Ants.

Self | January 14, 2003 | Luis Gonzalez

[Luis Gonzalez]

Ants...

That's my answer.

My wife hates ants, she freaks out when she sees those little tiny ones (pissants we called them as kids) running across the kitchen floor. She buys gallons of insecticide, she drowns them in the stuff, and we pay a guy to fumigate every month.

But the ants always come back.

One day I decided to find out what was going on, I had always thought that ants are just a fact of life, and that you better get used to interacting with insects, living in the tropics and all (the Florida State bird should be the mosquito), so I tracked one.

It came in through a tiny hole under the sliding-glass door leading out to the patio. It ran across the floor, along the wall, up the side of the cabinet, and into a little crevice that led it to the storage area below my kitchen sink. I opened the door just in time to see the little guy climb up the wall of the kitchen trashcan, and into a veritable pissant smorgasbord!

My kid's leftover banana peels from breakfast, the last two bites of a Pop Tart, some coffee grounds, and the crumbs from the bottom of a box of Frosted Flakes.

No lid.

That's our problem, we leave sugar out for the ants, and then we act surprised, and outraged, when they show up to do what ants do.

What needs to be done about illegal immigration, in order to truly bring an end the problem, may be more than what we as a nation may be willing to go through. We need to stop giving the house away, and quit electing politicians who do it. We need to convince others that they need to do the same.

The quick (and deadly) solution of militarizing the borders, is scary, and has no possible end in sight, the moment we think we have things under control and stand down, the ants will come again. It's like taking an over-the-counter cold remedy, you're still sick; you're just too medicated to notice; and as soon as you stop taking it, you feel like crap again.

We need to seriously curtail the welfare entitlement programs, for everyone too, not just illegal immigrants. We need to limit State assistance to anyone believed to be here illegally to:

· Emergency medical services

· Emergency temporary shelter

· Transportation to the border.

We need to challenge the current interpretation of the XIV Amendment in Court, a well-organized, well-financed challenge seeking to eliminate "anchor babies". We need to severely fine and/or prosecute employers found guilty of knowingly using illegal alien help. We need hard time for smuggling, and manufacturing and/or distribution of falsified legal identification documents...hard time, not Fed time.

We need to increase the technological abilities of the INS and the Border Patrol, and improve their efficiency.

I think we should offer incentives to American manufacturing firms looking to set up shop overseas, to build in Mexico, and not China. Mexico needs to co-operate with some internal reforms, and by relaxing some laws. If we are about to help a nation grow economically, I want it to be the one right next door to me, not the one who has nukes trained on me.

We should also bring back the Bracero program, it's a win-win.

Any individual caught in the U.S. illegally should be deported, and not allowed to return to this country, for any reason, for life. But I also think that if we find someone who has been here illegally for fifteen years, working, not breaking laws, setting roots, and otherwise being a model member of the community, we need to give them special consideration, and try thinking out of the box for a kinder solution.

I want to solve the problem, not medicate the symptoms.

I think a long-term goal of US foreign policy towards Mexico should be one of mutually beneficial trade terms, and wealth creation.

And I think that we need to clean up our spilt sugar. The ants will not sneak in under the sliding-glass door, because they know there's nothing in here for them.

[B4Ranch]

I figure anyone who can survive 15 years without welfare and working, should get a hearing and a chance.

Most people who stayed here 15 years ago, have since brought their parents over and they are on Social Security. Asians are especially bigtime users of SS and MediCare.

[Torie]

Er, how do the parents get on social security unless they worked?

[dixie sass]

That's quite commonplace I understand. Also marrying an American so that they can come here or stay here legally. I wonder how many of those "marriages" fail?

Changes must be made, we can't just scrape the immigration policies and start over, but we do need to start some place and Luis and come up with some good ideas. It is going to take a lot of time and effort to come up with workable solutions that benefit both sides. It isn't going to be easy and it isn't going to happen overnight, but it has to start somewhere and with someone. So Luis, have you starting talking to anyone in Washington?

[pooh fan]

Great essay; whimsical, pithy,and tough. And yes, even the student Tancredo supported needs to be returned to Mexico. My folks lost their property to eminent domain--it seems to me that the students' problem is a similiar situation. Bummer, but hey, thats life.

[Alamo-Girl]

I'm doing fine! How have you been?

[Luis Gonzalez]

"Entitlement programs, are part of the infrastructure the government provides for the citizens to make their living."

Ohhhh....

[Luis Gonzalez]

Here's a flash, the industries are leaving anyway.

[Luis Gonzalez]

Sorry, I don't agree.

[Luis Gonzalez]

Your friend is paying for her.

BTW, are you sure that he's been here 5 years AND that he is a citizen?

[potlatch]

ILLEGAL ANTS!! Cute switcheroo!

[PRND21]

Excellent!

I notice the only member of the "Dethrone Bush via Immigration" crowd that posted used huge red letters.Great job, Luis. Your plan is far superior than any posed by the screamers.
Figures they have scurried away like roaches and/or parasites.

I think a long-term goal of US foreign policy towards Mexico should be one of mutually beneficial trade terms, and wealth creation.

Short term and you get an A++.

[B4Ranch]

Use phony id's. Have the checks sent to a friends address. Lots of tricks. A lady at SS told me so far four other people have contibuted using my number. They called me last year to ask if I had moved. I said no, and she told me they had someone using my name trying to collect. I never did find out what happened after that.

[Aracelis]

Great post, thank you!

[dixie sass]

I know they're leaving. The textile industry in South Carolina has been hard hit by it. I think I mentioned that in a previous post on this thread. We need to entice them back to the states and employ some of these people (Americans) so that we can get them off of unemployment and back into the workplace.

Why can't some of the people that are on welfare now be put to work in the fields, digging ditches, shelling crabs, scrubbing floors, etc.? Or would it be to much beneath the dignity of these people to do some honest work? I don't know the answer Luis. I'm just an ordinary person who is concerned with what is happening in the country. The only thing I can do is talk to people and write letters to the Congress and pray that the necessary changes are made. Everything takes time and this is just one agenda item and like everything else in Washington, unless it greases the palms of the lobbyists and congress-critters, nothing will be done.

Hope this makes sense, the pain meds are kicking in so I think I'll hit the hay. Good night Luis. See you tomorrow.

[dixie sass]

P.S. We need government reform, some days it's very distressing to read a paper, magazine, listen to the news, etc. because there is so much that needs to be done. Where do we start? Why can't we see results now. Why can't the idiots in Washington and in the state governments realize that we won't be waiting forever? Is it going to take another revolution to make the necessary changes to come out from under the burden that the "knowledgeble" (lol)people have imposed on us. Oh, I realize that we are partially to blame because we listen to the rhetoric that flows from their mouths during the campaigns, the eutopian ideals that deep down we know can't and won't happen, but we elect them anyway and naively believing that this time - that this is going to be the time...

The only problem is that it is business as usual and nothing gets done except it's a new set of names to learn, same addresses, just new names.

I'm dissolutioned.

[dixie sass]

I can't spell either tonight. Sorry.

[Budge]

Excellent article, as usual, Luis.

You present an interesting solution to the illegal immigration problem, one very well worth considering.

[slimer]

All your ants are belong to us.

[slimer]

Set traps for them. Send the bill to Mexico for pest control.

[JohnHuang2]

Gracias, hermano...bump for later read