ANOTHER SOUTHERN SENATOR THAT JUST DOESN’T GET IT!

…Senator Sessions’ logic is a few bricks short of a load.

Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, just doesn’t get it.

There aren’t too many people in congress that I have a problem with, such as I do with the Texas “Wacko-Bird” Senator, Ted Cruz.  But one other senate member that comes pretty close is the Republican Senator from Alabama, Jeff Sessions.

I doubt that out of 20 things that might come out of this senator’s mouth, I might agree with one of them.  On second thought, probably not even one.

Based on many of Senator Jeff Sessions comments, they are the kind that sometimes makes me feel a bit ashamed of being born in the South.

Now I don’t disagree with the Senator that this great nation needs to get a handle on regulating our national borders.  When every major nation’s citizens would like to come here and take advantage of what America has to offer, it is imperative that with two of the longest national borders in both the north and the south, this nation needs to get a grip on who we are letting “come on down!!!”

But my disagreement with the senator is about why this border issue is important.

Instead of wanting to make sure that those wanting to cross the borders are not here to harm us, or that they are not doing so illegally, this senator is more concerned that we are letting too many minorities into the country.

In fact, one gets the idea that if those coming to the US were of Irish, German, Italian, or other European descent, perhaps he wouldn’t be making that much of a fuss.  But Session’s issue is, he says, that all these lower-skilled workers from Mexico, Central America, Asia and elsewhere are taking away jobs from qualified Americans.

However, based on the statistics, it’s not these low-skilled workers that are doing all this American job stealing.  The jobs are not there today due to a combination of manufacturing automation, the off-shoring of America’s jobs and the fact that due to changes introduced by past Republican administrations, the median compensation for US workers has been stagnant for over 3-4 decades.  Median US compensation had surged more than 90% from 1948 to 1978.  But due to those changes made by the conservatives, starting under President Ronald Reagan, that same median income has been on hold for decades.

As to middle-class incomes, Senator Sessions conveniently ignores the fact that his party has virtually killed every jobs program for rebuilding this nation’s schools, highways, bridges and infrastructure and they have voted down every attempt to have a federal increase in the minimum wage above $7.25 since 2009.  The jobs were stolen by the Republicans in Congress, not illegal minorities.

Oh, I agree that our nation's demographics are rapidly changing, but that is mainly happening because the Boomers like me are retiring, or dying, as the nation’s legal minorities are expanding at astounding rates.  But most of that increase is not from current or recent immigration.  It’s an internal growth of the minorities that are already here. 

You can complain about the borders all you want, but even the Pew Research reports that Session himself quotes say the increase of immigrants that is making the difference today, they came here during the mostly Republican eras form 1980 to 2008.  Other than the 8 years of President Clinton, all of those years this country was being run basically by Republican Presidents Reagan and the two Bush administrations.

Session says the percentage of the country that is from foreign-born citizens is on track to rapidly eclipse any previous historical peak and will continue rising. He also says, “Imagine the pressure this will put on wages, as well as schools, hospitals and many other community resources.” 

 

Well, even assuming he is correct, the Republicans now have the Congress, and it’s Congress that authorizes the paying of the nation’s bills and increasing of the nation’s wages.  And these new individuals are not sneaking across our borders, they are coming here legally or they are already here.

Please note, the children of these foreign-born naturalized Americans are this nation’s next generation.  And they don’t look or act anything like the generation that this Southerner, Jeff Sessions grew up with.

But they are 100% American, they are US voters and some will be our next political leaders…. and we had better get ready for deciding which ones we are going to support.

And Senator, please quit blaming these different looking Americans for the nation's problems.  As a sitting GOP US Senator, you are just as responsible for allowing them, or their parents, to come into this country in the first place.

Senator, just grow up and live with it.  It’s not going away.

Copyright  G.Ater  2015