Tête-à-Tête-Tête

Glossing over his entry…..good stuff….wait…what? The USA should be more like Mexico?

Uhhhhhhhhhh……yeah. They’re government is such a well oiled machine.

He just says we could learn a thing or two from them about immigration policies.

But Fred left the United States to live in Mexico because he saw it as a more pleasant place to live. And as far as I can tell he is as happy as a clam down there.

Sometimes a lack of governance is better than an overabundance.

Bet he didn’t go live with the regular people in the Yucatan… If he did a) I hope he’s got a good bus-driver to get him to the nearest city with internet access to post his columns, and b) more power to him - he’s a real libertarian.

Rich people tend to be happy so long as there is some mechanism in place to keep somebody from taking their luxuries away.

PS, I daydream about Mexico & other similar environs in terms of a kind of personal Shawshank redemption from real life.

He just says we could learn a thing or two from them about immigration policies.

Our immigration policies are fine (although, I personally think we should raise the number of immigrants per year). The problem is with ILLEGAL immigration

Perhaps Fred can detail how Mexico treats folks who are found to have gotten there illegally? Keep in mind that the language thing he mentioned (which I agree is a minimum standard) is a sign of bigotry and racism here in the USA. Try to push through English-only legislation & you’re immediately a racist. Mention that so-and-so shouldn’t be here illegally & you’re automatically someone who wants to break up a family & form a gestapo. So, nice in theory, zilch in practicality.

Then again, with that in mind, he’s probably right in that we’ve allowed this problem to fester. It’s the “we” that probably needs parsing.

[btw, I'm not getting preview in my Firefox]

I daydream about Mexico & other similar environs in terms of a kind of personal Shawshank redemption from real life.

If you want to escape civilization, head to West Virginia. Makes Alabama seem like Manhatten.

Political correctness and nanny-statism are two of the main reasons he left America.

Just two more reasons to love him.

It has never occurred to me that Fred Reed might be rich.

I’ll have to check into that.

Could have saved himself the trouble and moved to Tiftonia, TN. The most politically correct we have around here is flying our stars & stripes above the stars & bars. Also the Bible classes at the local high school are labeled “Bible History” in a quite PC way… but they teach Bible doctrine in there.

As to the nanny-state…. about the most I see of them is when they send around the garbage trucks on Friday, and I’m actually kind of glad to have that.

olitical correctness and nanny-statism are two of the main reasons he left America.

Can’t argue with him, there. Was reminded of the latter last month as I filed my taxes & detailed the “good” spending (to the penny).

As to the nanny-state…. about the most I see of them is when they send around the garbage trucks on Friday, and I’m actually kind of glad to have that.

My wife and I paid 5 figures in taxes last year and I don’t even have garbage pick up. I have to haul my trash to what they now call a “convenience center” and pay for little stickers that you put on the bags before you toss them into the dumpster.

But I know I need to quit my bitchin’. At least I am riding on paved roads.

My wife and I paid 5 figures in taxes last year and I don’t even have garbage pick up.

You realize, don’t you, that it’s not enough? Get ready, your taxes are about to go up.

Mark.
My.
Words.

Y’see, it’s your fault. You’re too successful & need to pay your fair share. The government decides, after all.

This blog looks all different ….
One issue that seems to keep coming up is that of living standards. Some people don’t object to illegal immigration, so long as the immigrants stay in their place - 30 to an apartment, out of public schools and hospitals, available for exploitation, etc. Others don’t object to illegal immigration, but think human rights extend beyond citizenship.

I am one of these weird types that just does not care about illegal immigration. Mainly because we can make them legal with a simple stroke of a pen. I have never understood how passing some kind of 101 history exam made you a better citizen anyway.

I do believe it is a good idea to make learning English mandatory. I wouldn’t think of going to live in Mexico without at least knowing some Spanish.

And I understand the arguments that illegals depress wages and put a strain on public services but hell, I figure if you are giving away public services just make it a first come first serve kind of thing. The doctor gets $1,000 bucks and the patient gets his knee hit with a rubber hammer. Who gets the best deal there?

Wealth redistribution. It is what government is all about.

And I don’t believe that anybody is going to cross that river to be exploited. They know which side of the bread their butter is on.

About the blog - I accidentally deleted the theme when I upgraded to WP 2.5. Big Ouch (see previous post entitled “Ouch”). I haven’t had a chance to work on getting it back to normal.

Any time people talk about property rights, or the distantly related border issues, I’m reminded of a passage from Breakfast of Champions - one that I can’t quite quote from memory, and one that I can’t find a complete enough quote from on the internet. Here’s the best page I could find with some of the quote and some further explanation:

“Every bit of land on the islands was owned by only
about forty people, and, in the story, Trout had those
people decide to exercise their property rights to the full.
They put no trespassing signs on everything.”
“This created terrible problems fro the million other
people on the islands. The law of gravity required that they
stick somewhere on the surface. Either that, or they could
go out into the water and bob offshore.”

Eventually, someone hits on the idea of giving everyone
a helium balloon so they can hover over the islands without
actually touching the ground. However, the residents of the
island are dehumanized by money and property rights to the point
where they can no longer even walk on the ground.

Which brings us back to what you said: “Others don’t object to illegal immigration, but think human rights extend beyond citizenship.”

I agree that human rights extend beyond squabbles over imaginary lines called “borders”. To the extent that an artifice like a border can be used to further worthwhile goals, such as the protection of basic human rights, I embrace the notion and will support action to protect those imaginary lines. Naturally, such action would have itself to be consistent with those worthwhile goals being pursued.

Currently, as Fred points out, the incentives exist to create a few big winners (stockholders of agri- & service businesses that employ illegal immigrants), a multitude of marginal winners (the immigrants themselves who manage gainful employment at the expense of basic labor protections and devalued compensation), and a multitude of losers who together don’t have enough political clout or consensus of will to even make a dent in the current system.

However, unlike Fred, I don’t see it as an existential crisis by any stretch. Just another among a host of problems caused by people and gravity.

About the blog - I accidentally deleted the theme when I upgraded to WP 2.5

Why don’t you use the template/files from the old link?

http://smijer.com/blog/

I modified them heavily when I moved them to WP from MT. Obviously, the page templates didn’t carry over at all - so I had to rebuild them and then modify the CSS a tad to keep it in line with the new WP templates.

Aside from that, I had recently done some significant (to me) style changes that I felt were a little easier on the eyes… and I hope to do a few more… so instead of doing it incrementally, I’m going to have to do some sweeping revisions. I’m just glad to have something to limp through on until then.