Virtual-Doug

Illegal Immigration

While its true that much of what we hear is election year rhetoric, it is nonetheless true that the United States has a problem – a major problem with illegal immigration.  While its true that we have had both waves of immigration before, and resentment against those waves, this wave seems to be different in that the immigration is coming from an area contiguous with the United States.  That means there is every reason to believe the current wave of illegals will not assimilate into the American culture as previous groups have done.  Their ability to go home and rejuvenate their language and culture and perpetuate it within the U.S. means they may never become Americanized. 

Is this really a problem?  To begin with, the estimates of the number of illegals range from 7 million to over 20 million.  That’s a lot of people – people who have children (who automatically become U. S. citizens when born) who use schools, health care facilities, and social services, yet because they are illegal and receive their wages under the table, don’t pay any taxes.  Their birth rate being twice the norm of Americans, the percentage of our population that is either illegal or the children of illegals will soon approach cataclysmic proportions.  Already, my resident state of Texas has become a “majority minority” state.

Can the rest of America be far behind?

Education System

Can there be little doubt the school system in the United States is failing?  According to the U.S. Department of Education, more than a quarter of U.S. schools are failing under terms of the No Child Left Behind law.  A least 24,470 U.S. public schools, or 27 percent of the national total, did not meet the federal requirement for "adequate yearly progress" in 2004-2005.  (Washington Post)

Of course, we don’t stack up very well internationally either.  An interesting new documentary has come out titled “Two Million Minutes,” which examines the daily life of individual students in China, India, and America.  Compared to the U.S., China now produces eight times more scientists and  engineers, while India puts out up to three times as many as the U.S.  Here in deep South Texas, there has been a lot of discussion about some high schools being “drop-out factories.”

This is a crisis that will bury America in the future.