My hope has been restored by watching interviews of 2020 democratic presidential candidate, Elizabeth Warren and of the newly elected democratic Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. Both women prioritized affordable healthcare for all, campaign finance reform, immigration policy reform, protecting voter’s rights, fair wages and an economy that works for all, and repairing the infrastructure among other important issues for our democracy. All of these issues are or should be bipartisan in that they are needed to heal our country in a way that will benefit everyone not just the few.
Of course, this will not be easy, especially since we are in the middle of a partial government shutdown. A shutdown imposed by the President to pressure the congress into approving funding for a southern border wall that 60-75% of Americans oppose. Right now, around 800,000 government workers are not being paid as they are being used as pawns while the terms of this dispute are being discussed. These people have to suffer as the President tries to keep a campaign promise that he has already lost. He promised that Mexico would pay for the “wall” and that is not happening. He now wants American taxpayers to pay for the wall, a wall that most don’t want, a wall that is overkill and, ultimately, unnecessary.
According to Robert Reich, Professor of Public Policy and former Secretary of Labor, immigration is good for America. He put forth the “Seven Truths about Immigration” in one of his short videos at robertreich.org. These truths are as follows.
- 75% of Americans say immigrations is a good thing.
- America needs immigrants as our population is rapidly aging.
- New immigrants contribute more in taxes than they take in public assistance.
- Immigrants don’t take American jobs, in fact their spending creates more jobs.
- Immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than the native-born.
- In fact, crime is at an all time low.
- Illegal border crossings have been declining for years.
Everyone is for border security and effective immigration policy. The idea of a wall that runs the entire southern border is impractical and a waste of time and money. Hopefully, we can get through this impasse quickly and move on to healing our country with more important matters. One can only hope…
reilly m gray 