Illegals vs. the Deserving American Poor
By John Conlin www.americanthinker.com
The other day I was driving on a small mountain road and came upon a road construction project. At both ends of the work the flag crew consisted of two older women bundled up against the cold -- yes, it’s starting to get cold in the Colorado mountains.
What struck me was their age. They were surprisingly old. I have never met these women in my life, but I’d bet a lot of money they were out working on this job not because they like the fresh air but because they need the money.
You see the same thing in Walmart, grocery, and other retail stores, and in thousands of other unseen occupations. Older workers struggling to get by, doing whatever jobs are open to people of their age and ability.
And it annoys me beyond belief. I would also bet a lot of money that the vast majority of these people either personally bled for this country or have relatives who have -- far too many actually giving their lives for this great country.
What greater sacrifice can one make for their country? I can think of none. Yet these people are kicked to the curb by our government and the elites while money that could go to them is instead showered as free stuff for illegal aliens.
Remember, that’s what the illegal part is all about -- they shouldn’t have been allowed in the country in the first place.
What could Social Security payments and others be if all this money went to only U.S. citizens? A few hundred a month could make a huge difference in these citizens’ lives. Perhaps big decreases in health insurance costs for the average working schmoe?
Is there a greater insult a country could send to its citizens than this? You or your kin gave blood and sometimes lives for this country, but when in need, the sacrifice is ignored and non-citizen criminals -- they broke the law coming here and they break it every day they remain -- are placed ahead of you.
Every dollar spent on them is a dollar not spent on citizens. This is a cold, hard fact. This is called opportunity cost.
Many have long argued that a prime weakness of modern governments is their refusal to address opportunity costs.
“When an option is chosen from alternatives, the opportunity cost is the "cost" incurred by not enjoying the benefit associated with the best alternative choice.”
It can be as basic as a dollar spent here, is dollar not spent there. Or it could be time; you can’t be at both your son’s soccer game and your daughter’s lacrosse game if they are at the same time in different places. There are opportunity costs associated with every decision ever made. That’s just the way it is.
One can argue about the wisdom of low-rent apartments, food stamps, housing assistance, “free” medical care and housing -- since few things are free, that just means someone else is paying for it -- and other types of social programs and welfare, but one cannot argue with the basic reality that a dollar spent on illegal aliens is a dollar not spent on a deserving U.S. citizen.
Many of these U.S. citizens have kids or relatives in public schools that are overwhelmed by the children of illegals. So, the children of citizens who gave their blood for this country over generations are getting a suboptimal education so that the children of people who shouldn’t be here consume the resources? Opportunity costs are a reality that might be willfully ignored, but that doesn’t make them any less real.
There are also tremendous opportunity costs associated with the remittances these illegals send back “home.” These are the number one source of income for Mexico and many other countries -- that’s why their governments purposely send their “excess” population here.
But this process bleeds dry the localities where they live and work. Every dollar sent out of the country -- estimates are over $200 billion a year -- is a dollar not spent in these U.S. neighborhoods. These are generally poor neighborhoods where that money remaining in the community could do a world of good. They consume “our” social services so they can send “their” money out of the country. Why is this a good idea for actual U.S. citizens?
Various levels of government try to hide the actual spending on illegal aliens but it is easily in the hundreds of billions -- each and every year! All going to folks who are here illegally -- what don’t the people in power understand about that designation, illegal? Don’t like it? Then change the law. Until then, enforce it.
All while people who gave their blood for this country are kicked to the curb. Demanding this be changed is not anti-illegal immigrant but pro-U.S. citizen. If we are going to ask young men and women to fight and perhaps die for this country, is it asking too much that the country remembers them when they and their kin might be in need?
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