I got this by e-mail today:
Important Tax Reminder
Have you paid your taxes……??
Remember —- 12 million illegal aliens are depending on you
I get things like this from the old and crotchety. Maybe the older you get, the more selfish and intolerant you get because you know you’re in the checkout line and you just want everybody to be miserable right along with you. I don’t usually respond to these things. Why waste my breath? But today it set me off for some reason. Maybe because I’ve just become an immigrant.
So I replied to ALL:
Remember “The Grapes of Wrath”? The living conditions of the migrant workers? Would you wish that on the people who pick your tomatoes for less money than any self-respecting American would be paid to pick his nose? You don’t mind the idea of your immigrant workers squatting to give birth in the fields as long as they keep picking once they pop out the little brown baby that’s no doubt ultimately going to be a burden on our society? Do you really want their amniotic fluid on your lettuce? Do you know how many of these people died in our fields picking your fresh veggies in working conditions citizens wouldn’t tolerate during this summer’s heatwave?
My ex-husband’s parents have a Mexican maid. They’re rich. They have a huge, two-story house. She spends eight hours cleaning their house and doing their laundry once a week. A few years ago, after about 15 years, they gave her a raise from $40 to $50 a day. She has no benefits, of course.
So part of our tax money assures that she and others like her have some recourse if they get sick or hurt. This is so that rich people and unscrupulous employers don’t have to provide benefits or pay a living wage. If these people did the right thing, they would cover benefits and pay at least minimum wage. They are selfish and greedy. Red-blooded Americans won’t work for such low pay. Therefore, you cannot blame the immigrants for taking American jobs and receiving benefits paid for by your taxes. Blame the employers and the bourgeois who exploit the desperate need of immigrant workers and never have to suffer for it. The immigrants have enough hardship.
And in the meantime you will pay your taxes and know that some of that money is taking care of people who need help. This is the way it works in every Western country. Deal with it. Chances are there are a lot more Americans living entirely off of your tax money than there are immigrants. It’s also likely that there are at least as many immigrants (speaking in terms of percentage) who are willing to work hard in this country as there are citizens.
I grew up in San Diego. I live in Paris now. The smell of tortillas cooking is one of the things I miss the most. I’m an immigrant. I only have a visitor visa for a year and am not allowed to work, which means I don’t contribute to the social system here. Nonetheless I am allowed to go to the doctor and pay the same fee (next to nothing) that French people pay; French people who give more than half the money they earn to the government to pay for taxes and their own social safety net. Things like low-cost medical care and free preschool for every kid. They complain, it’s true, but deep down they believe and accept that assuring that all members of your society are able to live decent lives is the right thing to do and the shared responsibility of everyone. It is an attitude that is part of the fabric of this society.
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.
When did we get so selfish?
P.S. I am still paying taxes in the US.