Alienated
Re: “Hateful Bigotry” column (by John Grooms, April 12). Grooms is right on the immigrant brouhaha. This is election year fodder to get the masses to the polls. No “real” legislation will come down — the politicians work for corporations and corporations like cheap, docile labor.
My rant is that the other side of this issue is not addressed with the same fervor. What is the US doing to force Mexico to improve its living standards so their people won’t have to come here to find work? If we can bully other nations, surely we can persuade, threaten, etc. Mexico to do more to help its own. As it is now, Mexico’s powerbrokers/elite are happy to push their downtrodden onto US shores and reap the benefits of such. Even that scam NAFTA turned out to screw over the Mexican worker like it did American Joe.
Western nations should engage the UN to use some type of sanctions on nations that loot the treasury and forgo providing basic living standards for their citizenry. Just where is all this foreign aid that the US and other countries provide the poorer nations going? Into the Swiss bank accounts of corrupt governments, I suppose. To add salt to the wounds, the US makes its own troubles by supporting and installing corrupt despots and incompetents who loot the treasury and do nothing for the masses.
And when will Congress craft legislation to help the US-born working stiffs? Curb outsourcing? Force companies to pay their fair share of taxes? Scrap free trade pacts that screw over US workers? Rebuilding Iraq, accommodating immigrants — the US worker is at the end of the soup line when it comes to getting help from the government, regardless of what party is in power.
— Beverly Rice, Charlotte
I just wanted to say your recent piece “Hateful Bigotry” was one of the best I’ve ever read on the subject. Thank you!
–Tedd Masiongale, Charlotte
This article appears in Apr 26 – May 2, 2006.
