obviously and understandably marred both by Marx' manifesto and what happened when Lenin et al tried implementing Marx ideas using force.
Also, migration is almost never a net boon in any way for the recipient nation. It takes some serious abuse of math and statistics to make itlook like it is.
Furthermore, the more alien the people coming is and are, the more conflict-areas of all kinds multiply, almost geometrically so.
To quote your former president: "Look at Sweden".
Our net cost for migration is more than 2% of our annual GDP. I say again, net cost.
Our libertarians, such as they are, also bleat the lie that if you get rid of welfare and taxation, then migration will suddenly start to function as promised. As per usual, their rethoric and analysis is of the underpants-gnome variety.
Just wait until a moslem-majority local city council votes for banning dogs from being walked 500 yards or closer to any moslem residence, store, business or mosque. Yup, that's a real example. Allow moslems in your nation = your nation becomes a moslem nation.
Or just look at South Africa and Rhodesia before and after. For a positive example, look at India.
Race/ethnicity/kultur/call it what you like matters, and it matters far more than any political system. It is one of the foundational pillars of society (the other is family).
PS: Anyone reacting to this by reflexively thinking it smacks of racism- ask yourself this: who made you associate like that? Where and when and by whom where you taught to think like that? Is it to your benefit? Is it true?
Racism and racist attitudes are described differently by different people. Micro-aggressions abound. Well, speaking as a white man who was abused by black soldiers in Anchorage, Alaska, and after seeing how one black company did not have to get out on the parade ground for inspection, and how they always controlled and dominated, common areas and made whites feel threatened, we have had many features of Black Privilege for decades. Racism is learned - not taught.
This la-la land fantasy of no borders is one reason I'm not a libertarian. And to throw away a vote for a libertarian instead of voting for the closest thing--a Republican--is same as voting Democrat. Time to stop pursuing perfection -- it doesn't exist.
The opposition to Democrat tyrrany must be united. We can (and probably will have to *again*) slap the Republican Statists (neo-cons) down if (I mean when) they rear their ugly heads, but please people! let us slay the biggest dragon first.
Vote Republican, even if just this 1 (one) time in your life.
Edit: that's tyranny, spelled correctly when refferring to Dinosaurs. ;-)
"Not America" is a global phenomena. Throughout the 'West' the invasions we label as immigration are, rapidly, very rapidly, changing 'liberal democracies' into VERY different, VERY illiberal countries.
The UK is no longer the country in which I was fortunate enough to spend part of my youth. “Immigration” has changed many of her cities - beyond recognition. And Canada, the formerly great white north, where I learned to appreciate the wilderness, in all of it's splendour, transformed by immigration into a socialist haven for the teeming masses. The USA, the world's great experiment in freedom, where I was lucky enough to go to school, and work for many years, is swirling around the bowl on it's way down the sewer.
All gone, or going. Transformed in a few short decades into slightly cleaner, (for now), banana republics. Ruled by nameless, faceless, unaccountable bureaucrats. Monsters in cheap suits, who have weaponized government to selectively suppress the fundamental freedoms. The people who built the nations that became British, Canadian, or American are no longer permitted to exercise free speech, to practice of their religion, or to freely assemble. Those 'rights' seem to be reserved for much more recent immigrants. People to whom the old “melting pot” theories simply do not apply. People who bring their culture, and laws, with them. And, somehow, impose those alien customs and laws on the folks who built the very countries they invade.
Borders matter. No border, no country. Or at least no country recognizable as the ones I grew up in.
Agreed. Most of the invaders come from parts of the world that do not acknowledge, or even comprehend, "individual rights". Many speak languages in which it is difficult to express the concept of 'democracy'. The vocabulary not only lacks the word, but requires an elaborate circumlocution to convey the idea.
Here in Canada, if you even mention assimilation, or melting pot, or horrors, "learning English" - you get labelled.
Why speak English when you live in some district filled with nothing but Chinese or South Asians? Not that there's anything wrong with Chinese or South Asians.
Bantustans are a bad thing. Don't do it Justin. (he will, he is)
Where I live, I simply drive over the hill and it’s like another country. No, it’s not okay. If I wanted to be in that country, I’d move there. I am a stranger in my own country.
"...weaponized government to selectively suppress the fundamental freedoms."
I like this turn of phrase. I think it is the "the" actually! It kinda says to me the "pre-existing-since-the-beginning-of-human-ness", *not* designed by humans (natural? organic?) but human by right of human-nature.
Everything you say, but one other rather practical point, without borders there can be no laws, or for that matter Government. If, for example, there were no border between the USA & Mexico & Canada, where would an Act of US Congress start and stop? What income tax rate would apply in Toronto, US tax rate or Canadian tax rate and who and how would it be enforced. If Mexico made narcotic drugs legal, at what geographic point would it become illegal for US Citizens? If you want to study open borders, look at the European Union. However in order to make it workable, there is a central government - European Commission in Brussels - which is sovereign over the National Governments. Do American want to be governed from Buenos Aires? Milton Friedman said you can either have a Country with open borders and no welfare system, or one with a welfare system and closed borders. Those who extoll the virtues of past immigration conveniently forget, when that was happening the US had no welfare system.
Yes, this is the point that I was trying (and failing) to make. Within a political organization, borders are more or less meaningless. (Moving from Seattle to Spokane) But the borders of the entire organization (US or EU) must be secure and controlled, because otherwise you're giving political power to people who shouldn't have any.
Now, if we could just be honest about who *should* get to vote, and who should *not*, then we could let any honest paycheck seeker who gets registered (like the IRS, and now the FBI, CIA, NSA, etcetera ad nauseum, does we the People!) in to seek his fortune and freedom, and eventual citizenship.
Throughout the animal kingdom, animals are territorial and mark the boundaries of their territory. The reason being all resources are scarce and the greater the number within an area the greater the competition for those resources, and the less each gets. Immigrants tend to cluster and often in the poorer areas. As more arrive, more accommodation, schools, healthcare, welfare, public services are needed. These are not things that can be produced quickly, often taking years to plan and provide. Then more taxes are needed to pay for it. Immigration = taxation.
Open borders make sense... if there are absolutely NO government handouts. So either there’s handouts and the border is closed; or no handouts and open borders. It’s one or the other but not both.
My understanding is that the Irish and Italian immigrants that came here at the end of the 19th and early 20th century weren’t expecting handouts. They got to work because it was sink or swim. Assistance was provided by charitable organizations that received their donations through voluntary contributions.
Actually, not a very “democratic” approach at all! (For the first time in almost 40 years ...we are contemplating moving out of “ILL”inois) - it has become so “regressive” to stay & work here & pay so much in all the ways we have to as working citizens in this state.
Ah, yes. Always so inspired by the stories of how my great-grandparents came to America with only the shirts on their backs and then pulled themselves up by nothing but their generous government handouts. That's how it went, right?
40 acres and a mule came from Gen. Sherman during and immediately after the civil war - recently freed slaves were basically allowed to keep the land they had been working on. Reparations, if you will.
Clearly the sarcasm failed, which is my fault. The "humor" is that (once again) government overpromised and underdelivered:
-----------------
Many freed people believed, after being told by various political figures, that they had a right to own the land they had been forced to work as slaves and were eager to control their own property. Freed people widely expected to legally claim 40 acres of land. However, Abraham Lincoln's successor as president, Andrew Johnson, tried to reverse the intent of Sherman's wartime Order No. 15 and similar provisions included in the second Freedmen's Bureau bills.
Some land redistribution occurred under military jurisdiction during the war and for a brief period thereafter. However, federal and state policy during the Reconstruction era emphasized wage labor, not land ownership, for black people. Almost all land allocated during the war was restored to its pre-war white owners. Several black communities did maintain control of their land, and some families obtained new land by homesteading. Black land ownership increased markedly in Mississippi during the 19th century, particularly. The state had much undeveloped bottomland (low-lying alluvial land near a river) behind riverfront areas that had been cultivated before the war. Most black people acquired land through private transactions, with ownership peaking at 15 million acres (6.1 million hectares) or ~23,000 square miles in 1910, before an extended financial recession caused problems that resulted in the loss of property for many.
"In other words, they’ll be a permanent underclass that’s completely dependent on government for its continued existence in the country. That might be great for the Democratic party, but it’s terrible for the people they supposedly “support.” (I guess that’s par for the course!)"
If you look up Cesar Chavez and immigration, you get these bemused articles about his "complicated" and "nuanced" views on immigration. Cesar Chavez is a hero of the left until they realize that he understood one very basic fact: mass immigration leads to a struggle for resources among workers and decreases the leverage of all workers.
So this isn't really about creating a single underclass. It's about decreasing the power of the masses over all.
Agree.
The Zoom class knows they are dependent on people who work in the real world to keep the AC/heat working, elevators running, food appearing at their doorstep, etc. The Zoomers also know that a large part of this group despise them. It’s bad to rely on people who despise you to provide the necessities of life.
Better to have an alternate group of real-world workers over whom you have leverage, but hide it under the guise of compassion.
Justin Trudeau does not have easy access to a group of alternate workers. He was forced to display the heavy hand of freezing bank accounts of those who dared to disobey. Not a good look, and to be avoided if possible. Hide the true intent using a cloak of compassion and caring.
Great article. Thank you for helping to explain why it's fantasy world, right now, for libertarians (like myself) to believe in open borders.
IMHO Libertarians are free thinkers who define themselves and despise big government. I've considered myself a libertarian since I first heard Ron Paul speak and after I heard about NORML. While I hate that America has become top-heavy with useless bureaucrats and that, like the Europeans, we are now ruled and dominated by a tiny group of elites far from our homes, my "libertarian" beliefs stop at the border. We need to protect our nation's borders or we will soon stop being a nation. If #FJB is not the Beast of Revelation (see Revelations 13), he is certainly a traitor and an old gangster.
Sign my name to this statement.
Agree
Once we have established and consolidated the Libertarian Utopia within the territory of the United States of America, THEN and ONLY then can we start opening the borders to the rest of the world to philosophical fellow travelers -- Americans who just happen to be born somewhere else.
Freedom of association goes both ways.
I think what gets missed (or at least not discussed enough) is that for borders to be open, the to/from society must ALSO be some flavor of free or the flow of people going one direction only becomes unsustainable
But it's okay for the U.S. to be a beacon of freedom, and allow entry to more than those who choose to leave, speaking of which, can we *force* those who "threaten" exit for political reason to follow through?
Wouldn't that be nice? I always wonder why they never take me up on my offer to help them pack.
lol!
As you note, NYC is now shipping illegal aliens to upstate cities. In Syracuse, near where I live, the illegals are going to be housed in the Candlewood Suites hotel. I guess they will have to evict the transient drug users who live there now (and they will cuz govt money for illegals is so much more than govt money for legals). The mayor of the town that hotel resides in has his panties all in a wad over this. Apparently the mayor said we don't want them and the NYC mayor said "tough nuggies!" That should be the libertarian mantra in the free movement of people supported by taxpayer money - tough nuggies!
> The mayor of the town that hotel resides in has his panties all in a wad over this. Apparently the mayor said we don't want them and the NYC mayor said "tough nuggies!"
So, don't let them off the bus. Tell the bus to turn around. Send them back.
"Go Fuck Yourself. Syracuse isn't a 'sanctuary city'. NYC is. Keep them."
(Assuming that's actually true. Syracuse may also have shot themselves in the foot with that sort of declaration. In which case... open wide.)
I'd send them right back, but this is govt. They are all in the big "cools kids" table group together. Syracuse is a sanctuary city, cuz diversity or inclusion or something...
But the illegals are not being housed in the city, which has no hotels because the city is a dump. The illegals are being housed in the suburbs of the dumpy sanctuary city.
Can NYC buy off Syracuse on the QT?
I mean, that would undoubtedly quiet the mayor down. Dunno about the rest of the people of Syracuse, though.
For the rest of the people - tough nuggies!
Oh, I had assumed *that* was fait accompli!
Democrats are making an assumption that these illegals would vote for them. That same assumption with regard to Latinos and Arab Americans has not gone according to plan.
That's why they just need the ballot, not the voter.
Blacks, too, and as we all know by now, Black Votes Matter, as they should.
Democrats are, at the least, ensuring that the next census pumps their state's population numbers- increasing the Representatives in the House. It matters not at all that the new population aren't citizens.
In a way I wish we could do what other countries do which is admit those with skills that we need. I also know that right here in Texas there are lots of places begging for help. But, housing here is unaffordable, even people who live and work here can barely make it. I would love if immigrants could learn the language, have some basic life skills, and have a bit of money so that they can survive themselves. No handouts, because they don’t work. I also think the influx of others into the country will have an effect on who and who isn’t elected. Many feel that the democrats are letting all these people in so they can vote out every republican, and I can see that. But after they have been here a while their personal beliefs will come to the surface to change their vote. Democrats might just be inviting the next wave of staunch republicans who don’t back down.
"...who don’t back down."
Exactly.
The reason why is that these wonderful new soon-to-be Americans understand (more, sometimes much more, than the average American) that the Democrats are *exactly* what they flee.
They from what I have seen, work hard, want to help, are eager to learn, kind, and in awe of kindness. My friend in the delivery room said the moms giving birth were pleasant, grateful, and loving towards their children. I also know them to be conservative, pro-life, want to improve themself, and know it takes work to do these things. They are not shy of working. Granted I don’t look for, actively seek out the trouble makers, and my experience is limited.
Thank you, M. Pbr! That is my experience exactly.
Me too. Over my working life, I have worked with lots of Hispanic immigrants. I have found them to be friendly, hardworking, and happy to be participating in America.
The elites who seem to believe these immigrants will join the woke victim brigade are once again showing their ignorance of who these people really are. Most immigrants that I’ve known despise that whole concept even more than conservatives do.
I'm all for simplifying/streamlining LEGAL immigration, and making that process more affordable - $1500 and a ride to the border right now from a coyote is more appealing than over $10,000 in fees and court costs and 10+years of paperwork.
Also - how sure are we that of ~10,000 illegal border crossings we have each week that they're all nice Honduran gentlemen that just want to pick lettuce or mud sheetrock? What if some of them are ChiComm special operators or jihadis or Spetsnaz?
I liken the border to the line at a packed bar - sure, everyone wants to come in, but we still gotta card you to make sure it's OK for you to be here.
It is a shame America doesn't have a Foreign Worker Program where produce pickers could some to the US legally and return home when the work is done.
Oh but we do..... It's just nobody ever checks to see if those workers actually return home after harvest season; many do, many do not. How can we know? Nobody in officialdom seems to give a rip.
It's worse than that. My husband works for a large corporate vegetable farm, and for the first time, had to hire HB1 workers. After paying their way here, providing food, housing, and medical care even before they started working, a significant portion disappeared and were never seen again. Many of the rest did as little work as possible, because they must be guaranteed a certain wage. It took threats of deportation to get them to pick the vegetables. The whole program is a disaster.
Considering the amount of black and hispanic voters turning away from the democratic party as they realize they were “better off under Trump”, it becomes obvious the libs have to replace their dwindling voter base with a new voters. What better way than create a new class of welfare recipients that will be dependent upon the benevolence of the Democratic Party. One can only hope that at least some of these people will realize the trap they’re walking into…fleeing one repressive regime straight into the arms of a political party who only cares about their vote, not their freedom or well being.
Ding ding ding!
Whoa, peeps.
Permanent underclass has a formal name, even: Lumpenproletariat.
Engels described with near-100% accuracy what is happeing to the West (he was hardly alone in that during his time, many others did so too); sadly, the description of the dangers of capitalism and cosmopolitanism-from-above is obviously and understandably marred both by Marx' manifesto and what happened when Lenin et al tried implementing Marx ideas using force.
Also, migration is almost never a net boon in any way for the recipient nation. It takes some serious abuse of math and statistics to make itlook like it is.
Furthermore, the more alien the people coming is and are, the more conflict-areas of all kinds multiply, almost geometrically so.
To quote your former president: "Look at Sweden".
Our net cost for migration is more than 2% of our annual GDP. I say again, net cost.
Our libertarians, such as they are, also bleat the lie that if you get rid of welfare and taxation, then migration will suddenly start to function as promised. As per usual, their rethoric and analysis is of the underpants-gnome variety.
Just wait until a moslem-majority local city council votes for banning dogs from being walked 500 yards or closer to any moslem residence, store, business or mosque. Yup, that's a real example. Allow moslems in your nation = your nation becomes a moslem nation.
Or just look at South Africa and Rhodesia before and after. For a positive example, look at India.
Race/ethnicity/kultur/call it what you like matters, and it matters far more than any political system. It is one of the foundational pillars of society (the other is family).
PS: Anyone reacting to this by reflexively thinking it smacks of racism- ask yourself this: who made you associate like that? Where and when and by whom where you taught to think like that? Is it to your benefit? Is it true?
Racism and racist attitudes are described differently by different people. Micro-aggressions abound. Well, speaking as a white man who was abused by black soldiers in Anchorage, Alaska, and after seeing how one black company did not have to get out on the parade ground for inspection, and how they always controlled and dominated, common areas and made whites feel threatened, we have had many features of Black Privilege for decades. Racism is learned - not taught.
They'll also hunt down dogs to torture and kill.
This la-la land fantasy of no borders is one reason I'm not a libertarian. And to throw away a vote for a libertarian instead of voting for the closest thing--a Republican--is same as voting Democrat. Time to stop pursuing perfection -- it doesn't exist.
Spot on.
The opposition to Democrat tyrrany must be united. We can (and probably will have to *again*) slap the Republican Statists (neo-cons) down if (I mean when) they rear their ugly heads, but please people! let us slay the biggest dragon first.
Vote Republican, even if just this 1 (one) time in your life.
Edit: that's tyranny, spelled correctly when refferring to Dinosaurs. ;-)
> "And this is causing the citizens of Chicago themselves to talk like MAGA “racists”:"
I'd love to have been there with a sign that said "Trump would have stopped this".
How about this one instead:
https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/635ba09/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3000x2000+0+0/resize/840x560!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fthumbor%2Fwnq800qBMXSc6ZP67KB3IBAWHD8%3D%2F0x0%3A3000x2000%2F3000x2000%2Ffilters%3Afocal%281728x619%3A1729x620%29%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fuploads%2Fchorus_asset%2Ffile%2F24634222%2Fmerlin_113140224.jpg
That's good, but not quite direct enough.
When I downloaded that, I got gibberish. What did I do wrong?
It should just be a picture.
Edit: here's another link
https://imgur.com/a/d3GZaCX
Got it! Had to turn off my VPN. Thank you.
"Not America" is a global phenomena. Throughout the 'West' the invasions we label as immigration are, rapidly, very rapidly, changing 'liberal democracies' into VERY different, VERY illiberal countries.
The UK is no longer the country in which I was fortunate enough to spend part of my youth. “Immigration” has changed many of her cities - beyond recognition. And Canada, the formerly great white north, where I learned to appreciate the wilderness, in all of it's splendour, transformed by immigration into a socialist haven for the teeming masses. The USA, the world's great experiment in freedom, where I was lucky enough to go to school, and work for many years, is swirling around the bowl on it's way down the sewer.
All gone, or going. Transformed in a few short decades into slightly cleaner, (for now), banana republics. Ruled by nameless, faceless, unaccountable bureaucrats. Monsters in cheap suits, who have weaponized government to selectively suppress the fundamental freedoms. The people who built the nations that became British, Canadian, or American are no longer permitted to exercise free speech, to practice of their religion, or to freely assemble. Those 'rights' seem to be reserved for much more recent immigrants. People to whom the old “melting pot” theories simply do not apply. People who bring their culture, and laws, with them. And, somehow, impose those alien customs and laws on the folks who built the very countries they invade.
Borders matter. No border, no country. Or at least no country recognizable as the ones I grew up in.
And I don't think it's a coincidence that the countries most "under attack" are the ones that have/had a strong tradition of individual rights.
Agreed. Most of the invaders come from parts of the world that do not acknowledge, or even comprehend, "individual rights". Many speak languages in which it is difficult to express the concept of 'democracy'. The vocabulary not only lacks the word, but requires an elaborate circumlocution to convey the idea.
AWFL's (affluent white female liberals) are going to get a huge wakeup call about the natural state of the world.
I CANNOT WAIT!
Here in Canada, if you even mention assimilation, or melting pot, or horrors, "learning English" - you get labelled.
Why speak English when you live in some district filled with nothing but Chinese or South Asians? Not that there's anything wrong with Chinese or South Asians.
Bantustans are a bad thing. Don't do it Justin. (he will, he is)
Where I live, I simply drive over the hill and it’s like another country. No, it’s not okay. If I wanted to be in that country, I’d move there. I am a stranger in my own country.
"...weaponized government to selectively suppress the fundamental freedoms."
I like this turn of phrase. I think it is the "the" actually! It kinda says to me the "pre-existing-since-the-beginning-of-human-ness", *not* designed by humans (natural? organic?) but human by right of human-nature.
Everything you say, but one other rather practical point, without borders there can be no laws, or for that matter Government. If, for example, there were no border between the USA & Mexico & Canada, where would an Act of US Congress start and stop? What income tax rate would apply in Toronto, US tax rate or Canadian tax rate and who and how would it be enforced. If Mexico made narcotic drugs legal, at what geographic point would it become illegal for US Citizens? If you want to study open borders, look at the European Union. However in order to make it workable, there is a central government - European Commission in Brussels - which is sovereign over the National Governments. Do American want to be governed from Buenos Aires? Milton Friedman said you can either have a Country with open borders and no welfare system, or one with a welfare system and closed borders. Those who extoll the virtues of past immigration conveniently forget, when that was happening the US had no welfare system.
Yes, this is the point that I was trying (and failing) to make. Within a political organization, borders are more or less meaningless. (Moving from Seattle to Spokane) But the borders of the entire organization (US or EU) must be secure and controlled, because otherwise you're giving political power to people who shouldn't have any.
Now, if we could just be honest about who *should* get to vote, and who should *not*, then we could let any honest paycheck seeker who gets registered (like the IRS, and now the FBI, CIA, NSA, etcetera ad nauseum, does we the People!) in to seek his fortune and freedom, and eventual citizenship.
Throughout the animal kingdom, animals are territorial and mark the boundaries of their territory. The reason being all resources are scarce and the greater the number within an area the greater the competition for those resources, and the less each gets. Immigrants tend to cluster and often in the poorer areas. As more arrive, more accommodation, schools, healthcare, welfare, public services are needed. These are not things that can be produced quickly, often taking years to plan and provide. Then more taxes are needed to pay for it. Immigration = taxation.
Open borders make sense... if there are absolutely NO government handouts. So either there’s handouts and the border is closed; or no handouts and open borders. It’s one or the other but not both.
My understanding is that the Irish and Italian immigrants that came here at the end of the 19th and early 20th century weren’t expecting handouts. They got to work because it was sink or swim. Assistance was provided by charitable organizations that received their donations through voluntary contributions.
Exactly my opinion, also.
Actually, not a very “democratic” approach at all! (For the first time in almost 40 years ...we are contemplating moving out of “ILL”inois) - it has become so “regressive” to stay & work here & pay so much in all the ways we have to as working citizens in this state.
My buddy in Belleville just gave up and is moving to Florida from his hometown.
When my mother shuffles off this mortal coil, I will be shuffling off NYS. The illegals can pay the taxes.
Ah, yes. Always so inspired by the stories of how my great-grandparents came to America with only the shirts on their backs and then pulled themselves up by nothing but their generous government handouts. That's how it went, right?
I seem to remember something about 40 acres and a mule, but I'm not sure what ever happened there.
40 acres and a mule came from Gen. Sherman during and immediately after the civil war - recently freed slaves were basically allowed to keep the land they had been working on. Reparations, if you will.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forty_acres_and_a_mule
Clearly the sarcasm failed, which is my fault. The "humor" is that (once again) government overpromised and underdelivered:
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Many freed people believed, after being told by various political figures, that they had a right to own the land they had been forced to work as slaves and were eager to control their own property. Freed people widely expected to legally claim 40 acres of land. However, Abraham Lincoln's successor as president, Andrew Johnson, tried to reverse the intent of Sherman's wartime Order No. 15 and similar provisions included in the second Freedmen's Bureau bills.
Some land redistribution occurred under military jurisdiction during the war and for a brief period thereafter. However, federal and state policy during the Reconstruction era emphasized wage labor, not land ownership, for black people. Almost all land allocated during the war was restored to its pre-war white owners. Several black communities did maintain control of their land, and some families obtained new land by homesteading. Black land ownership increased markedly in Mississippi during the 19th century, particularly. The state had much undeveloped bottomland (low-lying alluvial land near a river) behind riverfront areas that had been cultivated before the war. Most black people acquired land through private transactions, with ownership peaking at 15 million acres (6.1 million hectares) or ~23,000 square miles in 1910, before an extended financial recession caused problems that resulted in the loss of property for many.
The Great Replacement hasn't been a conspiracy theory ever since Tony Blair admitted that's what his Labour government was DELIBERATELY DOING.