South of the Border Blues

Reading about the fare loony right of the US Republican party recently, of which there is about 1,000 in the entire country, it appears, I was reminded of a conversation I had a few years back with an American citizen on a plane. During this he questioned the Canadian Health Care system, the only time he ever compared the two countries, stating that he couldn’t believe that we would pay taxes for” Someone else to use.” Being relatively new to North America at the time, and being interested enough in politics to gather a lot of US political information I thought that everyone South of the border thought this way. Today’s ‘tea-partiers’ not only reminded me of that conversation, but also of the fittingness of revolutionary dress when glaringly contrasted with a modern day US chain hotel’s surroundings – as if a time traveller has been beamed to the local Hilton. I now realise that not only is this point of view isn’t shared by everyone, but also what kind of hell we have wrought by trying to make our politics as bland as we can.

 These Republicans are, after all, only trying to regain the political ideals they always felt were there own, and health care is the touchstone in their argument. – it has always been one of the few differences between Democrats and Republicans – that is used by both parties as a barometer  of the state of the nation, an Atomic Clock pointing toward doomsday. If the two parties hadn’t tried so hard to please the middle ground voter, and compromised their more homely (read extreme) supporter, we wouldn’t be bored to tears by these guys, and their own Operatic Brunhilde, Sarah Palin, today. Remember that these guys were around during the Bush administration, getting just as much airtime as they are now.

 Amazingly to me, though, is the eye of the hurricane in the US health care debate, the illegal immigrant. I recently had the same discussion with a Canadian on this subject and the thought that there are people desperate to change everything about themselves and uproot their lives and come to a new country, just to claim welfare cash, I find ridiculous. The true case here, is why are illegal immigrants employed, because if they weren’t, they wouldn’t come. Why are there jobs for them that people, living here just won’t so? Why do these jobs still exist? Remember if you are paying an illegal immigrant, you are part of the problem, as the Tea Partier’s say. What is the real cost, if you don’t concentrate on anchor babies? According to the Kennedy School of the Government Council on Foreign Relations, here’s the skinny as of January 2009:

If all working illegals were gone from the US, the economy would lose $1.8 Trillion.

Average working weekly pay would rise by $25 for high school drop outs.

Average annual working incomes as a result of immigration would drop by $1,200.

The US GDP would drop by 0,07%.

There, now. That wasn’t that tough, was it? Now all we have to deal with is the fact that the rest of the World have realised that mass immigration is a reality, and the US cannot go it alone on this issue and, of course, the big question: Why do these musket wielding, tri-corn wearing boobs get as much TV face time as they do?

Haiti: THIS is what we can do

The frightening images from Haiti over the last 36 hours may appear to be just the latest in a never ending episodes of Mother Nature’s Revenge against a species that has pushed it’s luck once too often. As a firm believer in my species’ part in recent and rapidly expanding climate change problems, I, too, am as likely as the next person to simply take in this information, throw up may hands, and thank God that it wasn’t me, this time. This time, however, may prove to be a turning point, thanks to the area that has been devastated: A turning point in the way that Human’s can change an area for the positive.

In past disaster’s, the emphasis has been on Government’s getting face time on TV to pledge support, the rapid deployment of initial emergency response to immediately save lives, and then the almost expected negative press some months later on promises being reneged on, and people still starving when the mighty battleships go home. Can we ‘turn the tide’ this time? Thanks to Haiti’s geography (I.e. In the West), can we do something long term in this instance to raise the future as well as the immediate present of this financial basket case?

In these situations, the first item to be addressed has to be the immediate. Already, only 36 hours after the earthquake hit, emergency response is on the way from the U.S, Canada, and the U.N. The immediate concern is for those that are saveable, the badly injured, and the young that will have the chance to be nursed back to health. Then comes the care of those not as badly hit, and those that made it through and are able to assist in the recovery. A few years ago, in the Thai Tsunami, the vast majority of aid ended here, because (let’s be honest), it’s Asia, so outside of those minority pockets of Asians in our community, who cared? But here is an area on our doorstep. Although the Haitian ex-pats in the West may be small in number, this toilet of a place has lasted in their current position of corrupt government, and lawless neighbourhoods for decades, and we all felt that we couldn’t do anything about that, because it is Sovereign Territory. Their lives may be screwed, but a sit is their land, we cannot do anything about it. Well President ‘DubYa’ changes the rules in Iraq, so let’s do it again. We can force a better life onto a people, apparently, for whatever reason we think fit, and the thousands of impoverished and ill Haitians reaching North American shores for asylum in the near future has to be looked upon as a threat to our social security welfare. Let’s change it.

Yes, the short-term targets remain the same, but let’s stay and get some long term goals met, too. Lets move the capital to the other side of the bay more than 15 Kilometres from the epicentre of this earthquake. Let’s build structures that can withstand the next one (when was the last one?). Let’s put people to work using their own talents to show them that a life can be lived just as fully and rewarding on their own island. Let’s re-vamp the electoral system, after all there isn’t one to speak of at the moment, and hasn’t been for years. The online community has proved that they can receive and send messages even though there isn’t an infrastructure left, so let’s begin industries aimed at making this Island paradise – and it could be – into a member of the global networked community, and make oit pay for the populace. Let’s take the dead, incinerate them all, build a monument to them and get in with a new and better life. One that allows these people to realise their own destinies, and stop them trying to be part of a Ice Hockey playing nation’s.

Looked at in this way, this disaster could be a golden opportunity to rebuild an entire country: One that is on our doorstep and deserves more from the ultra-rich than the lip service it has received for the past half century or so. Or – put another way – let’s do the right thing for a change.