Immigration Bill

I must not be understanding the immigration bill right, because I don't get that provision about preferring educated immigrants. Isn't America the one place in the world where (theoretically) you can forge your own destiny? Where you can escape the oppressive dream-killers at home and take a piece of the pie you wouldn't otherwise get? To allow only the educated to pursue that dream is to give the haves even more opportunity, and to make the have-nots lose even that teeny foothold they have, of hoping to find happiness if they're willing to work hard enough for it. True, I think the American Dream is increasingly turning into a load of hot air, but I haven't heard of better alternatives yet. While we still have a little bit of that role as the world's freedom-loving haven, I feel it's important not to exclude all the real dreamers in favor of the spoiled brats with a trust-fund-bought edumacation.

So much for the idealistic Rex. There's also the very cynical and practical side to immigration: labor. What the American labor force really needs are people who are willing to do all those difficult tasks that born-Americans (including yours truly) think they're too good to do. Like cleaning toilets. It's as true in this country as it is in the other wealthier ones, that you import your Polish plumbers or Asian housemaids or whatever. Just try getting born-Americans to do that stuff, and they'll start unionizing and raising hell (and hopefully I'll have a chance to defend them, hehe), and even if it all works out it still won't be the most efficient way of getting things done. That's just how the temperament goes.

My case study is a story my dad tells about how the rents were pinched for money back in '79 after buying their first house. Both my mom and dad were working and bringing home a respectable amount, but they were afraid it wasn't enough so my dad started looking to moonlight as a janitor or a used car salesman. By the way, my rents are immigrants. Anyways, my dad was willing to suck it up, in the great tradition of the American Dream...but he didn't get the job because the manager just couldn't accept that a college graduate and gainfully-employed engineer would stoop such menial work.

It must have been infectious, because today these same tough-nut immigrants won't let me take an entry-level job because the $14/hr pay is an insult to my pride and worth. Unless it's really worth my while, they argue, I'm better off hanging out at home. With my dignity.

The lesson to be learned here? While it is degrading to clean the toilet at home, there is no shame in cleaning the toilets of strangers.

Think about. I think that's human nature.

In spite of this minor beef I have about the immigration bill, I hope it passes. I don't suppose a single person thinks it's perfect, which is the reason behind all the baby mama drama - excuse me, compromise - that's been going down in Washington.