This film actually illustrates one of the fundamental problems that I have always had with the Libertarian party.
They are called illegal immigrants because they broke the law when they immigrated. The term has exactly nothing to do with race or ethnicity. Whether it was illegal decades ago or not doesn't matter. They immigrated in an illegal manner, and just because you happen to disagree with the law doesn't make someone a racist for using the term.
Everyone wants to provide for their family. You and I are no different in that respect from a hispanic family, an african family, a chinese family, or a russian family.
ReplyDeleteIf things were so bad in the United States that you couldn't take care of your family, would you consider moving? If you could sneak in to Canada and go from starving to getting paid in cash under the table, getting welfare, getting medical care, and all the 'necessities' to keep your family alive...wouldn't you do it?
The problem isn't that we don't have a big enough wall, or harsh enough punishments. It's that we have tons of social welfare programs. Get rid of the government programs and you put everyone back on a level playing field. You and I won't pay taxes for someone else's healthcare, and someone else won't get healthcare by your hard work. We'll all be responsible for our own healthcare. (and welfare, and a million other compulsory government services)
Hell--I just found out that if I fill out some paperwork saying that I'm a food producing farm (apparently I have to sell something like $100 in food a year on the books) then I get a subsidies from the surrounding cities. I won't fill out the paperwork, because I believe it's theft.
Anyways, stopping all that puts everyone on even footing. Instead of saying "make them immigrate legally and pay taxes", why not say "people are free to go where they wish, let's stop harming a select class of the population by forcing them to pay for others".
That isn't what Johnson is saying.
ReplyDeleteMy point here is that he called the reporter a racist for saying that they are illegal immigrants. They are, because they immigrated in violation of the law. That phrase has nothing to do with race and everything to do with the state of the law at the time that they immigrated.
As far as advocating for an elimination of welfare, and for one group of people not having to pay for another- Well, that ship has sailed. It is never going to happen. We are riding this socialist wave of profligate spending to the bottom.
Sorry--I wasn't commenting on Johnson, just on libertarian principles in general. I don't believe for a second that Johnson is a libertarian. The Republican, Democrat, and Libertarian parties have all gone off the deep-end in terms of following their stated platforms.
ReplyDeleteThe big tell for me is that have friends who have been staunch Republicans for the last ~35 years. This year they are voting for Gary Johnson. I also have die-hard gimme-my-welfare Demmocrat friends. They are voting Gary Johnson.
It tells me the R&D parties are in bad enough shape for these people to look elsewhere, and the L-party is in bad enough shape to actually be attractive to these people.
He's not any kind of libertarian. Pro TPP. Pro forcing people to bake gay cakes. Just off the top of my head.
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