Imaginary Speech, and the Right to Work

[ndrosen]

I did not watch Dishonest Donald give the State of the Union address, but I did read Shikha Dalmia's piece on what he might have said about immigration if he had suddenly become a wise and decent human being. A citizen can dream.

I would like to add another point: Leaving aside what one may think about how many people we should let into the United States, and how we should select which people, I am opposed to forcing E-Verify on everyone. The law has been that you can get a job, and feed yourself, and if you are suspected of being an illegal alien, then you can be arrested, given a hearing, and perhaps deported. E-Verify would make it impossible for you to get a job if the system doesn't find you to be a citizen, or perhaps an alien with permission to work.

The problem -- a problem that ought to concern even the immigration restrictionists -- is that records are fallible. American citizens who can't prove that they are citizens would become unemployable; so would other people who had reason to lie low. A runaway teenager who had been given good reason to run could find it impossible to work at an honest, aboveboard job. He or she could then starve, turn whore, or find a criminal gang that was hiring. If a would-be fascist caudillo came to power (not that this could ever happen here, but humor me), he might abuse the system to blackball his opponents.

One evil of Communism is that when the State is the only employer, dissent becomes starvation. The same can happen with Fascism, when nominally private employers cannot hire anyone without the State's permission. Don't let it happen here.

Comments

[cynthia_says_hello]

“… A runaway teenager who had been given good reason to run could find it impossible to work at an honest, aboveboard job. He or she could then starve, turn whore, or find a criminal gang that was hiring.”

Yes x 10000000. This is also why it’s near impossible to break out of the cycle of homelessness. Most job applications require you to supply your name, address and telephone number. What if you don’t have the second and third? Say one is otherwise able to work and wants to, but with no address or phone?? This infuriated and pained me in equal measure growing up and still does.

The overwhelming stigmata attached to homelessness (example: they are all drug users, losers, minorities we should not care about, illegal, lazy, etc.) does. Not. Apply. To. Everyone. And they are still human!! 😖😖😖😖

When I worked at Burger King for a couple of months (a rite of passage I argued my little brother NEEDED to ground him and understand what a lot of people need to go to make $5.75 an hour or whatever I made) (I didn’t win that battle with my mom) - but when I worked at BK I met some folks and let them use one of my parents phone numbers or addresses to help (leaving details out).

And back to stigmata - I’m not stigmatized per se because I worked in fast food, or had to get a job at 14, didn’t have money to buy new clothes in high school, or didn’t have a car until I was past 20, or that I’m technically an immigrant (I could go on…) because I come from a wealthy family so that covers all sins and washes away a lot of societal disgrace and explains it all away. What otherwise would cause me to be an outcast, made fun of, etc., instead through the lens of money becomes minimized as trivial quirks of my eccentric family. (As if people know me, or my family, right??)


Ugh.

Ok, done venting. 🙃😳😅♥️