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What is wrong with the American DREAM?

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout: Debate & Discussion' started by Northside Storm, Feb 8, 2011.

  1. Northside Storm

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    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/09/us/09immigration.html?_r=1&hp

    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/25/business/25tax.html?scp=1&sq=tax amnesty&st=cse

    Where is the Republican outrage in the second case?

    Why are there so many politicans rallying against successful young men and women who are willing to pay their way through college, and become positive forces for society?

    And so few against tax evading leechers---shame, shame, shame

    what is wrong with the American DREAM?
     
  2. Space Ghost

    Space Ghost Member

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  3. Northside Storm

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    Republican opposition to DREAM Act and immigration reform in general-absolutly no amnesty for criminals!

    Republican position on tax evasion? ambigious. No opposition to amnesty for criminals.

    hypocrisy, hypocrisy.
     
  4. FranchiseBlade

    Supporting Member

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    Let's also not forget that idol of the modern Republican is often said to be Ronald Reagan who gave amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants.


    Those singing his praise now would have hated him at the time if they managed to keep a coherent position regarding illegal immigrants.
     
  5. Phillyrocket

    Phillyrocket Member

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    The Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), Pub.L. 99-603, 100 Stat. 3359, enacted November 6, 1986, also Simpson-Mazzoli Act, is an Act of Congress which reformed United States immigration law.

    It granted amnesty to illegal immigrants who entered the United States before January 1, 1982 and had resided there continuously.

    An estimated 3 million unauthorized immigrants received amnesty under Reagan's program. A May 26, 2006 New York Times article arrives at the figure 2.8 million: 1.7 million under a general amnesty plus 90% of the 1.3 million that applied under a special program for agricultural workers.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_Reform_and_Control_Act_of_1986

    Mike Huckabee argued illegal immigrants pay more in taxes than they receive in benefits: "They pay fuel taxes. If they're using a fake Social Security number, they're paying Social Security taxes and will never receive any benefit. It would be closer to the truth to say they're subsidizing Joe McCutchen and Jim Holt more than the other way around.

    In a 2007 interview, Huckabee argued job loss caused by illegal immigration is not a problem, saying, "You know, when people say, 'they're taking our jobs'—I used to hear that as Governor—and I started asking this question, 'can you name me any person, give me their name, who can't get a job plucking a chicken or picking a tomato or tarring a roof that would like to do that work?' ... I never, ever, had a person who could come up with the name of a person who could not get a job because an illegal immigrant had stepped in front of them because it was either a job that person didn't want to do or didn't exist."

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_positions_of_Mike_Huckabee#Immigration

    Conservatives should be careful that the politicians they claim to support are who they think they are.
     
  6. Raven

    Raven Member

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    How about no amnesty for either illegal aliens or corporate crooks?
     
  7. Raven

    Raven Member

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    Anyone who doesn't believe American wages are suppressed due to illegal immigration isn't paying attention, and Huckabee knows which side his bread is buttered on. Corporations love him, because he's able to weave their agenda into his phony religious dogma, with just a dash of Christian sanctimony on top.
     
    1 person likes this.
  8. geeimsobored

    geeimsobored Member

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    evidence?
     
  9. GladiatoRowdy

    GladiatoRowdy Member

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    This may be true to a small extent on the lowest end of the pay scale, but many if not most of the jobs done by illegals today simply wouldn't get done if the business owner couldn't get workers at the rate that illegals will work for. If landscaping services started charging the prices they would need to if citizens worked for them, fewer people would get their lawns done and would do it themselves. There are certainly some areas (fast food, construction, lawn service) where illegals are probably squeezing out high school kids, but it isn't like they are bringing down wages for teachers, IT workers, or secretaries.
     
  10. dmc89

    dmc89 Member

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    True, but who knows what the repercussions are of all the high school teenagers and dropouts that compete with illegal aliens for jobs? If anything, I want more high schoolers to balance their education while working a part-time job.

    But the biggest problems imo are the stress on public schools that have to accommodate them, and the traffic congestion caused by landscaping trucks going 15 mph below the speed limit. :mad:
     
  11. wouldabeen23

    wouldabeen23 Member

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    lol....wut?
     
  12. GladiatoRowdy

    GladiatoRowdy Member

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    There isn't that much competition, the high schoolers just go to places where they are more stringent on citizenship requirements. Teens who want to work probably are already.

    Public schools are funded by property taxes, so even illegal aliens pay them directly (if they own) or indirectly (if they rent). I don't think traffic congestion is a reasonable thing to blame on illegal aliens driving landscaping trucks. There are plenty of people out there driving 10-20 mph below the limit and only a tiny percentage of these are landscaping trucks.
     
  13. Qball

    Qball Member

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    I think they would speed up if they weren't so worried about being pulled over and deported. :eek:
     
  14. rtsy

    rtsy Member

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  15. thadeus

    thadeus Member

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    The American dream is a lie perpetrated by the powerful to keep the poor from revolting.
     
  16. Deckard

    Deckard Blade Runner
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    The American lie is a dream perpetrated by the deluded to keep the wealthy from paying taxes.
     
  17. Phillyrocket

    Phillyrocket Member

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    The American Dream was working just fine until the cost of basic necessities started outpacing wages.

    Coincidentally it was about the time wealth concentration started to get out of control.

    It's trickling down but only the ignorant believes it's rain.
     
  18. YallMean

    YallMean Member

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    Not very good comparison.
    In the first case, the infraction is entering the U.S. w/o proper documents and the penalty is deportation to deter illegal entrance. The 2nd case's infraction is tax evasion($), and penalty is retrospective payback to IRS ($) and criminal sanctions if willful to collect more taxes ($).
    An amnesty program in the first would not achieve the the purpose of immigration law , whereas an amnesty program for the 2nd will achieve the goal of tax law.
     
  19. Northside Storm

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    Immigration law in the United States is deeply flawed.

    I'm not saying every illegal immigrant should be granted amnesty. However, the consistent Republican position that we cannot move forward on immigration reform, even for bright students with no criminal records, due to the fact that there is some kind of principle of "amnesty" that we need to deny "lawbreakers", is deeply flawed when one considers the general apathy Republicans address towards corporate crime such as off-shore bank accounts.

    This isn't a matter of proper incentives. This is a matter of blind obstructionism based on nothing denying the impetus for change, which I suppose is just one more for the record.
     
  20. StupidMoniker

    StupidMoniker I lost a bet

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    This does not have any bearing on whether the Republican position is hypocritical, only on whether you agree with their immigration stance.
    The amnesty in question is completely different. In order to be analogous to the dread act, the proposed IRS legislation would have to allow those with offshore accounts not only to reveal them, but also to avoid back taxes on them. If the Dream act only provided that those illegal immigrants that voluntarily revealed themselves could return to their country of origin without sanctions and then apply to immigrate to the US as any other citizen of that country would, it would be similar to the IRS proposal (no penalty, no benefit, just put back into the place you would have been without breaking the law). It seems like you are hung up on the word amnesty instead of what the two laws actually DO.
     

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