Welfare and Immigration

Tom Martz has passed along an analogy which illustrates the real problem behind immigration: "welfare rights." Denying a human being the right to leave a corrupt drug-cartelized dictatorship and work in America is unAmerican. Denying an American employer the right to hire whomever he wishes is unAmerican. Denying American consumers the right to pay the lowest possible prices for goods and services is unAmerican.

But creating welfare dependency is unChristian.

Immigration is not a problem. "Welfare rights" is the problem. To say there exists a "right" to food, shelter, clothing, medical care, and education is to create two classes of slaves. The first group of slaves are those who cannot provide for themselves and are dependent upon their "benevolent providers." The other group of slaves are those who are forced by the State to provide these things for those who have the "right" to them.

"Welfare rights" is dehumanizing for those who allegedly possess the "rights," and dehumanizing for those who are compelled to provide them.

We should never ask the government to use force to prevent immigration. Our priority should be creating "the separation of welfare and state."

The analogy:

I bought a bird feeder. I hung it on my back porch and filled it with seed. Within a week we had hundreds of birds taking advantage of the continuous flow of free and easily accessible food. But then the birds started building nests in the boards of the patio, above the table, and next to the barbecue. Then came the poop. It was everywhere: on the patio tile, the chairs, the table ... everywhere. Then some of the birds turned mean: They would dive bomb me and try to peck me even though I had fed them out of my own pocket. And other birds were boisterous and loud: They sat on the feeder and squawked and screamed at all hours of the day and night and when it got low on food. After a while, I couldn't even sit on my own back porch anymore. I took down the bird feeder and in three days the birds were gone. I cleaned up their mess and took down the many nests they had built all over the patio Soon, the back yard was like it used to be ... quiet, serene and no one demanding their rights to a free meal.

Now lets see ... our government gives out free food, subsidized housing, free medical care, free education and allows anyone born here to be a automatic citizen. Then the illegals came by the tens of millions. Suddenly our taxes went up to pay for free services; small apartments are housing 5 families: you have to wait 6 hours to be seen by an emergency room doctor: your child's 2nd grade class is behind other schools because over half the class doesn't speak English: Corn Flakes now come in a bilingual box; I have to press "one" to hear my bank talk to me in English, and people waving flags other than "Old Glory" are squawking and screaming in the streets, demanding more rights and free liberties.

Maybe it's time for the government to take down the bird feeder.

It's not the case that we should never feed the birds. It's not the case that we should never help the needy. But our help should be informed by a long-term perspective. Michael Cloud has offered a similar analogy:

A number of years ago I visited my mom and dad. I got up one morning, wandered into the kitchen for coffee, and looked out the window at their plastic bird feeder. It was empty, and there was a little bird sittin’ there with a “So, where’s the food?” look on his face.

So I asked my mom, “Where’s the food?” and she said: “Oh, the package is under the sink, but read the instructions before you refill it.” That seemed silly - I mean, how complicated could it be?! (audience laughs) But, you know, sometimes your Mom knows best - and this was one of those times.... So, I read the instructions and this is what it said: “When your bird-feeder runs out of food, do not refill it immediately; otherwise, it will cause the birds to depend upon you and they will not learn to fend for themselves.” And, I thought: What a sad testament to America that the makers of a bird-feeder would care and understand more about self-reliance than the people who run the public schools, the people who run Social Security, and the people who voted in our welfare system!

You know, we’ve got the Statue of Liberty on one coast, but I wish we had another statue at this end of the country, here in California - a Statue of Responsibility; that would remind people that, without responsibility on one end and liberty on the other, what’s in-between isn’t worth much.