Dehumanizing the Nation

By:  Dale Weckbacher

Romans 5:8

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

NKJV

Even though we have all sinned and fallen short of God’s high standard, God still holds us with high value.  Our value to God is so high that he offered the life of his only Son so we could live eternally in the presence of God (John 3:16).  All one has to do is believe, we do not have to pay anything for our salvation, for the price has already been paid. 

Unfortunately, large bureaucracies tend to dehumanize people.  The worst bureaucracy of all is the United States Government where politicians promise to meet every need of voters and most often fail to deliver.  The current debate over immigration and amnesty is a prime example. 

Democrats and Republicans are both in a hurry to pass some sort of immigration reform and most of these proposals contain some sort of amnesty or path to citizenship for those in our country illegally.  Both parties are putting on a good front that appears to be extending a compassionate hand to illegal aliens who they claim are only here seeking a better life as our ancestors did, ignoring the fact that most of our ancestors, like mine, came here legally. 

Potential GOP presidential candidate Jeb Bush even went so far as to claim that illegally coming into the country is an act of love.  (1)  Only a politician could justify breaking the law and call it an act of love.   Even though it may appear humane on the surface to open up the borders and let anyone come in and find a better life.  That is not why politicians and bureaucrats want amnesty and their agenda is not humane but actually dehumanizes everyone involved. 

Politicians need votes to keep their jobs.  Many, especially those that have held office for many years, have learned to buy votes by offering goodies to people.  When they look at someone in our country illegally, they see a poor needy person that they can help and turn into a voter for their party.  By offering these people amnesty they are opening up the opportunities our nation has to offer.  However, since most of these individuals have few skills and education, they will be stuck in a low paying job.  However, do not fear for once they receive amnesty, they will also have access to our nation’s entitlement programs.  Of course, they will also be encouraged to vote for politicians promising to expand these entitlement programs along with raising the minimum wage.  In other words, many politicians do not see illegals as humans but voters that will help them win on Election Day.

Business owners see the expansion of their bottom lines because of the cheap labor these people offer.  To these business owners, illegals are not people but cheap labor they can use to enhance their bottom line.  Now, I am not against making a profit but I believe these business owners dreams of profits are short sighted and fail to look at the bigger picture. 

Granted, cheaper labor may initially expand the bottom line but since these people’s low skills and lack of education force them into low paying jobs, they have no choice but to take advantage of government programs.  Opportunistic politicians, seeing them as future voters are more than happy to grant them access to these taxpayer funded programs.  In fact, the cheap labor these individuals offer may be short lived if politicians increase the minimum wage to $15 as recently happened in Seattle.  (2)  Not only will an increased minimum wage eat up any profit but eventually politicians will need to increase taxes on these businesses to pay for an ever-expanding entitlement system.  (3)  The bottom line of these businesses may initially grow but these advances will be short lived due to increases in minimum wage and taxes.  Eventually these people viewed as an asset to the business that will increase their bottom line will become a liability.

We must also consider the hard working Americans that are still employed.  These individuals still represent a majority in our country and they are the backbone of our economy.  These people get up every day, fight traffic, put in a hard and productive day at their jobs and are the ones making delivering, and selling the goods and services we as consumers use.  However, all this talk of amnesty means they too will experience an increase in their taxes.  They are also negatively impacted by depressed wages due to the influx of cheap labor into our country. 

These individuals are feeling the pinch of higher prices, lower wages, and higher taxes.  As one of these individuals, I often feel like politicians view me as their ATM machine where they can go whenever they need more money to buy votes.  I am fortunate to work for a small company that still treats people as humans but I know many who work for employers that view employees as a liability because they know there is a potential pool of cheap labor available to replace them. 

However, not all is lost for we the people have an opportunity to speak up each election.  We also have an opportunity to make changes through our state legislatures using article 5 of the Constitution should the Federal Government continue to turn a deaf ear. 

I therefore encourage everyone to seek out candidates this election that views us as individuals and not some voting block they can buy to retain their job.  God values each individual so is it too much to ask our leaders to treat us with value as well?

1. Breitbart TV. JEB BUSH: CROSSING THE BORDER ILLEGALLY AN 'ACT OF LOVE'. www.breitbart.com. [Online] Breitbart News, April 6, 2014. [Cited: June 24, 2014.] http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV/2014/04/06/Jeb-Bush-Crossing-The-Border-Illegally-Is-An-Act-Of-Love.

2. McGreal, Chris. Seattle minimum wage: $15 figure represents 'historic victory' for workers. www.theguardian.com. [Online] The Guardian, June 3, 2014. [Cited: June 24, 2014.] http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/02/seattle-plan-minimum-wage-hike-workers.

3. Robert Rector and Jason Richwaine, Ph.D. The Fiscal Cost of Unlawful Immigrants and Amnesty to the U.S. Taxpayer. www.heritage.org. [Online] The Heritage Foundation, May 6, 2013. [Cited: June 24, 2014.] http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2013/05/the-fiscal-cost-of-unlawful-immigrants-and-amnesty-to-the-us-taxpayer.