By DR. LARRY MOSES

No one asked me but… The Republican Party never ceases to amaze me. They have finalized their field of candidates for the 2012 election. Out of these people one will emerge as the Presidential candidate of the Republican Party.

These people are traveling the country appearing in televised debates, explaining to America why each one is not fit to be President of the United States. Whoever wins the nomination for the Republicans will be so scarred by their fellow Republicans that President Obama will merely need to play back their comments.

One is reminded of the Pogo quote, “We have met the enemy and they are us.”

If the Republicans lose this election they will have no one to blame but themselves.

There is no doubt that Obama will be the Democratic candidate. A party that repudiates an elected President is pretty much conceding the election.

Republicans who believe Obama will not be a formidable candidate are living in Never-Never Land. If the Republicans were to gain control of both houses of Congress and the Presidency, the gravy train that almost half of the American population has been riding will jump the track.

While I agree that the corporate welfare system needs to be reformed, the personal welfare system is also devastating the American economy. Republicans are attacking the poor welfare recipients which represents a large segment of the American voting public. The Democrats are attacking the rich welfare recipients who make up a very small portion of the voting public. As long as the President maintains the bread and circus for the less affluent of America, he will have a strong voting bloc.

As George Bernard Shaw said, “A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.” Right now almost one half of the American people are Pauls, and Obama is recommending that we rob more from the Peters.

No one asked me but…The State of Alabama has passed one of the strongest immigrant enforcement laws in the land. We support the passing of state immigration laws reflecting the national laws that the federal government refuses to enforce.

However, we once again find that when laws are passed and enforced, there are some un-intended and unpleasant consequences. For example, the cell phone law was passed in Nevada this year. While the law has merit, no one foresaw the problem with people taking the advice of the lawmakers and law enforcement agents and pulling their car to the side of the road to talk.

A friend of mine from Colorado, a state with similar laws, was cited and fined for pulling on to the shoulder of the interstate to take a call. The highway patrolman explained that the shoulder was for emergency use only and a phone call does not constitute an emergency. The fine for stopping may be more than the fine for using the phone while the car was in motion.

This is an example of unintended consequences of a law not well thought out. Wait until 2017 and California can no longer use coal-fired energy. Did anyone think about the consequences of this law?

However, back to the issue at hand. Alabama and the strict enforcement of the immigration law. One must wonder if they thought out the consequences of that law.

It has been estimated that one-fourth of the commercial construction force, which was heavily Hispanic, has left the state of Alabama. Some of those leaving the state are in the country legally but are fearful of not being identified as such.

While there is a great need for construction workers in Alabama, due to the devastation of recent national disasters, few workers are stepping forward to fill positions vacated by this migration. Painters, construction and maintenance workers in Huntsville, Alabama, earned an average wage of $11.89 per hour and an average annual salary of $24,730. How many of the unemployed in Nevada are going to move to Alabama to take jobs that pay $12 dollars an hour when they are used to working in the same jobs for $25-$30 an hour. As long as welfare benefits exceed the value of pay, no one will be changing status soon.

Hit particularly hard are the farmers of Alabama. One northern Alabama farmer stated only eight of his regular 48 workers showed to harvest his crop. None of the unemployed members of the local community have stepped into these less than minimum wage jobs. Another Alabama farmer has stated they will probably lose his entire tomato crop for lack of workers.

In America today, 81% of all farm workers are foreign-born and 77% of all farm workers were born in Mexico. Twelve percent of all farm workers earn less than the minimum wage. Half of all farm workers earn less than $7,500 per year and half of all farm worker families earn less than $11,000 per year, far below the U.S. poverty level for a family of four.

The unemployed and welfare recipients are not lining up for these jobs as was projected by the Alabama legislature. They are better off staying home collecting their government benefits.

At least one-third of migrant children work on farms to help their families; others may not be hired directly but are in the fields helping their parents.

The Clark County School District estimates that ten percent of the local school population is made up of youngsters in the country illegally. That would be a total of 30,000 students. With the district receiving nearly $6,000 per student, one can see that that is a goodly sum of money. The question is do these student cost more than the millions of dollars the district receives?

When legislatures pass laws, they need to study the full implications. Unintended consequences can be worse than the problem itself. Is the American public ready to pay the major increase in their cost of living that will come with the raise in wages when the immigrant workers are completely removed?

One Response to “No One Asked Me But… (October 12, 2011)”