Hernandez on the Virtues of Diversity

The front page of the April 9, The Pioneeer reported on the appearance of a handsome sort named Himar Hernandez hyping diversity at the Tuesday Cascade Chamber of Commerce lunch. Hernandez is sponsored by Iowa State University Extension. He admitted, “They (immigrants) bring some issues, but they bring some opportunities.”

Well! Well! The issues never get discussed and opportunities accrue only to a precious few, so shouldn't tax, ah, university money be used for something else? (Like affordable in-state tuition! Fully funded public radio?)

I myself wouldn't know what “the issues” were if I hadn't lived in Israel (1986) and become friends with a lovely English/Israeli named Rona. She was working for a non-profit dedicated to strengthening Israeli democracy. She explained that people from dictatorships and marginal democracies often came with defective expectations—they didn't expect their representatives to look out for their best interests. They resorted to the local warlord or power broker or paid “baksheesh” to get things done.

It is widely assumed that you must have a literate populace if you want a well-functioning democracy, so what happens if you have a population that won't learn English or can't invest the time and energy?

How much relationship is there between desperate immigrants and the demise of the middle class in the U.S? Between the fact that minimum wage, if it had kept pace with inflation, would be at $15+ and is barely half that? The fact that our democracy no longer works?

I don't know the answer to these questions, but I do know that the people who populate commercial clubs—i.e. biz owners—are the few who benefit from immigration. Logically, the more applicants for every position, the less they spend for salaries, the larger their profits.

You only need a half open eye, not connected to any I.Q. to see there are a correlations. Of course, we are all immigrants here, but I bet my people thought they were coming to a place, where their descendants would be secure. I can't bear to be rude or unkind to immigrants because their lives aren't easy, but I would love the chance to be rude to the folks who are benefiting from immigration.