Reply #99: That's the point I was trying to make, PsN2Wind [View All]

[EFerrari]

We are being pitted against a natural ally, the oldest trick in the book.

There are other pieces to this, I know. That's just the one that stands out very starkly for me. My family came here legally from Central America, the whole tribe, one by one then their parents. But I've lived in California my whole life and know too many real people who are here without docs to talk about them as "aliens" or to talk about building walls or mass imprisonments or deportations.

Those people are not my enemies. They are not taking food out of my mouth. My government granting the rights of a citizen to corporations -- with few of the responsibilities -- that is my challenge. Or as I see it, our challenge. A government representative of the corporations, for the corporations and of the corporations.

Illegal immigrants get deported all the time -- usually on pay day. They assume a social security number and pay FICA that they will never be able to collect on. They live in fear and can't report assault, burglary or rape to the police. I used to translate here in San Francisco for folks who were held for weeks in the county jail until some functionary thought to ship them home. Meanwhile, their families had no word of them.

There is a huge problem here. But the problem isn't these people trying to feed and house themselves. The problem, in my view, is the rights corporations enjoy -- including the right to exploit "illegals" and to exploit you and me. That should be our focus, not these people who are simply trying to live.