« What I'm Drinking Tonight | Main | Am I Wrong... »
April 02, 2008
The GOP's "China Syndrome"
We have a running joke in the coffee business about China, and most industries share some variation of it. People look at China and think “If I could get everyone in China to drink just one cup of coffee per week, that would be an extra 1.3 billions cups consumed per week or nearly 68 billion more per year and I would be a gazzillionaire!” Businessmen have been having this dream for hundreds of years and it’s never really panned out for any of them, mostly because they ignore inconvenient facts like China’s autocratic rulers or the population’s complete lack of disposable income. Once the eyes get glassy with the ‘vision’ they cease to see very clearly.
This came to my mind today because I was having an email exchange with a nice fellow who wrote to me about a comment I left at HotAir basically scoffing at the amount of fencing that will be in place on the Mexican border by the end of this year. His point, which is valid, is that obviously a lot of the border is the Rio Grande, which is rather difficult to fence, and that the rate of construction is actually not that bad for politicized government projects and that every speed bump is a good speed bump and, to quote, “Add up enough speed bumps, and you get real security benefits.”
He is correct of course that the glacial pace does have a lot to do with how things get done (or not done) when the Govt.'s involved, and even more so when those seeking to derail it are aided and abetted by the media and the courts and billionaire foreigners. And the "speed bump" theory will deter some folks and raise the risks which will deter even more.
However, I do think that a lot of the grumbling from the right is justified given the tepid reluctance of our supposed Representatives to act on the clearly espoused 'Will of the People' on this issue, especially Mr. "I'll-build-the-goddamn-fence-if-that's-what-they-want" McCain.
Much like those starry-eyed businessmen who fantasize about the Chinese the leadership of the GOP has fallen under the sway of the dream that somehow poor welfare-dependent illegal immigrants from Mexico who were poor welfare-dependent peasants in Mexico will magically act and vote like the immigrants from Cuba who arrived poor but were from middle-class, entrepreneurial backgrounds in Cuba.
It ain't gonna happen.
Oh, they are both very hard working; there's no doubt the Mexicans/Hondurans work very hard at the low wage jobs they get here. But there is a key difference: the current crop of illegals work very hard to survive.
The Cubans worked very hard to prosper.
And therein lies the reason that the former will always vote opposite the latter.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at April 2, 2008 01:14 PM
Comments
How very bigoted.
Posted by: Skyler at April 2, 2008 03:10 PM
…but very true.
Posted by: Gunslinger at April 2, 2008 05:00 PM
In what way, Skyler?
Posted by: Mr. Bingley at April 2, 2008 05:17 PM
Cubans good, Mexicans bad? Come on. Mexicans are by and large very good people and your characterization is unwarranted. There are huge numbers of them, so there are a lot of bad ones that get more attention, but the vast majority are here to prosper as well.
Posted by: Skyler at April 2, 2008 06:27 PM
I think you're projecting a bit. Exactly where do I say that?
Oh, that's right...nowhere.
I say that both are very hard working, and that the majority of the Mexicans illegally coming in are from very poor backgrounds and are most likely going to vote for the Democratic Party that will give them the most, while the Cubans were by and large from the middle to upper entrepreneurial classes in Cuba and thus were imbued with a more capitalistic spirit and had somewhat longer termed goals than those poor folks who don't know where dinner is coming from, let alone are thinking about starting a business.
I am stating simple facts about the prospectus for these folks to become Republican voters, which is zero. I certainly have my likes and dislikes and prejudices, but calling me a 'bigot' here is a pile of crap.
Posted by: Mr. Bingley at April 2, 2008 06:53 PM
"but the vast majority are here to prosper as well."
Horseshit. They're here because Mexico is a kleptocratic narco-state and coming here is the best way for them to survive and help their relatives left behind with remittances.
"Mexicans are by and large very good people"
They're no better than any other group of people in this country. In fact, when you factor in illegal immigration, one can make an argument that they are a detriment to our society based on the impact of additional crime, medical and social services doled out to illegals, and depressed wages.
By the way, I live in Waukegan Illinois and the Chicago area (extending as far north as the Illinois/Wisconsin border) is home to the largest concentration of Mexicans outside of the border states so I've gotten to see it first hand and straight from the mouths of Mexicans themselves. It is hardly the soppy, romanticized notion of "tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to be free."
Posted by: Gunslinger at April 2, 2008 07:05 PM
Gunslinger juxtaposed what I said, "Mexicans are by and large very good people" with
"They're no better than any other group of people in this country."
I don't see the contradiction in these two statements. In fact that is precisely my point.
That they take advantage of the fact that we have become an extremely socialist nation is another matter altogether.
Bingley, it's your website, so I'll just let this go.
Posted by: Skyler at April 2, 2008 08:50 PM
Yeah whatever.
Posted by: Mr. Bingley at April 2, 2008 10:57 PM
Now all Cubans that have exiled here came from the upper and middle classes. My family is strictly blue collar, my old man being a welder and mom a seamstress.
There's also a huge difference between being an immigrant and being an exile. technically, each and every Cuban the is allowed to stay here - and that's 99.9% of them - is here for political asylum. Wherein lies the real difference between Mexicans and Cubans: mexicans get to elect their government every certain amount of years, Cubans are stuck with the castro monarchy.
Posted by: Val Prieto at April 3, 2008 01:39 PM
Thanks Val.
Posted by: Mr. Bingley at April 3, 2008 01:55 PM