...conjured up to sow contention among the American public, just as we seem to be reaching a consensus against the war in Iraq and against corruption in Washington, D.C.? I'm not big on conspiracy theories, but immigration reform sure seems hot and divisive, and sure has managed to ply its way into the national spotlight pretty quickly- just like the gay marriage debate did in 2004. Do our leaders and their strategists actually play us like that? Argh. I think I almost have to believe that they don't.
Anyway, from day one, our country's invasion of Iraq has struck me as clearly wrong, as unnecessary violence always will. The issue of immigration, however, is much more complex. I'm pretty sure that felonizing undocumented migrants is not the answer, but I'm not sure what is.
I do know that the free-markets-friendly finance major in me is very uncomfortable with the notion of a guest worker program. If an employer wants to fill an undesirable job, the employer should boost the job's pay until the job is no longer undesirable - end of story. A market in which some employers can skirt this fundamental rule of economics is not a free market at all.
ADDENDUM: I heard Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor under President Clinton, discussing immigration reform on NPR this morning. He pointed out that, if U.S. employers stopped hiring "illegal" immigrants, most of these immigrants would no longer have a motive for sneaking in. This is the key to the whole issue, amigos. It means that one group of Americans, by simply deciding to follow the law, could pretty much solve the problem of illegal immigration on their own.
