As the economic downturn drags on in the United States most Americans have come to the realization that neither party has solutions.  One side has solutions that seem half-baked and full of holes.  The other side has solutions that make so little sense they border on being utterly ridiculous.   

Democrats want more stimulus money, which sound economics says is a good thing, but they don’t want it for the right reasons.  Instead of using the money to directly hire people out of unemployment for projects, or to directly capitalize business ventures, they want to “stimulate” the economy with tax breaks.  Tax cuts are the weakest means of building economic growth, but they are politically expedient and therefore the first option for politicians. 

Meanwhile, in the height of the worst economic downturn of the last century, Republicans are coming up with proposals that are simply ludicrous.  On August 1, 2010 Senator John Kyl (R-Arizona) joined with Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) in support of amending the United States Constitution to repeal the 14th Amendment. 

What does this have to do with economics?  Nothing at all, but in the United States we love to blame our problems on someone else.  In this case, the blame for our economic downturn is somehow being placed on the shoulders of illegal immigrants. 

Illegal immigration is certainly a problem.  It is a problem for the immigrants, a problem for legal citizens, a problem for law enforcement, and a problem for America in general.  However, it is also certainly a problem that can wait. 

In the United States today there are more than 15 million people out of work.  Nearly 8 million have been out of work for more than 6 months.  Nearly 2 million have been out of work for two full years.  Yet, in the midst of this crisis, Republican Senate leadership has decided to take on the poorest of the poor.  

The vast majority of illegal immigrants are just as hard-working as the rest of us.  Furthermore, most of them would like to have an opportunity to apply for citizenship (an expensive process that includes registering to pay income taxes) if only the government would create an avenue for undocumented persons to file for naturalization. 

According to The Huffington Post, the esteemed Senators would like to start their crusade against the poor by repealing the 14th Amendment. 
The American people should be outraged and ashamed.  The voters in South Carolina and Arizona should be outraged and ashamed.  This is a textbook smoke and mirrors political game. 
 
Illegal immigration is a drop in the ocean when it comes to our economic woes.  It could also be easily solved by creating a pathway to citizenship for law-abiding immigrants, and by implementing a national value-added tax to ensure that no resident in the United States is able to avoid paying some taxes. 

Senators Kyl and Graham were instrumental in deregulating Wall Street, pushing for “free trade” (including NAFTA; the reason so many undocumented workers cross over from Mexico in the first place), and building up our current debt monster.  They have supported the never-ending foreign wars, the expansion of America’s costly military empire overseas, and the Bush tax cuts that bankrupted the Treasury Department almost immediately after the 43rd president took office.
 
In the face of this sordid history, they are using America’s natural fear of outsiders and latent dislike of our neighbors to the South to confuse our better judgment.  President Obama gets hammered by his political opponents for taking vacations and golfing.  Now is the time to hammer back for this irresponsible waste of the taxpayers’ time.

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