By Lola

I received a chain email the other day with a story about how “Joe Legal” and “José Illegal” lived in these United States. How the former made x amount and paid his taxes, and the latter made x amount and gave nothing back to this country. In the end, Joe got screwed and José came out handily on top. The gist of it all was why give amnesty to these Mexican parasites, you know? Why, they’re living high off the hog! They deserve nada.

Parasite: an animal or plant that lives in or on a host (another animal or plant); it obtains nourishment from the host without benefiting or killing the host.

“Without benefiting or killing the host.” OK, let’s see. Where would this country be without the backbreaking, many times menial work done by all the José’s and María’s that have crossed the border? For starters, there would be plenty of gardens left barren, fruit left to rot on trees, motel rooms left uncleaned and dishes left piled up. And those are just very broad generalizations.

Seems to me the “host” in this discussion has benefited quite a bit from illegal labor. Seems to me the country would pretty much grind to a halt if suddenly every single illegal worker were to head back home. Seems to me the reason they got these jobs in the first place is because nobody wanted to do so much for so little. And I really don’t think life would fall apart just for the rich people who hire nannies, either (something else mentioned in the email). But what if they received amnesty, got on the radar, began paying taxes and began earning a true living wage? You know, what the Joe and Mary Legal’s make.

If there are about 20 million illegals in this country right now, wouldn’t their tax dollars help the economy get back on its feet? Just a little? Wouldn’t it help lower the cost of health care if they could pay for health insurance, too? (Provided those parasites didn’t keep raising their stupid premiums.) Why not give those workers a chance?

“Well, what about the José’s that bring drugs into this country, with the attendant violence?” you might ask. Well, how about we stop consuming their drugs? You know, drop them cold turkey. Just like that. Think of the money we’d save. And all those bad guys would be left with their thumbs up their collective noses, with nowhere to peddle their powders and plants. Of course, the US Government could do us all a favor and legalize the latter—think of the boost our economy would get from taxing a carton of that! It certainly isn’t any more toxic to our health than a bottle of scotch or a couple or three martinis. And those are extremely legal.

I know, I know. How simplistic of me. Like I don’t know it’s so very much more complicated than that, but a girl can dream. Definitely the ramblings of a tired mind. Just what blogs are meant to handle.

C’mon. Let me know what you think. I’m sure you’ll have plenty to say. As for me, it’s buenas noches before I keep digging myself deeper into whatever hole I’ve gotten myself into. ¡Hasta mañana!