And they are not even part of Ron Paul’s campaign. They’re just common fucking sense. Human ecology in action at the grassroots level.
Read the following article, please: Dayton, Ohio, welcomes immigrants as policy point.
Here’s a sample.
On the same afternoon thousands of Hispanics in Alabama took the day off to protest the state’s strict new immigration law, Mexican-born Francisco Mejia was ringing up diners’ bills and handing containers piled with carnitas to drive-thru customers on the east side of Dayton.
His family’s Taqueria Mixteca is thriving on a street pockmarked with rundown buildings and vacant storefronts. It gets packed with a diverse lunchtime clientele of Hispanic laborers, white men in suits and other customers, white and black. “Business is very good,” Mejia said, smiling broadly between orders.
It’s the kind of success story that leaders in Dayton think offers hope for an entire city. It has adopted a plan not only to encourage immigrants to come and feel welcome here, but also to use them to help pull out of an economic tailspin.
Dayton officials, who adopted the “Welcome Dayton” plan unanimously Oct. 5, say they aren’t condoning illegal immigration; those who come here illicitly will continue to be subject to U.S. laws.
While states including Alabama, Georgia and Arizona, as well as some cities, have passed laws in recent years cracking down on illegal immigrants, Dayton officials say they will leave that to federal authorities and focus instead on how to attract and assimilate those who come legally.
—snip—
Mayor Gary Leitzell told the city commission before the vote that immigrants bring “new ideas, new perspectives and new talent to our workforce. … To reverse the decades-long trend of economic decline in this city, we need to think globally.”
Hard-hit for years by the struggles of U.S. manufacturing, particularly in the auto industry, the recession pounded Dayton, which as the Wright Brother’s hometown calls itself “the birthplace of aviation.”
Thousands of jobs were lost with the crippling 2009 exodus to Georgia of NCR (formerly National Cash Register), one of Dayton’s signature corporations, after 125 years, and by the 2008 shutdown of a General Motors plant in suburban Moraine.
Dayton’s unemployment is nearly 11 percent, 2 percent higher than the national average, while population has fallen below 142,000, down 15 percent from 2000. Meanwhile, the city’s official foreign-born population rose 57 percent, to 5,102, from 2000 to 2010, according to census figures.
City leaders aiming to turn Dayton around started examining the immigrant population: Indian doctors in hospitals; foreign-born professors and graduate students at the region’s universities; and owners of new small businesses such as a Turkish family’s New York Pizzeria on the city’s east side and Hispanic-run car lots, repair shops and small markets. They say immigrants have revitalized some rundown housing, moving into and fixing up what had been vacant homes.
—snip—
Read it?
Good.
Now go read the colloquies between Booman, myself and a couple other posters under my recent article So Ron Paul is a racist, eh? A fascist too, I suppose? Get real.
More below the fold.
Ron Paul has been leftiness knee-jerk tarred and feathered as a “racist” because he thinks that the aims of the federal Civil Rights Act should have been left to the states to decide.
And here is funky little Dayton, Ohio (Believe it, been there. Even in so-called “good” times Dayton was more Bronx than it was Paris, to say the least.), free-marketing right on past the anti-immigration cities and states using simple common sense to do so. People want to work? People who come from a work-oriented culture…any work-oriented culture…people who have more than proven that all they need is an even chance to succeed? OK, let’s see what happens if we give them that chance. (I got news fer ya… it’s working. It’s working inna Bronx; it’s working in Dayton and…give it time…it’s working in cities like Buffalo, Detroit and Oakland too. And in smaller places like Bethlehem PA and White Plains, NY as well. I know. Been there, seen that.)
Meanwhile, the Alabamas and Arizonas of this country pass laws that will discourage a huge percentage of the real working classes of this country from even stepping foot over their borders. Nice work, fools.
Believe me, the “real working classes of this country” are and have historically been comprised of about 50+% 1st, 2nd and sometimes 3rd generation immigrants from other lands whether they were Jewish, Irish, Italian. Puerto Rican, Dominican, Mexican, Ghanian or from anywhere else in the world. “Legal” or not so legal. The other 50%? Well more than half of it is made up of African-Americans who have been stuck in in the working classes by legally mandated or de facto racism for 300+ years.
What is it that Ron Paul is saying, again?
From the comments section of my above-linked article:
I repeat…in one state (or town or corporation) that enforced segregation and in another that did not today, the idea that (As Ron Paul has stated it):
In a free market, businesses that discriminate lose customers, goodwill, and valuable employees — while rational businesses flourish by choosing the most qualified employees and selling to all willing buyers.
would function quite well.
It functions quite well even now.
Take say Apple Corp…by far the most successful corporation in the U.S. over the past several years. Does that statement of Ron Paul’s not apply on every level to the running of that company? “…choosing the most qualified employees and selling to all willing buyers.”
That sounds about right.
Now say Apple had chosen not to hire the many Asian and Jewish people that work for the company. Or females. Or Hispanics and African-Americans. What then? What if the Apple stores had segregated Genius Bars or simply refused to sell to certain segments of the population? Not so “Platonic” now, is it? Sounds pretty damned practical to me.
Ron Paul seems to think that left to its own devices, the society would have ended segregation by purely economic means. We’ll never know now, but it makes sense to me. Those northern states that began to see the light and included the vast talents of non-European workforces into their systems at equal educational opportunity and equal pay would eventually have economically outstripped the states that did not do so, and the necessity of competition would have brought us…all of the states… perhaps even further in this regard than we have come so far. But…we’ll never know, because that did not happen.
Instead a top-heavy federal apparatus became even more top-heavy on its journey to the present day breakdown that we are now witnessing.
Ron Paul’s vision?
Strip that top-heavy apparatus down and let competition dictate what happens.
Could he be disastrously wrong?
Sure.
But another sort of disaster is already well upon us. Somebody come up with a better idea?
Anybody?
Please!!!???
And the silence of the sheeple ensues.
Baa baa baa.
So it goes.
Meanwhile, the equally “top-heavy apparatus” of the mass media…owned by precisely the same interests that own the federal government, bet on it, and operating in precisely the same clomp-clomp-clomping, clunkily mechanized manner as that federal government as well (It’s the only way something that big can operate. An assembly line culture. )…completely ignores the only candidate who is making any sense whatsoever out there in the political world and the left follows suit, swallowing whole the so-called “left wing” media’s accusations that Ron Paul is a racist, a reactionary and a libertarian flake job.
So it goes.
When the chickens truly come home to roost here…and they almost definitely will do so, eventually if not sooner…this little recession that we are now experiencing will come to be seen as only the beginning of our eventual “adjustment.” If we do not elect a president with some real vision instead of playing the good cop/bad cop, Demopublican/Republicrat game yet again, y’all will be able to look back on your ruined neighborhoods and the stark reality of your lost savings, say “Aw, snap!!! If we had only known!!!” and then sink right back into the same morass of sleepleness that got you there in the first place.
Or, of course…although I no longer hold much hope for the success of this second idea…you could:
WAKE THE FUCK UP!!!
Thank you and have a very nice day.
Station WTFU once again signing off.
(I got work to do, too!!!)
Later…
AG
(If that’s not asking too much, of course.)
I’m headed for Venezuela in two weeks. Gonna be playing people’s music.
For real people.
Hmmmm…
Who knows? Maybe I’ll end up an illegal immigrant too. Only they call ’em “political refugees” in sane states. Economic refugees at the very least. Bet on it.
The U.S. has not yet had much of a problem with appreciable masses of its citizens emigrating, right? There’s been a jobs drain but not a brain drain. But with a political situation running hellbent towards the most intrusive surveillance state in the history of the world and an economic situation seemingly capped to dive just exactly as much as the surveillance state rises? Who knows? Maybe we’ll all be dreaming of being wetbacks soon. The Rio Grande? The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway?? The Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico? The Atlantic and Pacific Oceans? There are a whole lotta expanses of water in which we may be tempted to (figuratively or otherwise) wet our backs in flight soon enough.
Watch.
In a country that can seriously consider Rick Perry as its president?
Watch.
Preznit Perry?
I got yer brain drain.
Right there!!!
A plug opens up and the brains drain out.
Could happen…
Right here in Omertica.
Could happen.
Watch.
AG
Since we’re talking about the 1964 Civil Rights Act again, it seems to me worth restating the obvious: that law was passed after a century of the powers that be in the South continuing to discriminate on the basis of race…despite the economic losses caused by that discrimination. Those of us who think the US Constitution and federal laws should apply equally in all 50 states can perhaps be forgiven for our continued support for the Civil Rights Act.
It may be that the Dayton mayor and academics/activists like the Majkas are drawing upon the concepts of Rep. Paul. (Though that’s unclear from the linked article.) However, I doubt the mayors of cities like Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Seattle, Portland, Boston, Denver, and Miami—all of whom have pro-immigrant policies in place are all devotees of Paul’s political views.
1-i have quite clearly made the point elsewhere here that conditions in the mid-’60s were radically different than they had been in the preceding century and that in my belief segregation would have ended at least as quickly and quite possibly much more thoroughly if the legal impetus for that ending had come from the states rather than the federal government. A real civil rights breakthrough in a number of northern states would have produced a workforce drain from the south that would have been much more serious than was the preceding northern movement of African-Americans through the Depression and post-Depression years.
But it didn’t happen. So it goes. It’s all theory now.
2-In no way did I say that what is happening in Dayton and elsewhere in the U.S. vis-à-vis immigrant workforces is the result of people “drawing upon the concepts” of Ron Paul. If I have an idea that works and you also have a similar idea, am I necessarily drawing on your idea?
Of course not.
You need to sharpen your reading comprehension and logical skills, massappeal.
You really do.
AG
Okay, we agree that if the North had been less segregated in the mid-20th century, the Great Migration would likely have been even greater. Nonetheless, it was a major migration—larger than most of the European migrations to the US in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Despite that workforce drain, Jim Crow remained in full force up to (and beyond) the 1964 Civil Rights Act. All I’m saying is that the economic consequences on states like, say, Alabama were not sufficient to overthrow Jim Crow.
As for your second point, I took the language of “concepts” from your headline. If I read this most recent post correctly, you’re asserting that there’s no connection (or at least, no necessary connection) between Rep. Paul’s version of libertarianism and the largely pro-immigrant stances of many elected officials. Do I understand you correctly?
Did you read the piece? Or just the title.
Title and first sentence:
It also “just common fucking sense” to read what is written.
As for the rest of your comment…and your future comments on the subject as well…it appears that you are very slow on the uptake. I have been quite clear about what I have to say regarding this North/South integration/economics/federal action/state’s actions matter in several posts and you have missed it every time.
Including this time.
Therefore I am through trying to talk to you about it.
I have other things to do.
Have a nice day.
AG
I don’t buy into Paul being a racist either. Even so, that isn’t the reason most liberals would oppose his candidacy. He promotes antigovernment to an unhealthy extreme. I don’t think getting rid of Dept. of Education or eliminating SS/Medicare will make things better.
I do think he would be positive regarding corporate welfare. However, I don’t believe he would be interested in rolling back protections given to corporate power over the decades. For example, the notion of corporate personhood.
He will support the rights of capital over labor and management over workers.
I don’t see how Paul can protect American jobs when he doesn’t believe in the type of governmental action that could prevent further off-shoring/outsourcing.
His foreign policy is admirable. I wish he would talk more economics and jobs. He strikes me as the type who might be willing to raise tariffs on imported goods.
Regardless, Paul’s candidacy would be an exercise in futility if he doesn’t have any coattails. Without a Congress that would support his goals, you would soon hate him too as you see him twist this way and that to get anything done.
Bet on it? Nope, I’m not arrogant enough to think I know much of anything for sure.
Have a nice day.
Betting on a sure thing is very rare unless you are in on a fix. Y’pays yer money and y’takes yer chances, as the carny barkers used to shout. There is a fix in, though. The two-party fix. The PermaGov wins no matter whether Candidate X (R) or Candidate Y (D) wins, because the media fixing machine makes damned sure that no one gets nominated by either major party who could possibly tip over the vast military-corporate applecart. A Ron Paul candidacy…even as a Republican…would throw a monkey wrench right smack into the middle of that fix. The media’s power over the minds of the American people has been slipping of late….things have gotten so bad here that the media’s lies simply can no longer adequately cover the truth of the matter, plus the free and open internet provides information that is not easily controlled. (And watch that disappear if the PermaGov has any say in the matter over the next decade or so. Watch.) As that media power slips, a true political maverick might be able to slip through the heretofore impermeable media fence and out into the open range.
And if that were to happen?
Hoo BOY could he cause some trouble!!!
You say:
I counter with this idea, from Harry Truman:
A proper use of the bully pulpit…and bet on it, Ron Paul would be in America’s face 24/7, telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth as he sees it…would put such a scare into the lily-livered hustlers who now populate DC from to to bottom that there is no telling what would happen.
Bet on that as well.
I don’t agree with all of Ron Paul’s positions and I certainly don’t like the histories of some of his supporters, but in my opinion this country is in need of nothing less than some kind of revolutionary change…socially, culturally, financially and politically…and he is the only viable candidate out there who is offering the possibility of any real change whatsoever. If we get another AC/DC pol…another one whose controllers are the same huge corporate business interests that essentially control the whole world…that much-needed revolution either will not happen (at which point we will go clomp-clomp-clomping into a future that resembles nothing less than a cross between Charlie Chaplin’s “Modern Times”, Terry Gilliam’s “Brazil” and the Skynet idea that propelled the “Terminator” film series) or it will be a bloody mess that makes what has been going on in Libya look like a daycare center field trip.
Is a Ron Paul presidency a risk?
Yup.
Bet big, win big.
Or of course…lose big.
But if you’re going to lose big anyway?
Make the bet. As the lottery hustlers are always saying, “Y’gotta be in it to win it.”
I’m in it.
Will the requisite number of Americans also be in it?
I dunno, but to quote Mahatma Gandhi, “There is no God higher than truth.”
In a way, Ron Paul’s straight-talk campaign is right in line with Gandhi’s autobiography The Story of My Experiments with Truth. It is an experiment. Can telling the truth rather than perennially cruising around its outside edges actually resonate loudly enough in the sleeping ears of left, right and center America to actually make a difference? (Google <“Ron Paul” + “telling the truth”> for about 3.5 million hits on that idea, by the way. There are people getting the message.)
Could be.
We shall see.
Soon enough.
Right now it’s a race between Ron Paul’s mouth and the media’s gigantic left/right/center noise machine.
David and Goliath?
I’m betting on David.
If I’m wrong?
Sue me.
Later…
AG