President Trump has threatened to shut down the government when the debt ceiling comes due if Congress does not give him money to build the barrier wall between the US and Mexico. There are good and bad points concerning the "wall" in the debate. My feeling on immigration is that I generally favor immigration except when our economy cannot accept more labor. We are at that time. The decline in unemployment is misleading. The real truth of unemployment is revealed in labor participation. We have almost 40%(38% to be exact)not employed. We have too many part-time jobs that don't offer a living wage. The nation does not need more cheap labor which immigrants provide.
Cheap labor helps the rich, but lowers everyone else's standard of living.
When manufacturing actually happened in America, the expansion of production allowed strong job growth. The competition for labor had a balance between needs and wants. The nation could absorb the influx of immigrants. With the advent of NAFTA, the outsourcing of jobs, new technology in production, the need for labor has declined. We see the results in Detroit in the Rust Belt of the Mid-west and the destruction of central cities everywhere. The lies of the benefits of trade cannot mask the rise in poverty in America or the use of food stamps.
With that said and all the BS in the news about immigration, none of the media outlets talk about immigration in the global society. In history most mass migrations resulted in historical world changes. Sadly, it usually centers on conflict. Fact is, the US is the most open nation the world has ever seen. We are at a point in time where people are being displaced due to wars, famine, political asylum, religious beliefs or lack of opportunity. So, how does the world treat their DNA brothers from another nation?
WALLS!
That's how. In European history, the city-states made castles because it gave walls for control and defense. Today, Europe and the EU do it another way.
For a few years the EU members took in immigrants from the Middle East and Africa. Italy and Greece bore the expense with little help from Brussels. Now, we see the backlass as EU members have put up barriers from barb wire fences in Austria to containment camps in France and England. Italy has a naval blockade. Immigrant ships now move to Spain and Portugal, but for how long? I say less than one year. The US has had immigrants come across the border from Canada and Mexico since we won our independence from Britain. In Europe this is a political issue and every party that campaigns against immigration is on the rise. There may be no visual wall in Europe, but society puts up obstacles with invisible barriers. At the moment there is a big issue of wearing scarfs or headdress, mostly by Muslim immigrants in Germany. Muslim woman claim democracy gives them the right to freedom of expression. Normally, I would agree except the problem as we know it, is terrorists could use this freedom to commit their crimes. When a immigrant migrates to a new nation, it is understood that the immigrant accept local customs, values and language. If locals feel uncomfortable due to terrorism, they have every right to demand the newcomers understand their concern. This is all part of assimilation. The use of head scarfs is allowed in their house of worship, but in public, the majority has every right to do what will provide protection for all.
China and Asia and moving West...
China built its Great Wall to control immigration and for defense. Today, China uses a different type of wall for control. China has a Firewall. It censors the internet. There is no freedom of speech. It is so bad that Google left China eight years ago. Sadly, money has lured them back. They will operate with a special search engine that the Communist Party approves.
How about Japan? They import labor from Thailand and other SE Asian nations. The problem is these immigrants keep their culture which collides with Japanese culture. Now, the Japanese society wants them out of the country and end all immigration. The immigrants are ruining the culture. This argument is also heard throughout the EU. It is also heard throughout Asia and continues into India. Pakistan is a result of revolution away from India due to religious beliefs. Bangladesh is also a nation evolved from religious persecution. These nations do not allow immigration across their borders. They despise each other over religious beliefs.
In S. Korea citizens protest the influx of Yemen's. They say these immigrants steal jobs, lower standards, hurt the culture and the danger of radicals. In America, if we just changed Yemen to Hispanic, the thinking is the same.
In the Philippines there is constant conflict over religion. The Muslims resent the Catholic majority. There is outbreaks of violence all the time. In Indonesia religious outbreaks occur between Muslims and Hindu's and even Buddhists. Revolution is only an argument away. None of these nations welcome immigrants.
Keep moving west to the Middle East. Iran hates Iraq. Saudi Arabia won't allow Yemen's into their country. In the strife caused by ISIS, little stories get known like the Yazidi. This is a small tribal community that lives together like in a ghetto in Iraq. The ISIS took control of the city where the Yazidi live. The Yazidi are not Muslim's. They suffer discrimination. Anyway, ISIS took as prisoners some 7,000 Yazidi women. Most of these missing women were sold as Slaves! This is not a typo. Slavery in the 21th century in the Middle East. What can you call this type of wall?
There is also severe persecution of Christians and laws on the books concerning the immigration of Christians in the Middle East. Oh, how could I forget the central hatred of Israel and Jews. Not a lot of cross border immigration going on in this region, but Israel does have a wall in sections of its border.
West to Africa...
The continent has a history of tribal conflict with the victors enslaving the losers. It still happens today in the form of past hatreds and religious beliefs. Recently, a renegade group in Nigeria took captive 400 Christian women in that nation and along its borders. They were used in forced sex and many sold as Slaves! It happens in little discussed stories throughout the continent. Most notable in Ethiopia which is in civil war between Catholics and Muslims. This is a one-sided affair. The Catholics don't have weapons and the other side does. It is slaughter. Behind the religious theme is the real reason: Oil. It is in the Catholic section and the Muslim government is doing genocide to take the land. How do you label this wall?
Bottom line: Trump's wall will be visible like the Berlin Wall. It will go up and then, probably come down. The real problem for the world is how do we get along with each other. Nations that possess a homogeneous demographic have the most peaceful environment. The US has had its problems with race. It still does. However, it is the only nation to include all peoples. This was due to economic prosperity. This aspect allowed the assimilation of many ethnic variations. The immigrants through time not only learned the language, but the values in the concept of America and the dream behind the thinking of its people. We do have a culture, but diversity diverts from the central theme in American values. Recent immigrants don't want to learn the language or respect what made America. Earlier immigrants took that challenge because they believed in the freedoms the US grants.. There are idiots out there who want a one world society. They never mention who rules because it would be elitist totalitarian in nature. The radical extreme of democracy can lead to totalitarianism.
The open border policy only makes the poor in our nation suffer due to our poor economic climate as the competition for low wage jobs only heightens tensions between the citizens who are poor and immigrants who begin in this economic level. Diversity takes from the culture and only seeks self serving rewards. Diversity over time is a wonderful thing, but to have it jammed down your throat with no respect for the present culture only offers resentment and racial strife. There may be one world, but it consists of many parts. Respect is what is needed at the border.
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