Check it out, according to WashingtonPost.Com, George W. Bush is going to give more rights to non-American citizens who are in the US legally to work. In this case, the Bush administration is giving Mexican workers in America Social Security cards. Now, this seems like skipping the citizenship step entirely, to me and it also makes Mexico an awful lot like the fifty-first state.
After all, think about the example this sets for all of the Mexicans still in Mexico. Is this plan going to encourage Mexicans to work harder for their country?
No - it won't. It will only show them that they can legally make a lot more money outside their country instead. Why stay in Mexico and work for Pesos when you can go to America and work for US Dollars (and make a heck of a lot more of them, to boot)?
Of course, this really keys into all those people out there who believe that Social Security is just a way to make more money off of us - and now these 37,000 new Mexicans that are expected to file new claims as well.
What's worse for those of us in America is that a lot of the money paid out to Mexicans through this plan will end up in Mexico, not America, where, frankly, it belongs. It's our country and the Social Security system is an American system. But once this plan takes effect (probably by October of 2003), that money may very well be spent on the Mexican economy instead of the American economy. Now, I have sympathy for Mexico and her people, but they've got their own government and I have mine. Let's take care of our own business and save our own economies and then worry about each other. But certainly in today's day and age, the US needs to put its economy first.
Of course, it doesn't really matter since the US government will just print more money and lower the value of the American dollar no matter what country it ends up in. But that's a topic for another column...
Read more about this at WashingtonPost.Com
Yeah, that is totally understandable. I mean, I'm full blooded Mexican and all, and I take pride in being Mexican and all. I don't think there's anything wrong with taking pride of who you are. I mean, I have Irish-American friends that are proud of being Irish, and that's good. The one difference that I see with Mexican-Americans and other nationalities is that, when other people from different countries come to the states, they tend to kind of adopt the United States as their new country. With Mexicans though, it's a different thing. I know for a fact that many Mexicans living here in the U.S. have more loyalty to Mexico than they do to the United States. I'm probably going to get beat up for what I'm going to say next. I think that if you migrate to a country from another country, you should take loyalty into the new country. My whole family and I are VERY loyal to the United States. Why? Well, I AM Mexican but Mexico NEVER did anything for my family to progress in Mexico. That's why we left Mexico. Our whole loyalty is now with the United States. My other Mexican friends always comment on my family as "traitors" but my objection to that is, "Did Mexico ever do anything for it's people? No. That's why thousands of Mexicans come here every month" My family and I are very loyal to the U.S. because of the opportunities that the U.S. have shown us. The U.S. has never betrayed my family. When we lived in Mexico, my mom held a job at UNAM ( She was a university proffesor ) and she made no money, while my dad worked for the gov't. Both we're always betrayed by the corrupt gov't that Mexico is. What did we do next? We went to America, the land of opportunities. Here we have prospered, my mom is now a professor here in the U.S. while my dad owns his own business. My whole point to this whole thing is that Mexicans come here with a dream the American dream. Many Mexicans achieve things that were unreachable back home, and for that, I think that the U.S. deserves our loyalty, I just can't imagine the hypocracy that many Mexicans live their lives by everyday. They complain about the Mexican gov't, move to the U.S., then remain loyal to Mexico. What is that all about? I consider myself all American baby! Born and raised here, I love my country! I would die for my country ( U.S. ) My loyalty will ALWAYS remain with the U.S. because they've done more to my family than the corrupt, filthy, blood-sucking-leeches in Mexico. Mexicans, take pride in U.S. it's the best country in the world, and be thankful that you we've been blessed with opportunties to live here! I say denounce your Mexican identiy and give your full fidelity to the U.S. and help make this a better place! America; always and forever!
ReplyDeleteWow, thanks for that great (and long!) comment, Francisco!
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate getting your point of view--it reminds me that the US Government has helped make some people's lives better. These days, I tend to fixate on only the bad the US Government does--I think, though, that there is something hypocritical about the USG and how it tells the world one thing and then does the other. We explain that we invaded Iraq to get rid of Saddam who was bad partly because he was a torturer. Well, guess what, we torture, too.
So, while I definitely see why you are enthusiastic about the US, I am still not sure America is an "always and forever" kind of thing. I think it's great to recognize a good thing--but no thing is perfect and we shouldn't be blind to said thing's flaws.
In this case, yes, the US is a great land of opportunity to people who want to start businesses. If you want to play the system the way the system likes to be played, then you'll fit in well. However, there are some of us that don't like how the system works and don't want to fit into it.
America isn't the land of the free, but the land of the more free than anywhere else. That doesn't mean we, as Americans (even you) can sit back and say, "Well, the USG gets a lot right, so I'll let their lies, illegalities and so on go."
So, definitely appreciate and dedicate yourself to your new country, but don't let it take advantage of you like it does so many people.
I've often thought about leaving the US because I'm fed up with it failing to live up to the belief system I was raised with. There's no such thing as "freedom," here in America because life costs money. To be part or society, we need cash. To have a say, you can speak, but to be heard, you need cash. Sure, the Internet may be the great equalizer, but only for those who can get their hands on a computer.
OK, enough of my babbling. Just make sure you're never 100% satisfied with things until everything really IS fair and truthful and lawful (and that those laws are just). It's a long road, but like one of our Founding Fathers said: "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance."
He wasn't referring to America's enemies, but America's government.
Well, I would like to point out a more specific concern. As you say in your article, the US government is certainly not encouraging mexicans to work hard and support their (our) country by enabling them to have access to social security systems in the U.S, but that is part of a very long history of frustrated attempts to mellow out a problem that has continued since 1950: immigration.
ReplyDeleteAs long as the US government doesn´t do something to solve the huge inequalities that pervade the American-mexican trade relationships, this problem will never end. There isn´t a single case in the world where two countries are so close by and so radically different in average income (Not even in occidental and oriental Europe). George Bush is, again, overlooking a blindingly obvious point - Trying to solve the immigrantion problem when it has already passed to the US is trying to stop a bullet after it is fired.
The international trade unions and the World Bank have to do something to solve Mexico´s pressing issues, like corruption, national and foreign debt, and education, before trying to attack problems such as mexicans that already live in the US. They will continue to do so, and there is nothing special with it, the US will just have to assimilate them, just as it did with germans, irishmen, englishmen, chinese, japanese and latin-american foreign nationals.
America has shown a great capability to cope with such a task, and it will surely prove it can do it again. The problem that america hasn´t been able to solve, (and has to solve, due to its world superpower position) is the inequality in the economic system of the world.
Probably, when the US helps us to see the light at the end of the tunnel here in Mexico, we can start looking back to our country and say: "Hey, perhaps it is worth living there!"
Rodrigo Cerda Cornejo
A concerned mexican citizen.
Hey, thanks for your post, Rodrigo! You said:
ReplyDeleteAmerica has shown a great capability to cope with such a task, and it will surely prove it can do it again. The problem that america hasn´t been able to solve, (and has to solve, due to its world superpower position) is the inequality in the economic system of the world.
I agree completely--the only catch is that America needs inequality to stay as rich as it is. More money for the rest of the world means less for us. So, the IMF, WTO and World Bank does what it can to make sure that countries stay poor while international businesses get even more rich.
I'm not endorsing them, I'm simply pointing out that the inequality will never be dealt with in a way either you or I would like to see. In case you haven't noticed, America doesn't really worry about doing the right thing by the rest of the world, either. So, that means the odds are even higher.
It's messed up, but this seems to be the way things are going and will continue to go.
Personally, I don't think it should be America's job to rectify inequalities between it and the rest of the world since there is still a lot of poverty inside the US. I also wish the WTO, the IMF and the World Bank were interested in doing what they really should be doing which is serving as organizations that benefit the people of the world and not big business.
Conspiracy freaks are worried about Bush or Big Brother or the New World Order--let me tell you--the real concern is the New Financial World Order, AKA, the UnHoly Trilogy of the World Trade Organization, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Thanks again for posting your comment, Rodrigo! I really appreciate you taking the time! Take care and I hope you stop by again!