The Candor Gap

Rengerone314, I couldn't have said it better. It's all about the mighty dollar. Illegal aliens are taking over our country and not respecting our way of living. There are too many people allowed into this country per year whether legally or illegally. This puts a strain on the system, specifically middle class Americans. Read the quote by Theodore Roosevelt made in 1919 (http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/03/27/quote.roosevelt/index.html). We need to go back to the immigration average of about 250,000 immigrants per year coming into this country like it was pre-1965 prior to Congress inadvertently causing it to now be over 1 million legal and unknown illegal per year. This will allow the country to adapt to immigrants, as well as, the immigrants to adapt to us.

We need to stop illegal mexicans coming in our country.for each they put 1 dollar in our economy they take out 3 dollars from our economy.They have killed our school system,break the law allot,drugs,drunk driving and using fake social security numbers,welfare,health cost,food stamps and housing benifits.America lets 700,000 legals in our country each year-more than all of all the countrys in the world put together and add about 20 million illagals to go with it.They are lowering our standerd of living and the list goes on.

It seems to me that we need the hispanic immigrants that so many Americans whine about. They are the future, hell they are building our future. America will continue to lead the world in 2050, except we will be multi-ethnic, but at the same time, we will be one people. One way to get families to have more children would be to stop with all the war, and provide a prosperous economy. Also, it is important to note that most hispanic families are larger than most caucasian families. Of course, in order for this to work, we need to start trating our immigrant s with more respect. THEY ARE OUR FUTURE. After all, this nation was built by immigrants!

There are two schools of thought on Party Platforms (supposedly emanating from the Presidential candidate's political philosophy), and they are: Those who want all planks addressed; and those who live in mortal fear that they will be. A sitting President should be considered successful is they can actually 'nudge' any of the planks in the desired direction. More drastic movement results in revolutionairy change, which can ill be afforded in these (or any) trying times. Actually saying how they feel on various issues (without the assistance of a spinning puppetmaster) would be halfway there. And actually making some progress toward reconsiling the issue should be considered a success.

Tom Malthus may have been wrong in his theory of how populations grow, but certainly no on the insidious effects of rapid, uncontrolled growth. It's keen to have more payees into the Social Security System but the price is faster depletion of non-renewable resources, overcrowding, and a probable death-blow to an infratructure that if not addressed shortly will be a pile of bricks, broken asphalt, and collapsed bridges.
The projected population growth by 2050 will mean that our population will have tripled in 100 years. And our use of natural reources has probably increased ten-fold.

Perhaps population growthl should be addressed generally, rather than the contributing (but limited issue) of illegal immigration. With all of the talking-heads out there we should be able to confront and address the real problems that this countryfaces; and leave the 'Mountain out of a Molehill' issues such as lapel flag pins to the cartoonists and to the 'cotton candy news media'.

Practice what you preach dummy, "Numbnuts" is not one word. Numb nut.

I was reading an article saying how China will leapfrog the rest of the world eventually, because their political system doesn't involve people voting - therefore, they can make decisions that benefit their country long term, even if they annoy their people short term. Their economy is booming while America slides ever deeper into recession. America needs more innovation to rebound economically and lead the world.

anothercomment,
I won't disagree with everything that you wrote about immigration in America. From your writing I take it you are a Native American Indian or have no ancestral immigration background. Bottom line is this, until there is a reform of immigration, we deal as a nation the problems with their uneducated underprivaleged illegals. Where you go wrong is to suggest that everyone can do what you have done. Some people need more help than others. If you have never accepted a form of charity, assistance or aid of any kind then consider yourself lucky. If you have and don't understand the problem then you are a hypocrite.

The author's point is illuminated by reading through some of these comments. These are truly HOT button issues that candidates would rather avoid. But we should ask them to discuss them, as should the media.

Since we're on it, I'll add this: Since our population is aging, and Americans are having fewer and fewer kids, immigration is one of the key things that is keeping Social Security afloat. If you have more people retiring than working to support them, you've got big problems.

I know some people don't like to acknowledge this -- they'd rather view immigrants as lazy, manipulative criminals -- but the truth is, we rely on immigrants. Yes, we should have better control over who gets in, but we should also recognize that we have lots of jobs, skilled and unskilled, for immigrants to fill. If we provide better opportunities for them (education, medical services, etc.), we are investing in our future.

A lot of this is offset by the fact that so-called Boomers are healthier than any other aging population before them, and many are either delaying retirement or are taking up another occupation after retirement. Furthermore, a lot of us object to the assumption that endless immigration is the cure for America's woes: why have Americans curbed their birth rate to achieve smaller families? The big question is why have other countries NOT done so, and shuld't they be adopting population growth reduction as a policy to combat climate change and energy scarcity? Hmmm?

couldn't agree more. The problem is consumerism. Americans want whats in front of them to get their belle full and fat without caring for tomorrow. Look at our country now, look at what is happenning. No one cares, they want to talk about it but no one wants to do anything.

I wonder how much money undocumented immigrants are paying into social security that they will never be able to collect. how many millions of dollars every year?