“The Greenland Norse lived on an island that was surrounded by fish … oceans of fish … but they refused to eat fish. Fish was taboo for the Greenland Norse. The winters got colder and colder, killing the crops and livestock in Greenland until the remaining Norse starved … even though fish were packed gill to gill off their shores.

There were other people in Greenland during those cold winters — the Inuit. They had no problem eating fish. They lived while the Norse died.” – from 5 Fixes America Needs Right Now by Sean Brodrick on uncommonwisdomdaily.com.

I think it is important for Americans to realize that things need to be changed.

I am listing this article under “Immigration Reform” because illegal immigration is mostly about unauthorized employments, which is one kind of underground economy. I don’t know why the author did not mention it.

I have been thinking that it is Democrats’ fault that there can be no immigration reform. They did screw it up last time when there was a serious attempt at immigration reform in Congress. And they may still have to make a major concession this time for immigration reform to happen. They need to accept the fact that foreign workers should be allowed to come to the US to work as workers, not as citizens, to begin with. And they may need to stop insisting on giving undocumented workers already in the country a “path to citizenship”, not just legalization or work authorization.

But there is something fundamental that makes Republicans unable to accept immigration reform. They are afraid of an increase in the size of the work force in the US. Although they need foreign workers to come to the US to work, they do not want foreign workers to become permanently part of the US work force and so increase the size of the work force in the US. This is because they think that the US work force is demanding and costs the US government money (thus cost them money).

Basically, the Republicans hate the very people they need to work for them and the very people who they will make money from. They want their labors and money. But they do not want their votes.

The Democrats do not want foreign labors because they view foreign labors as competitions that will bring down their wages. But they do want their votes. And they make it very clear about that to the Republicans. It may be unwise for the Democrats to make it so clear about their intention. But an increase in the size of the US work force is an inevitable result of bringing in foreign workers. And it will help boost the US economy, reduce the deficit, increase the values of the properties in the US, the values of US stocks, and the value of the US dollar. Republicans have to accept the fact that the US work force has to be increased for all of these to happen. It is foolish for the Republicans to hate the very people they need to work for them and the very people who they will make money from.

Republican House Representative Connie Mack said it best the reason why the Arizona immigration law SB1070 should be opposed in the article “Why conservatives should oppose Arizona’s immigration law” on washingtonpost.com.

“This law clearly challenges citizens’ freedoms, and it does so by putting some Americans at risk of losing their freedoms while others stand little or no chance of being affected.”

“During World War II, … this country put Japanese Americans in detention camps. … We did so under the guise that we were at war and in crisis. But it is precisely at such times that we must take extra measures to safeguard our rights, our freedoms and our nation. Instead, America took away the constitutional rights of citizens — a shameful overreach of the government.”

“The Arizona immigration law reminds us of how fear and distrust can lead to bad laws and even more government overreach into the private sector and our private lives.”

“… trampling on the rights of some Americans to protect the majority conflicts with the values our nation was founded upon.”

“Our Constitution protects individual freedoms and liberties. Nowhere does this document speak of protecting the majority over the minority. Anger about the economy, increased crime and security concerns are fueling this law, not constitutional principles.”

“Conservatives’ most important responsibility is to remember to protect freedom, liberty and the rights of every citizen. The Arizona immigration law doesn’t do that, and that’s why I oppose it.” – I hope that those who claim to be conservatives understand this.

“As the wise saying goes, he who sacrifices freedom for security ends up with neither.”

Professor Sherrilyn Ifill of the University of Maryland says it best: “If a nationwide poll had been conducted in 1953, no doubt a majority of Americans would have supported segregated schools. It’s doubtful that many of the provisions of our Bill of Rights would survive an up-or-down vote in most of the country. That’s why we have the Constitution — something that can survive the prejudices, exigencies and ignorance of the day and set the parameters of legality for our country.”

Read more here: “Arena Digest: Why is the Arizona immigration law so popular?”

Now you see why democracy can not be the equivalent of the rule by the majority.

“Since the passage of the anti-immigrant Arizonan law (SB 1070) ,  comprehensive immigration reform has moved from the  back-burner to the front of today’s political issues.   Soon enough comes the November elections  and the candidates will be talking about immigration. As the campaign season rolls onward and the intensity of the rhetoric escalates, get the facts on five recurring myths, and clear the way for an honest immigration debate.” – Find out what they are on “Myths Affecting the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Debate” by Moses Apsan, Esq.

Q: Why should America take in more immigrants?

A: This is the biggest country in the world that can still have room for more people. Do you think China or India should be taking in more people? Which country do you think has more space to take in people than America? The point I want to make is not for America to do other people a favor and take in more people though. America needs more people to grow the economy. Without taking in more people, more Americans will be out of work, and the US government will get more deeply into debt. Taking in more immigrants is to serve American interests.

Q: How can America take in people from all over the world?

A: There are 300 million Americans who are allowed to come to New York City. And New York City does not have a problem with that. Why? Because people come and go. Not all of them stay in New York after they come. Mexicans used to be able to come to the US to work and go home when there are not so many jobs. Now they don’t go home when there are not so many jobs because they can not come back easily when there are jobs. Also, it is now very easy to overstay visa and have to face three or ten years ban from coming to the US again. This makes people hesitate to leave. Without this ban, many people may have left after their businesses here are done. It is immigration restriction that makes the illegal immigration problem so out of control.

Q: Our resources are limited. How can we take in so many more people?

A: Talking about resources, do you think that Americans need more food and gas etc. so that they can gain more weight? Then it will cost Americans more to treat all the diseases caused by obesity.

Q: Illegal immigrants are mostly uneducated and unskilled. Why do we need people with little education and skills?

A: Why do we need to buy clothes made in other countries? People in other countries who have been making clothes that we wear have no more education or skills than the people that come to America illegally. Low skill workers who can make clothes are not allowed to come to the US to work legally. That is why we don’t make clothes in America any more. We have lost a lot of jobs in the garment industry because we don’t make clothes here any more.

Q: Illegal immigrants can not speak English and do not have skills. Why should they have rights?

A: Even people who can not speak and have no skills have rights. All people have rights.

Q: Why do we allow people who broke the laws to get away with breaking the laws?

A: There used to be laws that forbid slaves from getting married. Do you think that slaves should have and could have been able to abide by such laws? Women were not allowed to vote before. If we never tried to change laws that forbid women from voting, women still can not vote. Laws are made to protect people’ interests. But if they are against humanity and so against the interests of the society as a whole, they should be changed. It used to be much easier for people to come to the US. It is not fair to now make it so much harder for foreigners to come and then blame them for the problem. By the way, people want to keep the status quot because they think it is better for them. But laws are changed when it is time to change them. No one will be able to stop change from happening.

Q: Why do we need to legalize illegal immigrants?

A: When illegal immigrants are legalized, they will get a chance to find better paying jobs or set up their own businesses and make more money. The reason why they are poor is that they have limited rights and can not fight for their rights. If you keep them illegal, you keep them poor, and you have to take care of them more. It makes no sense financially for the US government to keep them illegal.

Q: Are we going to welcome anyone in the world to come?

A: If they can afford to pay for the trip to come and pay for the rent to stay looking for jobs, they should be allowed to come. The main problem Americans have with them is that they bring down wages. But they bring down the cost of living as well. And this will bring down the cost of labors, and so invite businesses to move their operations back to the US and keep jobs and create jobs in the US. Look at China. In the next ten years there will be 500 million people moving to the cities to work in China. China’s economy keeps growing because of that. The more workers there are, the more jobs there will be. If we continue restricting immigration, more and more people will be out of work for a long period of time. The government will have to spend more and more on unemployment benefits and receive less and less tax revenues. This is not the right direction for this country to go.

Q: Check out Mexico’s immigration policies. Why should we be a lot nicer to illegal immigrants than Mexico?

A: Mexico is not our role model. Why don’t we check out Australia where immigration is easier and the jobless rate is the lowest among developed countries right now?

Final words: Those who are already American citizens are like children of mother America. Some of them want to keep all mother America has to offer for themselves. They do not want mother America to have more children and thus have to share her love with their new brothers and sisters. But not wanting to share it not a good character.

There will be no real immigration reform until the American people change their views on immigration and then realize what is wrong with the existing immigration laws. Most Americans still see new immigrants as rivals for jobs and see some new immigrants as burdens to the society. So they think that there is nothing wrong with the existing immigration laws. So they do not see the need to change the laws except to make the laws more strict.

You can not ask for a change in immigration laws unless you can change Americans’ views on whether America benefits from immigration. Most Americans think immigration is bad for America, even though they do not want to admit it. They insist that they are only against illegal immigration. But when any law that will allow for more immigration is proposed, they fight it with all their might.

I guess I can only say that democracy should not be equal to the rule by the majority. It should rather be the respect for principles. Otherwise, we will have Nazi Germany type of “democracy” and still think that we have a democracy.

By the way, this comment has not been allowed on The Huffington Post.

PS: In fact, only when our democracy is not equal to the rule by the majority will White Americans feel safe enough to prepare to give up their majority status in this country and reform immigration.

How can any governor thinks that there can be a law like the one the Arizona Governor just signed today? Can police take actions against anyone based purely on prejudice? Other than prejudice, what can guide Arizona police on how to decide who to stop and ask for proof of citizenship or legal residency?

How does the Arizona Governor think that she can come up to a person and tell him that he “looks illegal” without offending that person? Or, does she not know that people can be offended by being told that they “look illegal”? And, does she think that there is a group of people who deserve to be harassed just for “looking illegal”? Does she not know that by laws, people can not be bothered just for looking certain ways?

Also, how can she be sure that this law will help root out illegal immigrants if a large number of people will not be questioned because they “don’t look illegal”?

By passing such a law, she is making it more of a crime to “look illegal” than to be illegal.

Comment: I guess this guy was suspected to be illegal because of his accent. I recently met a man who was born and raised in New York but has a foreign accent. He told me that his parents immigrated from Europe and that he spoke their language, not English, until he went to school, and so he always has an accent.

Everyone who crosses the border at legal entry points has to be checked. Those who crossed the border not at legal entry points have not been checked and so have to be checked if they get caught inside the country. That is why the law in Arizona concerning illegal immigrants has been introduced.

The problem is, to find those who have crossed the borders illegally, you have to check even those people who have always been inside the country and should not have to be checked on. It brings a lot of inconveniences to a lot of people.

A solution to the problem of illegal immigration is to accept it and stop fighting it the conventional ways. People do not want open borders. But borders are always open no matter what you do. All the laws that have been passed trying to stop illegal immigration have only made the problem worse. For example, you make it hard for people to come or to return after they leave, and they won’t leave after they come.

Problems created by open borders should be addressed one by one. If there is any government service that should not be available to illegal immigrants, don’t make it available to them. If there are jobs that should not be taken by illegal immigrants, don’t let those jobs be taken by them. I understand that there are jobs that you can not stop those people from taking. But jobs that can be taken by illegal immigrants are not good paying jobs. The majority of good paying jobs can not be taken by them. Most good paying jobs that have been lost are actually lost to people in other countries rather than to illegal immigrants in this country. You can not stop a large chunk of good paying jobs from being taken by people in other countries. So why are you so hell-bent on stopping other people from taking any job in this country?

The main problem brought to the society by illegal immigration is that you can not stop someone from going to the emergency room or giving birth, which cost the society financially. But if human beings are considered assets rather than liabilities, then these expenses and investments should be considered worthy.

My attention was turned to the impact of migration after reading Chinese Real Estate: Four Ways to Profit From the Biggest Urban Migration in History on moneymorning.com. The following is from this article.

“Given what you may have heard about Chinese property values in recent months, it may surprise you to learn that Chinese real estate investors are extremely value oriented.

And so are the institutional investors I’ve run into during my latest investment-research visit to this country. These institutional players want to lock up some valuable land parcels before 2020. That’s the date by which 500 million Chinese citizens are expected to have moved into China’s cities as part of the greatest urban migration ever recorded.

You can do the math: We’re talking about a group that’s 1.6 times the entire U.S. population … moving from China’s countryside to its cities in the next 10 years.”

From this article, I see that migration brings the increase in the values of local properties. So why are people so much against migration? Part of the reason is that they are stressed out over the increase in rents and property prices that results from migration.

Let’s look at how New York City has been handling the expansion of the city’s population. Rents in New York City have been going up fast during economic boom time, when many people from all over the US and the world move over here. And New Yorkers have been having a hard time with their rents because of that. The city government dealt with this issue by offering rent-control apartments and offering affordable housing to people with low incomes.

So in order to benefit from migration, local government has to come up with good strategies to help local residents deal with problems brought about by migration. I guess this is what the US government has failed to do. And this is the reason why the US government can not reform immigration.