Brian Gongol
Immigration: This weekend's massive rally in Los Angeles about immigration brings to mind the importance of thinking clearly about the effects of immigration.The bottom line is that the United States has lots of demand for workers -- both to help make things and deliver services, and to fulfill the huge demands being placed on programs like Social Security as the Baby Boomers move towards retirement.
Knowing that we need more workers than our native-born population can supply, it would be smart of us to demand that the government adopt laws that reflect the actual conditions.Just like Iowa raised rural Interstate speed limits last year to reflect the way people actually drive (thus changing most drivers from arbitrary criminals into law-abiding citizens overnight), we should think seriously about implementing an immigration policy that doesn't arbitrarily make criminals of people who just want to get a job.There's plenty of evidence, too, that moving to an immigration policy like the one we used to havewould actually improve border security, by improving our ability to effectively monitor the people crossing the border.
Moreover, bringing immigrant workers into the open would probably improve conditions for low-skill American workers, too. Today, those workers have to compete with lots of illegal immigrants, who accept very low wages and dangerous working conditions because they don't have legal rights to complain or fight back. That just tends to make conditions worse for legitimate American workers competing for the same jobs, since their jobs are out in the open. Bringing those same immigrant workers out into the legal job sector would mean they'd have to be protected by the same laws, eliminating one of the unfair advantages they currently have over their American competitors.
Health: Don't count on a single-payer health-care system to cut costs.Paperwork costs are skyrocketing in Britain's nationalized health-care system.
Rights: Texas officials think it's their job to keep adults from enjoying a couple of drinks -- even in hotel bars. What a stupid waste of tax dollars.