Many of you would not find my title this week terribly shocking  when it comes to Ted The Great. Many of my friends swear there was a space ship that dropped me off a long time ago. Maybe like the Dork from Ork. But as we have transported ourselves from the confines of the Rockies to the shores of the Atlantic there are some transitions and acceptances that need to be navigated.

Looking at His Hairness’ latest proclamation, I seized upon the language, education and wealth requirements. I grew up in New York and one cannot help detect a certain dialect if not a totally different use of the King’s English from the inhabitants of the NY Metro area. Ditto Boston and points further South. One need not have grown up on Long Island to see that Locust Valley Lockjaw is in a class by itself. Or at least the swells hope it is. I never perfected the talent. I could not get into Georgetown today and there are a whole lot of people with more money than I have. Big deal.

Wandering as my mind does, I look at our new address in the Sunshine State which is replete with history that goes all the way back to the mid 1980’s. Much like Plymouth Rock the hardy warriors found this deserted spot and decided to build golf courses and docks. I wonder if the existing residents of the surrounding area were as fearful of the onslaught as we seem to be today of anyone not of our cloth?

I am not espousing open borders but I think we have become a tad over the top when it comes to practical thinking. Why is that? We are no different than the locals who freaked out at the hordes rushing  to Ellis Island in the early 1900’s. Back in colonial times the venerable Ben Franklin had an extreme dislike for the “tawny creatures” of a different shade of white and the Germans teutonic ways were seen to be just a touch above barbarian. So let’s just say it is nothing new.

The basic distrust of immigrants is quite simply born of fear. The first example goes back to the caveman where anything outside your cave was not good and probably dangerous to your health. The saber toothed tiger in the room. We have to be about protecting the motherland. Concurrent with that is the fear of there not being enough to go around. I have got mine and I ain’t sharing otherwise my family will starve or maybe we won’t be able to have six tv’s in the house. There is also the fear that the bloodline will be irretrievably mutilated. Mixed marriages whether in religion, color or sex have to lead to destruction of civilization as we know it.Don’t they?

But isn’t it just the fear of something new? We have always done it that way is more than an axiom. It is firewall protecting what we perceive to be right. This has served us for so long everything else has to be wrong. At the local Catholic church we are having more than a hard time because the place resembles the Dark Ages. How do you think they would respond if my old friend, Fr. Pat and his troubadours came through the doors singing up a storm? Excommunication for all you heathens. Next stop, Hell.

Fear is the strongest emotion of all. It is much more virulent than love. We get so crazy we can’t think straight. For politicians it is grist for the mill. Those hispanics are going to steal your job. The Muslims are going to blow up your town and take over. Any immigrant has evil on his or her mind. Any large group of people are going to have good apples and bad apples. Do you really think there are some of our fellow native born Americans who when put together won’t be prone to murder, rape and plunder? That is not the nature of immigrants but the nature of homo sapiens. Yet the office seekers will dredge up every bit of vitriol in our little bodies to secure their place in whatever assembly. It is just the way it works

America is the home of the free and the brave. We are the greatest country in the world. If we really believe that why do we have so much temerity about new arrivals? Want to take that to an extreme? Isn’t a new born baby an immigrant into this thing we call the planet earth. Shouldn’t we curtail or stop all childbirth until that infant can be properly vetted. He or she does not speak the language or have any visible mens of support. They may grow up to become a thief or a killer or rapist. Let’s not take that chance.

As Kathy and I get to know people in our development, golf club, bar or restaurant there are going to be some that are open and welcoming and some that are wary. That is beyond natural. But if we are going to grow there has to be new input and perhaps a revisiting of old ideas. We shouldn’t throw them out but rather be open to discussion. Perhaps a little from Column A and little from Column B. Maybe even column we have not even thought about yet. I understand the reluctance and more than a few times I have been reticent to greet with open arms. Doesn’t make it smart.

Assuming we have 11,000,000 undocumented who have made it to our shores, we need them. Otherwise you and I should break out our lawn mowers, vacuums and go for take out rather than  sit down restaurant dinners. There is a way and they put a great program on the table a few years ago in Congress that was never brought to a vote. Alien idea? Maybe, but not really as strange as it sounds. We should all get off our high horses of principle and do something that makes sense for all.

As always
Ted The Great

Factoids:

The idea that a baby is an alien person was not mine. I read it somewhere. As an open minded philosophical exercise I find it fascinating.

Verner Von Braun was a rocket scientist for the Nazis in WW II. If not for him our space program would have gone nowhere. Albert Einstein, John Muir, Elon Musk, Levi Strauss, Joseph Pulitzer are but a few notables. Steve Chen (Taiwan) and Jared Karim(East Germany) cofounded You Tube. Foreign nurses represent 15% of the total. If they were not here we would be forced to shut down entire hospital wings.

From 1995 to 2005, 52 percent of Silicon Valley’s technology and engineering companies were founded by immigrants. The majority came to the United States as students. They ended up staying after graduation and on average founded companies 13 years after their arrival. They also filed 25 percent of America’s global patents, significantly boosting U.S. competitiveness. Hmmm!

“Fear of an illegal immigrant crime wave is sparked by the fear that they are overwhelmingly murderers, rapists, and thieves. In reality, illegal immigrants have lower incarceration rates and live in places with lower crimes rates than native-born Americans” …Source:…Fox News

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