Good Fences Make Good Neighbors
Once again I am commenting at ANTI-BVBL. Since the topic of Illegal Immigration will most likely soon arrive in Congress once again, I decided to see what ANTI-BVBL had to say about it. Here is the latest post, Dare to Dream a Dream….universities and colleges support the Dream Act.
Like too many these days, Elena seems to think government has all money needed to do anything. I guess she thinks that is what printing presses are for.
Anyway, in her last two comments (starting here), Elena tried to justify providing the children of illegal immigrants an education. She sees that as an appropriate expense for the American taxpayer. This is supposedly an appropriate reward for the desperation their parents showed in coming here. Somehow, we are responsible and obligated. She even turned my use of the word “struggle” to her own purposes. Here is my answer.
Elena – By struggle, I did not mean law-breaking such as robbery or extortion. For example, if someone wants an education badly enough, they could rob a bank to pay for it. Would you approve? No? Then consider your support for having our government pay for the education of illegal immigrants. To do this our government must deliberately turn a blind eye. When the children of illegal immigrants attend public schools and colleges, our government must ignore the fact these people are in the country illegally. How is that different from letting bank robbers use their ill-gotten gains to pay for a college education? Are not taxpayers are being extorted to pay for the education of people who are not even suppose to be here?
You asked about welfare, Medicare, and Medicaid. Do I approve? No! Government exists so we can solve our own problems. Government exists to protect our rights so we can solve our own problems. Government does not exist so it can solve our problems for us. That does not even work. When we use government to solve our problems, we eventually end up abusing each other’s rights.
Some things are predicable. Aristotle identified the processes by which democracies destroy themselves thousands of years ago. Aristotle explained these processes in a book he appropriately named Politics. Benjamin Franklin summarized these processes more succinctly….
When the people find they can vote themselves money; that will herald the end of the republic. — Benjamin Franklin
Most of the Federal Budget now goes to pay for social programs such as welfare, Medicare, Medicaid, social security, education, and so forth. These programs result from citizens voting to raid the public treasury. Such programs are the main reason why we cannot balance the budget. Unless we wise up, the result must be national bankruptcy and then tyranny.
Perhaps you have yet to consider what the right of free association really involves. Government is just one of many types of organizations that people can use to get things done. What makes government different is that we do not have a choice. When government is involved, we must submit to doing what needs to be done somebody else’s way. We are not allowed to work with people who share our beliefs.
Government is not necessary for education. Before there were government-run schools, people managed to educate themselves and their children. At the time of the American Revolution, about 90 percent of New Englanders could read and write (http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Literacy). Horace Mann did not start his so-called education reforms until 1837.
Change is not always a good thing.
