The Immigration Question; a question of "Easy-Citizenism?"

VA did a piece the anti-amnesty majority over at his blog on Friday that, though judging by the comments to it (there are none as I write), might cast an appearance of being less than interesting, is indeed a well written thought provoking piece on the question of whether immigrants and Americans with shallow immigrant roots truly wish to preserve the unique opportunities this country has provided them and their families as opposed to preferring their native brethren over their adopted American family and country of residency.

I didn't lose ya with that last part did I? Let me rephrase:

Are first and second generation Americans and newly-come immigrants, as is assumed and purported to be the case by many, committed to this country, its laws, its institutions, its structure and framework; its uniqueness to provide numerous means and avenues to great opportunities and great achievements to any qualified individual who has the motivation, the drive, the discipline, the work-ethic and the spirit to achieve them? Or is preserving and maintaining those characteristics and qualities possessed of this great country secondary to preserving their blood-ties to their native lands, customs and peoples? These are extremely relevant questions, particularly in these times, but...

Do these questions ever even occur to immigrants? Are they even aware of them; that they are of the highest import, even to themselves? The same questions might be asked of our illustrious 'leaders,' who it would seem would (or should) be more prone than the average guy to give them their due consideration given the nature and importance of their jobs, not to mention the design of their workplace environment to spawn and encourage proper deliberations on such subjects of high national import.

It seems to me that this is a question of the first magnitude whenever a nation contemplates a policy on immigration. Do these migrants come to this country with deep familial roots, blood ties and preferences to the 'native country,' or do they look to the United States as a beacon of light and hope to themselves and their families, the very elements of which is in their very interests to prefer over the other; to preserve, protect, and defend against enemies foreign and domestic? Again I ask you: Does this ever occur to them? Does it ever occur to most of us? Does it ever occur to those supposedly working to secure our interests? Sometimes I have to wonder.

On just a little reflection it would seem that in answering the question one would need to delineate between what is in their true interests and what is in their imagined interests. The same applies to their American hosts, btw. What are our true, as opposed to our imagined interests on this question of immigration? And to borrow a phrase from the Federalist writers:

"Happy will it be if our choice should be decided by a judicious estimate of our true interests, uninfluenced and unbiased by considerations foreign to the public good."

Within my own field of work, I can't tell you how many contractors I know of personally who have numbers of illegal mexican immigrants working for them because they imagine that this is in their interest. In fact, don't be surprised if you go to the "Immigration Reform" page on this blog in the near future and find pictorial documentation of this very thing. I see it day in and day out on virtually every (if not every) job that my 'native' crew and I work on these days. And I'm thinking that it's time I start to document it.

Not so long ago it was a rare occurance indeed to run into these immigrant workers, but no more is that the case. Indeed, in my neck of the woods it is now a rare occurance not to work side by side with them if in fact you're not trying to compete with their non-contributionary cheap, second and third-rate labor.

But it seems to me to be highly disingenuous of our so-called 'leaders' to fuel an assumption with no basis in fact to support it that these immigrants have any real appreciation for this country or this people who've so nonchalantly and inattentively left the door open to their migration here. And a great many of us, it would appear, would prefer to wedge that door wide open to them, as opposed to closing and locking it from the inside to be opened by and only by the owners thereof at their own pleasure and will. I for one wouldn't be caught dead in that crowd of self-deluded deceptive miscreants.

What appears to be happening here, and it's becoming more and more prevalent I'm afraid, is that Americans from differing walks of life and a variety of backgrounds are increasingly sacrificing their true interests and the long-term public interest for the sake of their immediate, personal, and imagined interests. That is, at the expense of liberty herself many of our own people have effectively sold this country out for the sake of lining their own pockets completely unaware it would seem that by these very acts they destroy the very engines which have propelled them to a higher standard of living.

But back to this question of what is in the true, as opposed to the imagined interests of Americans and immigrants alike. And yes; you read me right in that I hold and maintain that these true and imagined interests are exactly the same for both groups. This is why it is so vitally important that we establish whether or not a prospective American resident and citizen understands and truly appreciates from whence these uniquely American opportunities emanate before we make him a permanent resident, and/or a citizen with equal rights under our Constitution. There's plenty of confusion to go around on the part of Americans without our continuing to bring in hordes of immigrants who in the main must have a very defective view of the subject, even by comparison; if the subject even occurs to them at all.

I for one reject out of hand the idea that we're just lucky; that our good fortune and the successes that propelled us to enjoy the fruits of that good fortune is, as is implied so often, not a product of the design of our framework and institutions around a common idea and interest to 'secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.'

Truly, my friends, we need to get a grip here! What in the name of all that is good and holy are we thinking when we so blasphemously attribute to luck and good fortune that which took so much sacrifice on the parts of our predecessors to secure to us!?

If there's any 'luck' or 'good fortune' to be found at all, it is in that we've been riding on the backs of our forefathers and mothers so long; that it's all been so effortless on our parts that we simply cannot fully appreciate how much effort it took to establish, nor how much effort it takes to maintain it. In that regard I suppose one might say we've been lucky if you consider it luck to inherit such a valuable gift in exclusion of an understanding of how very valuable it truly is. And as is generally the case with such inheritances, they are taken rather lightly and squandered away because the recipients of them more often than not have invested little if any personal sacrifices to the creation or the perpetuation of them. I guess that's just a lesson we're gonna have to learn the hard way.

Truly, my friends, it shows a very lackluster appreciation on our parts for the inestimable value of that precious gift we've had passed down to us, to offer it so very freely to those who are unworthy or ill-prepared and ill-equipped to receive it without a second thought on either of our parts as to the price paid for it by our worthy and venerable predecessors. But as they so often say: "Easy come, easy go."