To Prosper, Eliminate All Borders In The Western Hemisphere

Deportations Drop Under Trump Compared To Obama; Here's Why
https://www.yakimaherald.com/opinion/columnists/deportations-drop-under-trump-compared-to-obama-here-s-why/article_1c7541cc-5acb-11e8-849c-d3a00bbf1e9e.html

Snopes: Have Undocumented Immigrants Killed 63,000 American Citizens Since 9/11?

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2018/06/snopes-have-undocumented-immigrants.html
(Per capita, illegal immigrants kill fewer people than native-born Americans do.)

The "short form" of this essay is titled:

"Why Hemispheric Prosperity Depends On The Open Borders Of A Hemispheric Federation"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2018/06/why-american-prosperity-depends-on-open.html

Fred Owens: "So we have in effect an open border policy with Puerto Rico. Can we try something like that with Mexico? How many would come here if it was easier to come here?"

Good question Fred.

Rose DiMatteo's reply is apt. "Yeah, that just makes too much sense, Fred, and some fatcat has to get rich off it or nobody cares."

I will add this note to Rose's comment: In the depths of the great recession, friend ABC, a North Carolina district court judge (and a biblical literalist), said: "When the economy booms again, we will beg Mexicans to come back, with papers or without." 

Reality Check:

There's just too much dirty, sweaty, back-breaking labor that native-born boob-tubers will not do. Not a snowball's chance in hell.

We have become a nation of obese consumer units, addicted to air-conditioned comfort, limiting our "real world" forays to the beaten path between couch and kitchen.

Working hard in the blazing, throat-parching sun is not on white guys' radar. (And if you haven't noticed, most high school kids don't even look for summer jobs any more. http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-teen-summer-jobs-20170623-story.html)

Now Hiring! Only American Citizens Need Apply

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2017/02/now-hiring-only-american-citizens-need.html

On the dual topic of native-born white people and latinos, I unabashedly state my preference for the company of latinos. 

In general, Hispanics are kinder, more helpful and waaaayyyyyyyyyy less spiteful than white people who, under Trump, are more meanspirited than ever. 

If you think I'm overstating "the goodness of latinos," your denial is working overtime.

We Americans have traditionally considered ourselves "The Good Guys" and our country "The Shining City On A Hill."

But setting aside jingoistic platitudes, former Attorney General Ramsey Clark cuts to this deeper truth: 

Ironically, "Bone Spur" Trump might agree with AG Clark:
Spot-On Truth-Teller Donald Trump: The Most Important Thing Said At The Republican Debate
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/12/spot-on-honest-donald-trump-most.html

Some years ago, friend AWC, a retired Air Force general, confided -- and I quote -- "It seems we haven't fought a good war since World War II." (Arthur's first post was in China in 1942.)

Consider the "holocaust" of Vietnam; the "mini-holocaust" of Bush-Cheney's "Whimsy War On Iraq;" The Genocidal Theft of what we now call The "United" States; and the centuries-long institution of slavery... still thriving (in sublimated form) as Trump and his blackhole cult-worshippers try to re-litigate The Civil War.

"The Deadly Oppression Of Black People: Best Pax Posts"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/10/like-me-black-people-are-far-from.html

And now, with the emergence of Trump we realize that "the horror" is not just Uncle Sam's foreign policy but a previously obscured ocean of long-submerged fear and loathing. 

It's as if America' shadow has emerged from "the shadows" to become the nation's central characteristic rather than a metabolic byproduct predestined for discharge as waste.

The Holocaust Was Legal. Slavery Was Legal. Segregation Was Legal. The Genocidal Theft Of The US Land Mass Was Legal.

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2018/06/the-holocaust-was-legal-slavery-was.html

My Own Contact With Family Separation, And The Young Girl Who Died

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2018/06/my-own-contact-with-family-separation.html

On the lower socio-economic rungs of American society, I see latinos as less prone to psycho-spiritual dissolution than lower class whites, a startlingly degraded demographic currently killing itself - at unprecedented rates - with opioids-and-meth.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control, in 2016 there were 63,632 drug overdose deaths in the United States, of which 42,249 involved opioids, a number that exceeds the cumulative death toll from 1.) car accidents, 2.) homicides and 3.) HIV.

What are we to make of this staggering self-slaughter?

Where is Nancy Reagan's "Just say no!" 

And where is the perennial right-wing favorite, "Just get a job."

It is a fact that latino immigrants to the United States -- speaking only Spanish, having but a 5th grade education, and immersed in a largely hostile culture whose "authorities" hound them night and day -- routinely make respectable lives for themselves.

Meanwhile, many native-born white Americans - who formerly enjoyed high-paying industrial jobs and the blandishments of white privilege - are now killing themselves with lemming-like determination.

Something is seriously wrong with this picture, and it is not the exceptional enterprise of latino immigrants.

The folks who are killing themselves with opioids and meth -- mostly white people -- would benefit from "mentoring relationships" with illegal latinos whose psychological, social and spiritual skills could not only teach them to survive but to thrive. 

Instead of "checking in" with parole officers, suicidal whites could "shadow" latinos as these remarkable immigrants "go about their rounds," making good, virtuous lives "out of nothing" and in the face of systematic oppression.

Of course, it will never happen. 

But it is true: "The poor people are the only ones that'll help. The only ones."

Photograph taken at my Catholic church today

Another inconvenient truth is that NO mass migration has ever been stopped despite widespread conservative belief that any problem -- real or perceived -- can be solved by perpetrating enough violence and invoking enough repressive force. 

How did force-and-violence work out in Vietnam? 

In Iraq? 

In Afghanistan?

How would force-and-violence have worked out in North Korea? 

Notably, Duplicitous Donald just announced that North Korea is still a nuclear threat, contradicting his ridiculous statement at "The Singapore Photo Op." https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/13/politics/trump-north-korea-nuclear-threat/index.html 

Who knows? We might still have opportunity to see how armed conflict "works out" with Little Rocket Man. 

And if that battle is joined, expect no better outcome than Vietnam, Iraq or Afghanistan. 

These wars are not designed for "good outcomes." They're designed to keep the Military-Industrial-Complex rolling in money.

"Do Wars Really Defend America's Freedom?"
(Homage To Marine Commandant, Major General Smedley Butler)

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/11/major-general-smedley-butler-do-wars.html

And remember, Trump has not yet chosen his "Legacy War." Chances are his designated enemy will be North Korea or Iran. Or, if he follows Reagan's example and goes for an "easy victory" (like Ronnie's  invasion of Granada), he might pick on Venezuela. http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/11/ronald-reagans-invasion-of-grenada.html

Monkeys that we are, the adrenalin rush of "chest-thumping" has irresistible appeal.

"Monkey see. Monkey do. Monkey get in trouble too."

*****

With this prelude behind me, I want to state my chief proposition clearly: 

America's only path to sustained, widespread prosperity is the elimination of all borders in The Western Hemisphere.

Consider.

Geo-politically, the two biggest "players" on the planet are China and The United States. 

Notably, China's economy will be bigger than Uncle Sam's by 2029 - and two thirds bigger by 2040. Check out the user-friendly graphics at: https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2016-us-vs-china-economy/

By any measure, the United States will surrender global hegemony in the next 20 to 40 years... unless it gets cracking on the creation of a "Hemispheric Federation" that eliminates borders throughout the Americas, just as the European Union did away with borders on the other side of the Atlantic. 

Yes, the EU is under serious stress, mostly due to destructive European populists, counterparts of their populist "disruptors" in the United States.

From the very beginning of Brexit, it has been clear to me that England's departure from the European Union will cause serious damage to Great Britain, so much damage that I still believe the built-in non-viability of Brexit will induce its own abortion.

American conservatives -- always attracted to the presumed grandeur of bygone "Golden Ages" -- are convinced that "turning back the clock" to "The Wild Frontier" (back when the six shooter dealt REAL justice) will solve "the moral rot of modernity," thus "making America great again."  

These "Golden Agers" are well-advised that, absent progress, half of humanity would still die by age 8 (as youngsters did until 1750) and that a typical human being lived half his life with toothache until the mid-1800s.

George McGovern: "The Case For Liberalism, A Defense Of The Future Against The Past"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/01/george-mcgovern-case-for-liberalism.html

But back to the three fundaments of my proposal: 1.) the emerging preeminence of China, 2.) the self-destructive isolationism of Trump, and 3.) the need for open borders across the western hemisphere if Uncle Sam hopes to avoid bulldozing by Beijing.

In the lifetime of children born when this millennium began, everything Americans understand by "being #1" will be swept away, a tide that has already turned.

The United States Of America: "We're #1."

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-united-states-of-america-were-1.html

Almost without notice, Trump has ceded global leadership to the Chinese whose stunningly productive private-public initiatives propel that nation forward. 

Here in America we gripe about stolen intellectual property -- and such theft is a real issue. 

But overarching the whole panorama of U.S.-Chinese relations is the fact that China is astute enough to engage in the practice of "picking marketplace winners" (like solar energy) -- and then backing them full throttle -- while in the United States conservative ideology pretends that "the only way" to progress is by diminishing government to give free rein to The Invisible Hand Of The Marketplace. 

Cowshit aside, The Invisible Hand is Plutocracy's default justification for the perpetuation of boom-bust cycles in which cowboy capitalists "bust" the economy at regular intervals, making out like bandits while "running markets down" -- or "running markets up" -- knowing full well they will profit outlandishly in both directions.

And throughout every boom-bust cycle, the little piggies never give a thought to sustained prosperity or widespread distribution of wealth.  

They are profiteers - shrewd profiteers - and most gum-chewing gringos are their willing marks.

Against this backdrop, Despicable Donald and his fellow ideologues content themselves with conservative sloganeering (designed to deceive), legislative gridlock (designed to cripple government) and the diligent deconstruction of every democratic institution that America has built up - painstakingly and to her great credit. 

"Americans are fucked. They've been bought off. And they come real cheap: a few million dirt bikes, camcorders, microwaves, cordless phones, digital watches, answering machines, jet skis and sneakers with lights in 'em. You say you want a few items back from the Bill of Rights? Just promise the doofuses new gizmos."  

George Carlin

"You Have NO Choice," A New Frame For George Carlin's Classic Shtick "The American Dream"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2018/06/you-have-no-choice-new-frame-for-george.html

Plutocracy's step-by-step dismantlement of democracy -- coupled with Deplorable Donald's unrelenting thuggishness -- is the red meat his gun-toting, bible-clinging, violence-loving Base craves most.

It is beyond absurd that Trump attacks G7 allies while insisting Putin be re-admitted to the G7 - without even proposing a quid-pro-quo. You know.... Something like: "Give Crimea back to Ukraine and you can rejoin the club."

Increasingly, "The Art of The Deal" looks like "The Art Of Abject Surrender to America's Enemies." http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/.../frog-hospitals...

Is Donald Trump A Sociopath?

Taking His Official Biographer's Claim Seriously

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/07/is-donald-trump-sociopath-taking-his.html

In Rural America Vladimir Putin Is Decidedly More Popular Than ANY Democrat

(In a June, 2018 poll, Kim Jong Un got a higher Republican approval rating than Nancy Pelosi. Now, even if every pejorative rumor about Pelosi is true, her moral stature towers over Little Rocket Man like The Statue Of Liberty towers over New York Harbor.)

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2017/07/in-rural-america-vladimir-putin-is.html

Compendium Of Pax Posts About Russian Electoral Manipulation

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/12/compendium-of-pax-posts-about-russian.html

Compendium Of Best "Pax" Posts On Trump, Putin And Russian Meddling

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2017/06/compendium-of-best-pax-posts-on-trump.html

Compendium Of Best Pax Posts About The Relationship Between Trump And Putin

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/12/compendium-of-best-pax-posts-about.html

Not One U.S. Legislator Whose Mostly Conservative Districts Abut Mexico Approves Trump's Wall

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2018/06/not-one-us-legislator-whose-mostly.html

Let's Build The Wall! And On Trump's Terms!

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2018/01/lets-build-wall-and-on-trumps-terms.html

Given the ready alternatives of tunneling and "bridging," there is no way that a "wall" can keep motivated Mexicans out. 

And in the event of a Mexican Civil War (which may be brewing) Uncle Sam's southern border will become unstopably porous.

Why American Prosperity Depends On A Hemispheric Union

Alan: Last evening, in conversation with friend Byron, I recalled this remarkable fact.

In 1955, Mexico's per capita income was higher than Spain's. (No typo.)

Currently, Spain's per capita income is 32,700 PPP dollars while Mexico's per capita income is 16,110 PPP dollars. (PPP stands for "Purchasing Power Parity.")

Spain's stunning transformation from "basket case" to one of the world's most desirable places to live culminates a developmental process which occurred in my own lifetime, a process largely attributable to Spain's membership in the European Union - and the desire to "put its house in order" so that it could become a member state.

In May and June of this year (2015) I spent a month in Spain and was breath-taken by the exuberance of Spanish culture and the widespread prosperity of the Spanish people. 

Not only has Spain's EU membership been beneficial, the developmental steps Madrid had to take to earn entrance to the EU were also indispensable precursors of Spain's current prosperity. 

As demonstrated by Spain's late 20th century experience, a motivational combination of carrots and sticks can create prosperity -- and correlative political development -- and achieve these ends in very short order.

Currently, the United States contemplates the not distant prospect of Chinese economic and political preeminence. (Beijing has already "annexed" sub-Saharan Africa and is making significant inroads across Latin America.)

How does a country with 319,000,000 citizens sidestep the onrushing steamroller of a nation whose population (and consequent domestic market) is four times bigger?!?

The answer is twofold.

First, the United States should promote a Hemispheric Union modeled roughly after the European Union.

Second, once established (20-30 years out) the Hemispheric Union will join a larger Federation with the European Union.

Currently, a Hemispheric Union would number 958 million people with the following demographic breakdown: United States - 319,000,000. Latin America - 604,000,000. Canada - 35,000,000.

Add the European Union's 503,000,000 inhabitants to a newly-established Hemispheric Union and The Overarching Federation outnumbers China's population of 1,357,000,000 by 7.7%.

Of equal or greater importance is the fact that China already lacks sufficient land to adequately support its existing population whereas The Americas could easily double -- if not treble --their population... not that such expansion is desirable, but in geopolitical theory these elements must be taken into account.

Consider this...

In 20 - 30 years, The Overarching Federation will be a global giant that dwarfs China. 

The alternative? Duh.

Before creating a Hemispheric Union however,Latin American polities would need to demonstrate clearly-defined "threshold requirements" for human rights, equal opportunity, environmental integrity and governmental transparency. 

Those nations that meet these benchmarks will be rewarded with federation membership, resulting in open borders and equal economic opportunity across borders.

Although many will claim that Latin American nations could never "meet muster," the fact is that many countries "south of the border" already have thriving economies based on relatively open markets and "state-of-the-art" market mechanisms. 

Among them are Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and Uruguay with a combined population of 274 million people.

Although Argentina has been sluggish, it enjoys a highly-educated populace whose capital city -- with 3 million sophisticated inhabitants -- is essentially a "European" city.

Add Argentina's 42 million people and Mexico's 122 million and we have 438 million people belonging to polities that can easily achieve "escape velocity."

With properly devised "punishments and rewards," the achievement of Federation benchmarks is not only possible but both precedented and overwhelmingly likely.

Recall Spain's great leap forward - from 2nd world status in 1955 to European Union membership in 1986 (after initial application in 1977). 

History of The European Union

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_European_Union

Concerning Mexico's unique status as the only Latin American country to share a border with the United States, I will mention that the Mexican people - when made aware that "the border" will "open" if its government achieves Federation benchmarks - will, in no uncertain terms, inform its traditionally corrupt leadership that if The Ruling Class doesn't "shape up" it will be overthrown even if doing so requires a revolutionary reign of terror.

Although I do not expect carnage, the real possibility that it could occur is already being discussed by North Carolina's Mexican community of which I am an "honorary member." 

The 65 year old Mexican couple that shares my home - a devoutly Catholic couple who "have always played by the book" - now speak as if armed uprising is nearly inevitable.

Should a Mexican Civil War be anything like Syria's, Uncle Sam should expect an irrespressible deluge of Mexican refugees who would rather risk death crossing the border than being caught in the midst of continual chaos.

The only way for Uncle Sam to forfend such chaos is to offer the Mexican people the "prosperity alternative" that their own government has blocked.

All that stands in the way of the geo-political federation outlined above is American xenophobia exacerbated by increasingly laughable American"Exceptionalism." 

The United States Of America: "We're #1"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-united-states-of-america-were-1.html

Pax on both houses: China Has More Honor Students Than America ... .

Pax on both houses: Why Europe Actually Progresses Whereas The ...

We Know What To Do. 
But Politicians Don't Know How To Get Elected If They Do It

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/05/we-know-what-to-do-but-politicians-dont.html

Alan: What follows is a pertinent but subsidiary addendum to this essay that expresses my long-standing "thought-sentiment" that anyone whose DNA is fundamentally Native American has pre-emptive right to reside in the land mass we now call The United States.

I consider conferral of this right partial reparation for the genocidal theft of the North American: the native Americans who were its rightful owners are entitled to "the right of return."

If the modern state of Israel (with the support of America's Christian conservatives) can claim "Palestine" for the Israelis nearly 2000 years after the Israeli people left "Palestine" following the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D., then surely people of predominantly Native American ancestry have a valid claim to reside in territory that was stolen from them -- while they resided on those lands! -- a series of thefts ccordinated by Uncle Sam over the last 200 to 500 years.

I do not expect my view to get much traction among descendants of these murderous thieves and beneficiaries of the theft, but I will do what I can to provide them sanctuary in my home, in my community and in my country just as I have done for decades. 

Snopes: "Did Christopher Columbus Seize, Sell, and Export Sex Slaves?"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2018/05/snopes-did-christopher-columbus-seize.html

Thomas Merton: Adolf Eichmann, Sanity And Normality

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2013/07/thomas-merton-adolf-eichmann-sanity-and.html

AS Facebook post:

1 hr · 

How do you know that your ancestors entered this country legally? Have you been to Ellis Island and seen the legal record? Did you just read it on Ancestry and think that was proof? Not everyone came in through Ellis Island. In the majority of situations, none of us were around when that first family member stepped on the ground in this country. Somebody told somebody in the family something is how you get most of your ancestry information and there is certainly no proof that it is true and real. How in the world can the people in this country sit and be complacent about children being ripped from the arms of their parents at the southern borders and smugly believe that is ok? Are you gonna tell me this is "what Jesus would do"? If I could get to them, I would bring them to my house. I would hide them here.

My Reply: Until age 60, my Dad and all five siblings assumed our Irish ancestors entered the United States by way of Ellis Island.

Then we learned that their port-of-entry was Montreal, Canada.

Once in Montreal, who knows if they crossed the St. Lawrence River legally?

I doubt it.

Here is an informative update from Washington State Representative Pramila Jayapal: "Jayapal Goes Inside Federal Detention Center to Meet With Asylum-Seeking Women: 'The mothers could not stop crying'" https://jayapal.house.gov/media/press-releases/jayapal-goes-inside-federal-detention-center-meet-asylum-seeking-women-mothers

Not only do these women have legal right to request asylum, there is a larger context that begs justice on a deeper level.

By my lights, anyone with native American ancestry has a preemptive claim to reside in America.

By contrast, I urge you to read the following Snopes article about "residency claims" made by our white European forebears.

"Did Christopher Columbus Seize, Sell, and Export Sex Slaves?"
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/columbus-sex-slaves/

"The Official Story" (eagerly embraced by American conservatives) rarely occupies the same universe as "The Real Story."

Read history.

Uncle Sam has blazed a long trail of tears.

Opinion does not trump Truth.

Alright, I Was Wrong... Mexico Will Pay For The Wall

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2017/02/alright-i-was-wrong-mexico-will-pay-for.html

Tohono O’odham Indian Nation Says No National Guard Or Wall On Its Land At The Border
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2018/04/tohono-oodham-indian-nation-says-no.html

The Gruesome Story Of American "Hero" Hannah Duston, Who Killed And Scalped 10 Indians

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2018/04/the-gruesome-story-of-american-hero.html

The Holocaust Was Legal. Slavery Was Legal. Segregation Was Legal. The Genocidal Theft Of The US Land Mass Was Legal.

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2018/06/the-holocaust-was-legal-slavery-was.html

"Strict Father" And "Nurturant Parent": The Two World Views That Determine Our Political Values

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2018/06/strict-father-and-nurturant-parent-two.html

"White People Are Cowards"
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2018/06/white-people-are-cowards-michael.html