boatin

There's a lot of different thoughts going on in this thread, but to start with one...


I see you saying a number of things (pardon me for simplfying):
-illegals are illegal, therefore we should find a way to get rid of them
-illegals commit crimes, and then escape back south, so we should find a way to keep em out to avoid this
-illegals cost us taxpayers money so we should find a way to keep em out
-illegals expect more than equal services, and they pay nothing, it's not fair and we should find a way to keep em out

Again, sorry if that's a ridiculous oversimplification of your points - my getting those right or wrong doesn't really impair the point *I'm* trying to make:

I think there are a lot of valid arguments about immigration. I can agree or disagree with any of them, as can anyone of course. But the argument that means absolutely nothing to me is the "it's illegal, therefore it's illegal" line. Of the 4 things I threw down at the start of this post the last 3 are things I think could be rationally discussed.

The first bit of reasoning is junk logic to me. It's been used as a 'reason' for the some of the most horrific events in history. And a huge number of more mundane, but no less wrong events. From not employing Jews, to prohibition, to the things I mentioned in an earlier post (prostitution, pot, etc), it's held up as a reason things shouldn't happen. Hard for me to use a line of reasoning that has been shown as wrong so often. Right/wrong is ultimately a better line of reasoning than legal/illegal.

My long winded point is: why not argue about the issues - try to convince others that the costs of illegals outweigh the benefits, make the moral arguement, or whatever.

Adult Learning Theory suggests that the best way to convince an adult is to explain, not tell. And to repeatably say 'they're illegal, they should go' doesn't advance the logic, and actually does more to convince me the other way.

But maybe that's just me.