Via Eschaton
It bothers me when people call undocumented workers “illegal immigrants”. Yes, they’ve entered the U.S. by an illegal procedure, but people themselves are not illegal. The shorthand of labeling people, in any form, leads to limited thinking about who people are, and any time we think of someone as “other” in some way, we create an excuse to think we are entitled to some privilege over them, for whatever reason.
All Americans are here from somewhere else. Native Indian tribes have the longest claim, but they, too came from somewhere else originally. The claims that we have to a particular place may be permanent, temporary, or “just visiting”. They shouldn’t define us.
Certainly a better process for immigration is needed, and a better way of protecting our borders. But punishing those who are here, legally or illegally, for taking low wage jobs, for trying to better themselves and their families, is not going to solve our problems.
Our largest problem is really the overvaluing of those at the top of the income scale, and undervaluing those at the bottom. Someone working 10 to 12 hours in a field certainly works harder, physically, than someone working 8 hours in an office. But that skill, that labor, is undervalued, so that we can have cheap food. Someone working 8 hours in construction is working harder than most CEOs, but their labor is undervalued so we can build houses cheaply. I know of one woman who is heir to one of the largest builders in San Diego, who gets $15,000 a month just for waking up in the morning. Is this really the legacy we want America to leave, where inheriting wealth is derived from the cheaply valued labor of others?
I’m not advocating communism or socialism but when CEO pay increases 24%, and workers pay increases 3%, something is horribly, terribly wrong in this country.
Median 2005 pay among chief executives running most of the nation’s 100 largest companies soared 25% to $17.9 million, dwarfing the 3.1% average gain by typical American workers, USA TODAY found in its annual analysis of CEO pay.
No Responses