The Revolution Will Not Be Sympathized
April 11, 2010
On Saturday, there was a political rally in Downtown Las Vegas to push for more rights for illegal aliens. The event shut down about 2000′ of Las Vegas Boulevard for the majority of the day, which in turn, disrupted both private vehicular traffic and the Deuce bus.
Illegal Immigration Rally in Downtown Las Vegas
Illegal Immigration Rally in Downtown Las Vegas
Illegal Immigration Rally in Downtown Las Vegas
Given that the event was in my neighborhood, I felt compelled to at least document it on some level.
When I arrived at the rally stage near the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Bridger, I was struck by how empty the place was. It was practically deserted, and staff outnumbered participants by about 5-to-1.
Granted this was at 11am, but since the event started at 8am, I anticipated more people. I hung out for half an hour, took some video, took some photographs, got bored, got called a “racist” on Twitter, cut myself with a rusty beer can to ease the pain of the insult, and then headed a block east … where I finally found the rally attendees.
As it turns out, almost all of the participants were being bused in from out of state. I know this because of the license plates on the buses, and the fact that the folks with loudspeakers were repping their ‘hoods. “Blah blah blah La Raza of Colorado”, “Blah Blah Blah Californians for Justice”, honestly, besides the names of the states, I could not make out what they were saying.
Illegal Immigration Rally in Downtown Las Vegas
Illegal Immigration Rally in Downtown Las Vegas
Bullhorns are only good for short commands like “stop” and “move back”. They suck at conveying long messages in a way that does not sound completely obnoxious and unintelligible.
Now, I was actually a little bit proud that almost no locals showed up for this event, because for the first time in the history of the world, Las Vegans weren’t the dumbest people in the city.
Believe it or not, I am often mistaken for some kind of hippy-dippy liberal. Especially when I rail against religion and the war on drugs, and advocate universal healthcare and gay marriage. Then again, I am also frequently mistaken for a gun-toting conservative. Especially when I rant against global warming, political correctness, and feminism.
In my experience, the human animal has three, maybe four categories with which they must neatly categorize other human beings, and anything more than this is unfathomable.
I’ll give you an example: Try to think of a color which you have never, ever in your life seen before. Oh, and this color cannot be based on any of the three primary colors that we already know of.
Think hard.
If you’re like, well, everyone, chances are it is impossible for you to think of such a color. Sure, you can think of some weird shades and hues, but it is almost certain that your mind is simply mixing known existing colors to come up with the result.
By a certain age, the human mind simply cannot comprehend that which it has not already been taught, and for this reason, the compulsion to categorize everything into subsets that we know exist is overwhelming.
This is the very basis of the two party system.
Try to explain to the average American the concept of someone having political beliefs that puts them in neither the Democrat nor Republican, Liberal nor Conservative camp. Chances are, you will witness someone who’s head may very well explode. They won’t accept the premise. Rather, if they disagree with what you are saying, they will simply relegate you to the party of which they are not a member.
“I disagree with this guy, therefore he must be a Republican, or worse … a Libertarian.”
At this point, their mind can relax having ascribed the unfavorable opinion to the rantings of a member of the evil opposition. Debate over. I think this helps us all cope on some level.
The fact is, I have absolutely no idea where my political ideology lies. I don’t think it lies anywhere. My views are so extreme from one end of the spectrum to the other, and so highly individualized that I might as well call both my religious and political affiliations “Rexism”. I simply do not completely identify with any existing party structure.
This doesn’t mean that I disagree with all mainstream party ideologies, however.
One of the areas in which my political philosophy aligns solidly with “Conservatives” is the issue of illegal immigration.
Simply put, I am against it, and my views are probably more extreme than most.
First and foremost, I believe that basic English proficiency should be a concrete requirement for any person living in the United States. I simply do not believe in the Tower of Babel stuff.
Illegal Immigration Rally in Downtown Las Vegas
If any person in this country gets stopped, and they pull the “No Hablo Inglés” thing, they should be stuffed inside of an intercontinental ballistic missile and fired in a random direction. Frankly, I don’t care which way the missile is pointed, so long as it has long enough range to land outside of the U.S. borders.
When I was 14 years old, I went to Mexico for two weeks and came back speaking functional Spanish. This was accomplished almost wholly through immersion. Linguistically, both Spanish and English share enough commonality so that anyone with a very basal intellect should be able to pick one or the other up in a relatively short amount of time.
In my opinion, if you have been in the USA for more than a month, and still cannot speak basic, conversational English, then there is something wrong with your neuronal functioning. I am not trying to use hyperbole or be outrageous. There is simply no other explanation.
If you can manage to be in a foreign country for more than a few weeks without somehow picking up the language, then … I’m sorry … you’re an idiot. Given that America is already filled to the brim with idiots, I just don’t see the point in allowing more to come in. The U.S.A. importing morons is like China importing rice.
“But Rex, illegal immigrants do the jobs that Americans won’t to do.”
This is bullshit.
There is no job that Americans will not do, there are only jobs that Americans won’t do for three dollars an hour.
In a free market economy, wages are determined by a supply/demand curve. Illegal immigration disrupts this curve by putting more people into the labor pool. Sometimes millions more. The more workers willing to do any particular job dictates that the wages for that job will fall. The fewer workers willing/qualified to do a particular job dictates that the wages for that job will rise.
The fact is, “Americans” will do any job … for the right wage.
Can’t find an American to clean your toilet for $5/hour? Try $10/hour. Or $20/hour. Or $30/hour.
I absolutely, 100% guarantee that at the right wage, you will find an American willing to perform the task.
This is, supposedly, the basis of our employment economy — yet corporate America would have you believe that this type of free market is “racist”.
The fact is, the only reason that U.S. borders have remained open is because Walmart does not want to pay Americans $20/hour to sweep the floors at night, nor does Toll Brothers have any intention of paying someone $100/hour to help build a house. It would eat into corporate profits.
Illegal immigration forces the American worker to accept a lower standard of living to compete, while enabling those at the top to get richer by utlizing ultra-cheap labor. This, in turn, increases the wealth disparity between rich and poor.
Illegal immigration is domestic outsourcing, and it is every bit as harmful to the American worker as international outsourcing.
I find it fascinating that so-called “liberals” publicly support policies which disproportionately benefit the elite at the expense of the American working class.
“But Rex, if U.S. companies are forced to pay a living wage to lazy, greedy, pigdog American workers, the price for a quart of strawberries would go up by two dollars!”
Yes, and this would be A BARGAIN.
Have you any idea how much medicaid costs? How about uncompensated emergency room visits? How about the cost of cleaning off gangsta-scribble graffiti? How about the costs of crime and the costs of being injured by an un-insured illegal driver (this very thing happened to me)? How about the fact that you make $2/hour less because the supply of workers exceeds the demand?
The fact is, every person in this country pays a highly regressive Illegal Alien Tax, and I promise you this much … this tax is much, much greater than paying an extra two dollars for a quart of strawberries.
“Come on Rex, you’re just Xenophobic.”
First of all, let’s say that this is true. It doesn’t negate anything said above.
Contrary to popular belief, you can be both “racist” and right.
If Hitler declares the sum of one and one to be two, and Martin Luther King declares it to be three … then I’m sorry … I’m hiring Hitler as my accountant.
Second of all, I have nothing against legal immigrants. I like an authentic burrito as much as the next guy, and I would have no problem caulking Shakira’s crevice with my hot glue gun. Once you become a citizen, I’ll be thrilled to watch you string up the pinata in your front yard and break out the cerveza. Hell, if you invite me, I might even stop by to take a swing at the colored donkey … so long as you don’t play any of that mariachi shit once I get there.
There are members of my own family who have had to go through the long, arduous process of legal immigration. Believe me when I tell you, it is a monumental pain in the ass. To tell me that their huge amount of time, money, and effort was wasted … and that they should have just come over, plopped down, and started demanding shit … well … I find that offensive.
Illegal Immigration Rally in Downtown Las Vegas
Illegal Immigration Rally in Downtown Las Vegas
Illegal Immigration Rally in Downtown Las Vegas
Illegal Immigration Rally in Downtown Las Vegas
Illegal Immigration Rally in Downtown Las Vegas
In my opinion, the only people who take the “pro-illegal immigration” position are wannabe-elitists and those who exploit them for their own political purposes.
You know, people who shove other people on buses like cattle for a 500 mile ride through the desert so they can walk around aimlessly for 5 hours.
These are the same exploiters who would drop a deuce if a 12-member Mexican family rented a condo in their building. I know very, very few white liberals with a large amount of real-world experience at forcibly having to live in the inner-city (no, buying a condo in Williamsburg, Brooklyn when you are in your 30’s doesn’t count).
In my opinion, these rallies make power-hungry hispanics and suburban white folks feel like Rosa F**king Parks. In the eyes of the typical American hipster, championing the rights of brown people from across the border simply ups their tolerance-cred more than fighting for the rights of the American Redneck.
Personally, I’m not buying it.
If you intend to immigrate to a new country … learn the language of the country you wish to repatriate yourself to, and obey the laws of your new host nation once you get there. If you don’t have enough respect for your new countrymen to do these two things, I have no idea why they should be expected to respect you.
That is my position, and I’m sticking to it.
Now if you will excuse me, all of this talk of Mexicans has made me hungry for a chalupa. This time, it is I who will be making a run for the border.
Turnabout is fair play.
Written by Rummy on April 11, 2010 at 11:46 pm
Something to keep in mind though is that you don’t have to be a citizen as long as you’re a legal resident. Rex, you mentioned in the post above that “Once you become a citizen…”. Sorry, I’ve been in the city for over ten years now as a legal resident but not a citizen. I have no intentions, currently, of becoming a US citizen. It’s just not me. I’m here legally and have been contributing since day one the work permit was issued.
Been living in Rexville the whole time as well and have no intentions of moving out as the suburbs are just not Vegas IMO.
Written by chuckreis on April 12, 2010 at 12:18 am
Racist
Written by Greg on April 12, 2010 at 12:48 am
If the government really wanted to address illegal immigration it would have been done years ago. It is not a Republican or Democrat, a liberal or conservative thing… it’s a business as usual, good for business good for American politicians kind of thing.
There are a number of ways to address the situation: 1.) End the war on drugs. Our policies have helped turn Mexico into a war zone. While the 18th Amendment was a striking success that didn’t result in an increase in violence or organized crime, that was maybe just a fluke. This time around, prohibition isn’t working out so well. Stop it already.
2.) Stop using economic and political policies through organizations like the IMF and WTO to subjugate certain countries to the permanent status of slave-labor colonies for Nike and Apple, Microsoft and General Motors et. al.
3.) Maybe the easiest one here: impose real fines on companies that use illegal labor. Make the fine $10 million a day for every day that can be documented or $10 billion, whichever number is greater. If the economic incentive is gone, perhaps companies will be less inclined to use illegal labor. And if there is no work for illegal labor, then perhaps that segment of the population will look to become legal labor or will go elsewhere.
4.) We could read a history book about occupation and Afghanistan and instead of funneling billions of dollars into what is lining up to be another Vietnam, we could use that money here to address National/Homeland Security by hiring more Border Patrol agents to patrol the border and secure the fucking homeland.
But nothing like this will ever happen because the business of America is business and American businesses love cheap labor more than anything else, except maybe a consumer country full of idiots with more dollars than sense.
Written by happylongmeadow on April 12, 2010 at 1:02 am
Brought in by the busload?
There are too many “immigrants” in Las Vegas without the need to import more.
The “law” should have commandeered those buses, loaded them like sardines in a can, and sent them all back to where they came from.
Los Angeles.
Written by Disco Stu on April 12, 2010 at 1:44 am
Wow! 14 people turned out for that rally? I’m pretty sure more than that would show up to support the other point of view on illegal immigration.
Written by Aero on April 12, 2010 at 2:38 am
Great article. Some great points. Wish people in DC saw it this way. Love the “Missile Theory” on it’s merit. There definitely needs to be a bigger price to pay for those companies perpetuating this problem. Thanks for reporting on this event.
Written by DoubleDownNow! on April 12, 2010 at 2:54 am
Neither party will do anything about illegal immigrants: the Repubs want that cheap labor and the Dems want their votes!
As a dumb tourist, I just want cheap rooms so they can stay (but please get rid of those porn-handlers)!
Written by J. Louise on April 12, 2010 at 4:27 am
Good article, Rex. Controversial, but what isn’t these days.
Written by d3wayne on April 12, 2010 at 4:43 am
The Keyword is “illegal”.
If i do something illegal i go to jail.
Written by mike_ch on April 12, 2010 at 6:19 am
I am a “socialist” in the American political though a centre-left guy on international affairs, and I somewhat agree with you.
Our legal immigration policy needs big reforms, but sweeheart deals for countries we share land borders with shouldn’t be one of them. I’d like to move to Canada if at all possible, but I’m not going to sneak over there and work under the table. And it’s easier for British people to move there than Americans, thanks to the whole Former British Subjects thing. Our little revolt in 1776 has made it harder for us to move around in the world.
The best thing to do then, is to persuade the world to lower it’s borders with a sensible, easier plan for legal immigration.
I think the only thing you and I disagree on is the language issue. You don’t live in The Meadows, you live in Las Vegas, and you knew a bit of that culture would follow you around here. Again, just spending a few days in another country will open your eyes to amount of multi-lingualism going on everywhere else. Even though English and French are officially Canada’s languages, Chinese is heard more often than French in the nation’s largest city.
But, again, I’ve looked at the immigration documents, and the Canadians make it really hard for you to get in if you don’t speak either. I think that’s about right, to make English proficiency a part of the system but not a “must have.” Realistically, what language a person wants to speak is their choice, not yours, and they’ll suffer the consequences if they speak Eccentrica or whatever.
Written by Marsdude on April 12, 2010 at 2:54 pm
This is exactly why I enjoy reading your blog. I may not always agree with you but you sure as hell make me think.
I blame the illegal immigration problem totally on the government. Many years ago when I was working in a management position at Harrah’s I remember the meetings we had about the “significant labor force from the South.” In other words they were drooling over the illegals from Mexico because they would work at lower wages
I do not blame this problem on the immigrants themselves. If I was dirt poor and knew there was a chance for a better life if I crossed the boarder to work, and that there was little or no penalty for doing so – I would certainly go for it.
What we need to do now is secure our boarders, like we should have done ages ago, give the illegals that are in the country a path to being here legally – and tax them! Also heavily fine companies that are using illegals. Simple.
Written by philipj on April 12, 2010 at 7:50 pm
When my wife and I registered to vote, we did have a party preference. When we asked which party has the most members the clerk beamed “Republican”. We replied, ok make it even, put us down as Democrats. We really did not care for their views, we had our own.
Some time ago Rush Limbaugh listed his ten rules for immigration. Boy did he catch hell about those rules. Embarrassment followed when it was explained his rules, were in place laws for taking up citizenship in Mexico.
We did remove most of the illegal aliens in Eisenhower”s “Operation Wetback” which allowed for there to be jobs for the GI”s coming back from the korean war. It took two years to mostly clear the USA of illegals, by the buss load. It worked.
Your treasury ( taxes) are being drained beyond any measure that you can imagine by illegal aliens draining our hospitals, every type of aid program welfare program out there. Your country is being taken over by “gimme’s” and they are dragging you down.
This situation is just one reason why you have got to make sure you question your politicians, and never miss voting. And, yes we can ship them all back!!
Written by insin on April 12, 2010 at 8:48 pm
ILLEGAL immigrants = S.O.L. (and eff all you illegals for being sneaky bastages)
Why should we give ILLEGAL immigrants ANYTHING? WTF?
Legal immigrants = Thank you for going through the proper channels & completing the whole process the RIGHT way!
Written by ryan on April 12, 2010 at 9:11 pm
I don’t necessarily disagree with the bulk of the statement, i would just add that illegals do often ‘pay’ into the gov’ts entitlement systems – Social Security/Medicare – using fake SS numbers, but they will never actually receive any benefits. So to say they are only a drain with no contribution is not entirely true.
Written by keith on April 13, 2010 at 12:29 am
“This situation is just one reason why you have got to make sure you question your politicians, and never miss voting. And, yes we can ship them all back!!”
voting is useless in it’s current method. when you are one person out of 10, your vote holds 10% of the power and could swing an election. when you are one person out of 1,000 or more, your vote starts to quickly become statistically meaningless. the fraction of a percentage will never matter in the grand scheme of the election.
“yeah, but if more people voted, then your vote would matter” – bullshit. if you could guarantee that 1000 people voted a certain way, then yes, you have a voting block that could swing an election. the problem is – you can’t guarantee they vote a certain way unless you physically watch them vote.
“but if you don’t vote, you can’t complain about the results” – also bullshit. i didn’t vote for the batshit leader of iran, and i can bitch about him all i want. i can’t vote for the governor of Virginia, but if he decides to fly a confederate flag, i can complain about what an idiot he is. same goes for any politician. likewise, I’m not a GM shareholder, so i can’t vote for their CEO, but i can sure bitch about how fucked up that company is.
when you are faced with the situation of “pick one out of these two piles of shit”, that’s not a choice. let’s see “none of the above” on the ballot, and watch that win.
Written by Ron from MI on April 13, 2010 at 1:11 am
I’m no “right-winger,” but if the culture of the country speaks a specific language, immigrants who come to that country to live and become citizens should learn the language throughly.
By not doing so, the communication process will be a complete total breakdown of our society. Case in point: If you need to ask someone a favor, and you’re in an English-speaking country (such as the USA,) but they speak and understand fluent Spanish (with some functional English terms,) you would need to get the guy/girl who is fluent in BOTH languages who CAN complete the favor. Thats’s a huge delay and can/will be problematic.
It happened to me while going to a McDonald’s in town; I dropped my room key into the trash by accident and went to the front counter for assistance; the first person was nice but couldn’t speak an ounce of English. So i waited for a few minutes until the guy who originally took my order helped me out and finally dug through the trash to get it (BTW:he was Hispanic,) thanked him and finally got on my way.
The point: If someone spoke 100% English the first time, it would been a whole different thing and things would been a LOT smoother, faster.
Nothing against Hispanics (or Mexicans for that matter.) As a matter of fact, some of the NICEST people I came across while in town happen to be Hispanic or Mexican…..and they WERE NOT THE PORN SLAPPERS YOU FIND ON THE STRIP
However…..
When you (the immigrant) come to America with your old culture…please get to know OUR culture first and have some respect of it (or go somewhere else.)
And I mean that politely.
‘Nuff said.
Written by Jason A on April 13, 2010 at 2:08 am
“Estados Unidos, exigimos burritos”.
Barack Obama wants more reliable Denocrat voters, customers (children) for the NEA to “serve” & unskilled union dues payers to fund Democrat campaigns.
The Catholic Church wants to fill up their pews evacuated by Americans after decades of homosexual child abuse.
Juan McCain and Jorge Bush want cheap labor for their corporate backers.
Who represents Americans who want to maintain a decent standard of living while all forces are aligned against them with their Trickle Up Poverty schemes?
Nobody beyond their own protests.
Written by james on April 13, 2010 at 5:12 am
Sure a lot less people than those first protests 4 years ago. Then again, when there’s double digit unemployment, it’s hard to sympathize.
Written by GuyNotes on April 13, 2010 at 2:39 pm
Welcome to Canada. Same crap here, but (shhhhh) don’t say it too loud as you will also be labelled a racist.
Written by Fred on April 15, 2010 at 9:16 pm
Who knew… I’m an idiot. I remember spending a few weeks in Korea, and when I left I knew little more than the few works I learned the first hour “onyo hangul” [I don't speak Korean].
Written by Rex on April 24, 2010 at 8:09 pm
Who knew… I’m an idiot. I remember spending a few weeks in Korea, and when I left I knew little more than the few works I learned the first hour “onyo hangul” [I don't speak Korean].
Well, then, l might agree with your self-assessment.
I’ve no idea how you can be in another country for a few weeks and not learn any of the language aside from “I don’t speak the language”. Unless you stayed inside and didn’t go anywhere.
But, at least you had the good sense not to move there with such a meager understanding.
I’m sure were you to relocate to Korea for a longer period of time, you would make more of an effort.
At least I would hope so.