NOTE BY THE BLOG FOR VIETNAMESE READERS
LỜI CHÚ CỦA BLOG (cho độc giả Việt):
Tiến Sĩ/Nhà Khoa Hoc David Wheeler dùng bút pháp mỉa mai để đặt lại vấn đề chính trị liên quan đến nước láng giềng Mexico và Hoa Kỳ, cùng những ảnh hưởng của vấn đề này trong lòng nước Mỹ. Ông mỉa mai đề nghị rằng Mexico nên trở thành tiểu bang mới của nước Mỹ !!!
Câu hỏi dí dỏm nên đặt ra: còn liên hệ giữa Mỹ và Việt Nam thì sao? Không phải là láng giềng, nhưng ảnh hưởng qua quá khứ chiến tranh và lịch sử, và nhất là sự hiện diện của khối người Việt hải ngọai trong lòng nước Mỹ, cũng như những đe dọa gây ra bởi anh láng giềng khổng lồ của Việt Nam và đối thủ đáng kể của Mỹ: Đó là Trung Quốc...Xin mời bạn đọc VN suy nghĩ.
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Statehood for Mexico
The dialogue on the problem of Mexico and Central American immigration has worn threadbare. Those "against" have no more creativity in finding a solution than to put up a wall on our Southern border. Those "in favor" profess heart-rending sympathy for their heroic sacrifices.
Like all the major issues confronting modern society--global warming, abortion, health care, gender equality--the lines of opinion on the Mexican immigration problem are drawn down political party lines. As a result, creative and lasting solutions to the problem are drowned in political expediency to the detriment of all concerned. Republican realization that they can't control the White House without solving this problem is causing the needle to lurch spasmodically toward liberalization. The so-called "pathway to citizenship," a modern version of Ronald Regan's "amnesty," looms on the horizon.
Teasing out all of the sociological and economic forces at work in the Mexican immigration problem is darn near impossible, but one thing is sure, any solution arrived at in the current political climate is likely to fail. Without understanding and addressing the roots of the problem, how can we solve it? Here are two questions that no one is asking, and without answers to them, we can only rearrange the chairs on the Titanic.
First, why are so many people so anxious to leave a country, Mexico, so abundant in natural resources and natural beauty? Estimates on the number of Mexicans in the US range from 11 to 20 million. Having just come through a recession making money unusually tight in the US, we are probably closer to the low end of the range right now. The current population of Mexico is estimated at 112 million. Assuming for simplicity the majority of the illegal immigrants are Mexican, we're hosting 10-20% of their population. This can't be regarded as anything but a colossal failure on the part of Mexico, their political and economic structure, education system, and society as a whole. The status quo on immigration allows the ruling class in Mexico to sweep their problem under the rug. Today, the richest man in the world, Carlos Slim, lives in Mexico City. What's wrong with this picture? In an ironic twist Felipe Calderon passed legislation liberalizing illegal immigration in Mexico while he was president. It was a nice gesture Sir, but honestly, the Central Americans are just passing through anyway. That political creativity is totally lacking in the US.
Second, what would happen to the cost of labor, if all the immigrants were visible? The US is addicted to cheap labor--just as addicted to cheap labor as we are to illegal drugs from Mexico. The poor in America refuse to do the work the poor in Mexico are glad to come here and do. (How did we get to that state of affairs? But that's another story.) But there's no end to the addiction. We love our Walmart prices, inexpensive fruits and vegetables, clean-cut lawns and cheap construction--all of this enabled by immigrant labor--cheap abundant illegal immigrant labor. The illegality enables exploitation and low wages: The reason the labor is so cheap is that the workers are illegal. If we suddenly pull the curtain back on American prosperity, and expose the sea of illegal workers, their wages will rise, and they'll be out-competed by the next wave of illegal workers. What do we do then?
The US is obviously an attractive place for Mexicans. But getting here is dangerous. Why not simplify: bring the US to Mexico! Six northern Mexican States border the US. Article 4 of the US Constitution provides for the admission of new states. A given territory has to vote to be admitted, the US House and Senate pass by simple majority vote a joint resolution accepting the territory and the President signs off. The new state must adopt a form of government and constitution that comply with the US Constitution.
However, the form of the vote taken by the new territory is not specified. One proposal would be to take all the illegal immigrants as having voted with their feet. With the benefits that would accrue to residents of the Mexican states of Baja, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas, who are left behind it would be a no-brainer. Their children would have free schooling through high school, wages would rise, the drug lords would be swept away and both the former Mexicans and US citizens could come a go across the Rio Grande as they please. US snow birds would have expanded winter roosting, property values would rise, economic development would ensue. At five- or ten-year intervals, each next layer of Northern States could be subsumed in this process.
Impractical you say? Look where we're heading. Mexican's are fleeing a bad life by the millions. Liberalization of Mexican immigration policy will only accelerate the trend, as it did after amnesty. Mexico is coming here, or we can go there. Let's do both.
David Wheeler, copyright 2013
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