Temporary Archive: Suzanne Brockmann's Message Board

Hello, I read through everything posted after Tom's response to the original question and decided to put my two cents in here.
May I introduce myself? I am a former welfare mom and I wonder if those who refer to people getting government assistance as lazy people who want to sit on the couch and live off others have ever met anyone on welfare or are familiar with the requirements for being on wefare? I was never lazy. I worked my butt off and lived on next to nothing to get through school to make a better life for me and my kids. I have never done any drugs and rarely drink (and how many who went to college can say that!! ;)) Most of the people who I have met who were on some form of public assistance were living clean and doing their best to make a better life for themselves, for whatever reason they had had a harder time with that than many others. Most of them were heading single parent households--not really a good source for military draftees. Welfare in the US is not an endless free money source,You get 5 years to get your life back together. You are required to work or attend school to get qualifications so you can get a job and they make sure you do. You are encouraged to volunteer within the community and I did and do. It was a matter of respect and wanting to give back to the community that was helping me. Again I was not the only one who was happy to volunteer. I am in fact in favor of compulsory service to the country with organizations like Americorp. Just thought I'd share the perspective of someone who's been there in response to the generalities that have been flying.
Onto my thoughts on illegal immigration. I am a former illegal immigrant! I entered this country at the age of 7 in the back of a camping van supposedly for a camping trip. From Canada!Surprised? We didn't come here for economic reasons and became legal shortly thereafter so the details aren't pertinant to this discussion. My parents were considered desirable by the government because of their particular education levels and job skills. (Surprise again! the government already gives priority to those they consider more desirable) But illegal immigrants come from all over. A few statistics on latinos in the US. They are the group least likely to apply for government assistance. They all want to learn English because English is the international language of business, they want to get ahead like the rest of us so they want to speak English. By the way as someone who has gone through the naturalization process I can state with some authority that the rules allowing people to become citizens without speaking English apply to a very small group--mostly those who are elderly and have lived here a very long time. But why the fear of having to speak Spanish. IMHO the unilinguality of our country is one of its cultural weaknesses that I would like to see changed. I am teaching my own kids Spanish.
I don't know exactly where I stand on illegal immigrants, its hard to turn away those who know what realy poverty is when even at my poorest I was rich by the standards of others elsewhere in the world. I do know this though--people generally have a great love for the country where they were born they don't leave unless they feel a very strong compulsion--so if you really want to stop the flow of illegal immigration address the root cause, which IMHO is econimic. Why are Mexico and Latin America so badly off in general? The answer lies in the historical events from colonization where the riches of these places were exported to western Europe making them rich while the native people were decimated by disease and the system of Encomienda [(the spanish system of making the natives pay for there christianization with slave labor and the importaion of slaves)For some reason Encomienda and forced military service for desperate illegals sounds a bit too similar] and the importation of African slaves in addition--not surprisingly there has been a history of consistent unrest in that part of the world since. Fast forward to present day when trade agreements are largely written by and in favor of those with Economic power--countries like the US and Western Europe--Where did we get a lot of our wealth? from those countries to start with and then a consistent use of that original power to continue controlling the economic wealth of weaker nations.
Okay, whew! thats my little rant. Its not meant as a criticism to anyone or a solution I just felt like I had to respond to all the generalities that are going around. Its very complicated and nowhere near as black and white as we would all like it to be.