Welcome to my new blog. So what does "The Lousy Liberal" mean? It means that in this blog I will let you in on a big secret: I agree with conservatives on some issues. When I was an undergraduate at Portland State University, I took U.S. History from a wonderful professor, Dr. Burke. He shared with us his take on what makes a person a liberal. He said liberals believe that all people are born good, and that if they live in a supportive, kind world, and their basic needs are met, they will be good people and do good things. So I am a liberal. But this doesn't mean that I agree with every plank in the liberal platform.
Today is election day, and win or lose, the Republicans are in big trouble. Trump is not only a scary demagogue, but he stands for nothing, and may destroy the Republican party. As a life-long Democrat why should I care? Because I fear that if the Republican party disintegrates, we will be left without a voice for a market-driven, competitive economy. And I believe the market, if tempered by efficient social programs that deliver results, and a fair tax system, will benefit the most people. So here is my prescription for saving the Republican party.
1.) Put in place a comprehensive immigration plan. It is not only bad politics but also bad economics to send 11 million people home. (I also thinks its immoral from a humanitarian point of view, but that's a topic for another blog entry). It's bad politically because Republicans cannot continue to alienate the fastest growing segment of the US population. It's bad economically in the short run because the US economy would suffer without these immigrants. They do jobs no one else will do. Without undocumented workers many large US industries including tourism, hospitality, agriculture and home care for children and the elderly would contract quickly. Sending them home would be bad economically in the long run because we need a growing population to fuel economic growth and increase domestic demand for goods and services. Countries like Italy, and even China are bearing the cost of not having enough people to fuel demand. Immigrants are our life blood. But we need to make these workers legal. Right now they are working for substandard wages. If they had legal status, as our economy expands, wages for all working people would finally start to increase. Not only do we need to make folks already living in the US legal, we must begin issuing work visa for folks from Mexico and Central America who want to come here to work temporarily. If we do this, we will see a drastic decrease in illegal immigration, so there will be no need to build a wall or hire more border patrol agents. People working on these visas would pay taxes and pay into social security, but would not draw benefits. If they cannot find work, they should be able go home, with the option of returning when more jobs are available. Republicans for too long have jettisoned common sense on this issue, to play to the extreme, nativist right. It's time to put the immigration issue to bed once and for all.
To be continued.
