Illegal benefits, a tough nut to crack

Alternative Column: Back in my college days we protested the war in Vietnam. Since it was supposedly a war against communism, to choose peace forced us into siding with communists. We wanted peace but were supporting the side whose system was based on the use of force. Protesting was in. It was all for “the peo-ple.”
This presented an oppor-tunity for other protest move-ments seeking support. The United Farm Workers were striking against farmers at the time and a lot of us joined a boycott on grapes because “the people” were being ex-ploited with low wages. Caesar Chavez, co-founder of the UFW, is proclaimed a hero yet today with schools and streets named after him.
With so much discussion these days on illegal immigra-tion and “the wall,” I am re-minded of the United Farm Workers and their relationship with illegal immigration. Chavez's union thugs beat up immigrants to keep them from being strike-breaking scabs.
Now, the so-called right is the protectionist side instead. Besides the claim that criminals are crossing the border, is the claim that Central Americans and Mexicans are exploiting our system of benefits. Protec-tion from criminals is certainly a legitimate function of govern-ment. But to have “the right” not wanting to share our so-called benefits is bizarre.
The entitlements have done much more to destroy our re-public than a few sneak-ins ever could.
Social Security and public education have severed the relationship between genera-tions. Children no longer are responsible for their elderly parents or their own children. Sex has become a sport rather than a necessary part of a soci-etal system of support. West-ern populations are shrinking because we no longer need our parents or our children.
Posers like Steve King prance around as constitutional conservatives while passing legislation that gives favors to inefficient industry like ethanol and wind, allows federal offi-cials to search us without a warrant, and then claim that a few families might come here to find a better life from countries where past U.S. intervention has brought about lawlessness. It is extremely sad that the alternatives to King want to expand this interventionist state at home and excuse it around the world. They call King heartless and bigoted.
If Steve King were, as he claims, a constitutional con-servative he would be finding a way to dial back this system that is causing children without fathers and wasteful industry without real demand. Without the welfare state, immigrants would arrive here as contribu-tors and their presence would enrich, rather than drain our country. After all, through history, immigration and pro-tection of private property is what has made this country rich enough to fund King's entitlements... for now.
It appears Steve King has lost faith in our country as a con-stitutional republic and accept-ed it as a fascist dictatorship. Illegal immigrants are as much a threat as Steve King's sup-posed racism and bigotry, which is not much.
That big brother with many faces on the boob tube rules our thoughts to such an extent that we go along with it. After all, it's Super Bowl Sunday!
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