JustAnotherAustinOwl Wrote:OptimisticOwl Wrote:I think welfare fraud could be classified by some as a rational response to a crappy system and situation which is not of their own making, so clearly we shouldn't demonize welfare fraud as criminal.
I don't really want to debate the issue, but I think you sort of proved my point, I don't think it's reasonable to equate the two situations.
I think you missed the point if you think I proved your point. Speaking more generically, often we see someone commit a crime, and we say it is totally understandable that they would react that way, that we would have also if we had been in the same situation. If we are on the jury, and it is shown that the crime was committed, then even though we are very sympathetic to the accused, we must vote guilty. We may want a suspended sentence or probation or time served instead of 20 years, but it must be acknowledged the crime was committed and committed by the accused. A better example might be an elderly man who helped his wife, ill with terminal cancer, commit suicide - the same crime we sent Kevorkian to prison over. Shall we diminish the justice system by telling the sympathetic criminals OK, keep on braking this law, while sending the less appealing to prison? This law can and should be broken, this other one not?
I have every sympathy for those who cross our borders wanting to earn money to help their families. I have known many, even sheltered one family about 15 years ago. It doesn't change the fact they are here illegally. Before 9-11, I didn't care that they were here illegally. I used to have an office literally on the border and illegals would come out of the river and through my parking lot. But now I have to think of how easy it would be for a couple of terrorists to mingle with the thousands of illegal enterers, gaining an undocumented presence in the US. The only way to control the former is to control the latter, no matter how sympathetic we may be to the motives of 99% of them. Being angry with those who want to control our borders because you are sympathetic to the motives and predicament of the illegals is like being mad at Animal Control because you like dogs.
A better way might be to open plants in other countries, specifically Mexico in this case, that employ workers THERE at a living wage and at the same time manufacture parts or goods that are relatively inexpensive, saving money for Americans who use them. Sounds like a win-win, except it won't get any votes for the politicans who want to agonize about the exportation of American jobs. How about the American jobs we have effectively exported in the oil business by restricting drilling and exploration here? The politicians crying about the exportation of jobs are not mentioning those. If you want to bring jobs back, bring them back from Venezuela, not Mexico.
