Monday, May 26, 2014

Brenda Walker / The Social Contract: Immigration: End It, Don’t Mend It - America is full, and hostile diversity has made it more dangerous and unpleasant - "The most convincing argument for zero immigrants may well be rapid technological change in the workplace. As robotics and automation perform increasingly complex tasks, humans are being phased out of many jobs."

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Immigration: End It, Don’t Mend It - America is full, and hostile diversity has made it more dangerous and unpleasant

What is the purpose of immigration to America in the twenty-first century? The frontier was declared closed in 1890, so additional settlers are not needed on the prairie. The highly automated factories and offices of today mean the economy can bubble along fine with far fewer humans compared with just a decade ago. Yet a firehose input of new foreign residents is highly desired by businesses wanting an unlimited supply of cheap workers and eager consumers. In contrast, a Pulse Opinion Poll released in February 2014 found that 59 percent of American voters wanted legal immigration cut by at least half.
The pedal-to-the-metal growth paradigm has reached its limits, and is now showing its age and social costs in many areas. Normal fluctuations in rainfall play havoc in the drought-prone regions of the West as increasing water users place demands that sometimes cannot be met. Our transportation infrastructure is overwhelmed in many places by too many vehicles on roads and standing-room-only public transport.
America is plain full up. As the late nature photographer Ansel Adams said, “When the theater’s full, they don’t sell lap-space.”
California is now experiencing a historic drought, and there is not enough water for all those who need it, as shown by growing calls for mandatory restriction. While agriculture uses the majority of water, when there is a shortage, the citizens are called upon to cut back. Millions of additional water users would not be a good idea in California, with a population now over 38 million. Even so, the topic of environmental carrying capacity never comes up when government officials discuss immigration — and the Senate bill would double legal immigration in addition to rewarding millions of foreign lawbreakers with immediate job permits (amnesty).
Last November, the USGS announced that so much water has been pumped from underground aquifers that areas of land in California’s Central Valley are sinking at an alarming rate, up to a foot per year in one tract. Not only is the subsidence another warning about limited supply, but the land sinkage also disturbs the proper functioning of water infrastructure around the state. Canals were designed with a precise degree of slope to move water by gravity, and the subsidence has disrupted that. A state hydrologist remarked, “We were surprised at the amount of land being affected.”
Immigration-fueled population growth is putting too much pressure on natural systems to replenish themselves. But elites hope to import another hundred million foreigners over the next few decades. Liberals like to chatter about environmental sustainability regarding issues that they like (e.g., global warming), but not so much when immigration is part of the discussion. . . .