And the platform continues again

IMMIGRATION:

Immigration is not a problem the United States faces alone. Every country on the planet has immigration issues. Some countries manage them well and for other countries it exacerbates other issues. Many countries bring immigrants to fill jobs that no one wants which creates a tiered society and creates unrest among the immigrants and even human rights violation accusations. Whenever inequality or lack of opportunity exists in one place then people will move on looking to improve their situation. And frankly, you cannot blame them.

And in the United States it seems many people forget we are a country of immigrants. Everyone in this country immigrated from somewhere else. Even the Native Americans, according to many sources, immigrated to the Americas via the Bering Sea and then migrated southward. And once one group has become established in this country they deride the next group of immigrants as being inferior or wanting them to go home.

We forced immigration of Africans through slavery. We encouraged immigration in the 1800’s. Everyone knows the story of Ellis Island and the Statute of Liberty.

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me: I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”

So where is that attitude today?

Immigration policy began in earnest at the end of World War I. Some of this was based on National security interests, yet some was based on controlling immigration and who could immigrate in general. The idea of quota restrictions began and was firmly instituted with the Immigration Act of 1924. These quotas by design and circumstances helped to preserve homogeneity in our country. Again the people who already immigrated were not too fond of changes in our make up. The idea of being the melting pot of the world was not on everyone’s agenda.

Our immigration policy has evolved since then, well changed, it really has not evolved in a sense of we have a better attitude towards immigrants. And that is why we have political struggles for new immigration policy today.

And where should we go from here? Do we allow unfettered opportunity in our country, do we continue with quotas, (which requires updates regularly), do we completely halt immigration, or is there a compromise solution?

And unfortunately there is not a good answer. We have our Declaration of Independence and Constitution that strives to help us achieve the idea that all men are created equal and have certain rights. If we say we are conservative; that means we need to conserve the ideals of our nation. Yet in today’s world we do need to protect our country from terrorists, criminals, and people who come here to take advantage of what we offer. These are not undo concerns.

Where do we create perspective? What policy separates true undesirables and keeps our ideals intact? And of course who defines “undesirables” can play an intricate part in this policy. We need caution in making this definition. And that is the major challenge for us in creating immigration reform. It is not new quotas, or how many people can enter at all, but finding a way to encourage the world to continue to view us as an opportunity without fearing repercussions once they arrive. And for us to know who is coming to our land and not fear what may happen when they arrive. No policy will truly protect us from all people that have intent to harm. We can create checks and balances for people to come. We can limit the number of visas, not to limit people, but to limit how many people our country can absorb. We have a right to protect ourselves, but once an immigrant is here they should be treated with the same respect we treat ourselves and accorded all rights as any person.

And that leaves us with our current dilemma about illegal immigration. Do we start giving blanket citizenship to everyone here? Do we make them go through a less rigorous process than new immigrants? At this point I think we can ask them to verify what they have done since they have been here. Prove to immigration officials they have been a contributing member of society, and how they are going to continue to contribute. If they are unable or have not contributed we can make arrangements to return them to their country of origin. And along with this we can tighten immigration to give us an idea of who is asking to come here. It would be foolish to deny people an opportunity to come here that can benefit our society. This does not have to be in a largess fashion. They can be here to work and no matter what the work they should be treated with the same respect we give ourselves. If they are unable to prove their intent then we have the right to protect our nation and ourselves to make sure those that come to us want to be with us.

And on a final note most of the immigration dilemma is around our border with Mexico. If continued immigration from this country produces a hostile environment along our border, even though not popular with everyone, we have a right to secure it. This is not to deny Mexicans from immigrating or visiting, but to identity who is here and why. In reality though our best immigration policy with Mexico is continuing to help them grow their economy and educating their people. We need to help them develop a better export mix than just oil and drugs. Like I mentioned before people migrate to find better circumstances, if we allow a neighbor to fall behind or continue to be a third world country we are failing ourselves. We share a border and there is much shared culture around the border, we should cherish this and help to encourage Mexico’s growth and help those who come here so they can contribute here or take what they have learned and go back to Mexico to help with Mexico’s growth.


FOREIGN POLICY:

I have seen many foreign policy platforms from the major parties or from independent sources that breaks it down by region and how we should treat each country. I have never liked this approach. Foreign policy can be made simple in philosophy and then base decisions on what relationship we have with an individual country based on how they fit into this philosophy.

Who are our friends and who are our enemies? And sometimes we need to make sure our friends are our friends. And sometimes we need to realize as a people that our government needs to determine who are friends are, not special interests or big business. Some of our current headaches derive from bad decisions in the past in whom we supported in a country. Overall though we need to look at how each country treats us. We should always maintain a healthy attitude of respect to others to begin in evaluating our relationships with different countries. This does not mean we are required to give any ground in our relationships with different countries.

As much as we say we want to encourage the growth of democracy, not every country is ready for democracy. Our goal is to help the people of countries realize their rights and let them usher in their choice of rule. As long as the rights of individuals are respected in a country we cannot be so jingoistic that we know what is best for everyone else. We do not have to tolerate the abuse of a country’s citizenry and must help to facilitate world support to isolate these countries. It does not mean we are the world’s policeman.

We do want to encourage free trade and free enterprise. We do need to support policies that protect our rights to free trade and trade that does not harm our country’s economy. We can write treaties that are mutually beneficial between two countries. We cannot, nor should we tolerate any abuse of trade with us or among/between other countries. The right to develop is every country’s right and if we work to keep our economy strong and open, their development will not interfere with us. We need to place ourselves first without restricting others.

We have a right to defend ourselves and our true interests. ( this means what benefits are people or could place harm to our people) We do not have a right to overrun another country.

We need to re-evaluate our relationships with many countries. There are countries that are our friends and we need to strengthen those, lately we have been remiss in what we have done to maintain strong ties. There are some countries that some say are our friends, but what are they doing to create a strong two way agenda. And some countries just aren’t our friends, nor are they contributing members to the world body at large. We should be involved with change, yet I say again we are not the world’s policeman. It is the responsibility of all countries to isolate dictators and repressive regimes to work to help the people overcome tyranny.

We can and must champion human rights and the right to human dignity for all. That is who we are as a nation.

( I will say this, we should build better relations with our American neighbors)




I had said in a bad humorous post I was going to write on immigration, foreign policy, and energy next. I am going to include energy in the next group with economic development and my project ideas. I think it will fit better. After that I will finish up with education and some final thoughts. Thanks for reading, I hope this platform and platform essay is encouraging some of your own thoughts and ideas. We need new hope, the current political parties just are not working for the best interest of you and I.