Everybody has an opinion about immigration in America these days, especially after all of the recent marches and rallies. I think that most of the debate around what the legal status of aliens should be is good for our sometimes anemic democracy, although some of the comments I’ve heard are a bit simplistic or rather harsh. The men, women and school-aged children marching the streets from Los Angeles to Chicago all seem to be united in their frustration at being cast as the scapegoat for every problem in American society; and the opinion I most frequently hear from people who are critical of illegal immigrants is that they have not played by the rules. What will come out of this is, I hope, immigration reform that is both fair and humane to as many people as possible. That will be the short-term solution but we need, I think, a much larger and far sighted approach and so I would like to propose the creation of an American Union built on the model of the European Union. This will take a long time to accomplish but the work and debate around it will force us to think hard about our common problems and aspirations, from Canada to Chile; and I think that, in the end, it will give us an economic system and a political platform that will stabilize immigration and balance out the wide gulf between rich and poor. An American Union could allow us to make economic policies that would put a stop to the kind of global corporate exploitation that is driving so much current migration, putting participating countries on a more level playing field. A robust Pan-American Congress could also address issues of human rights and protect those rights in a ratified American Union Constitution. Call me a dreamer because it’s a tall order, I know, but I think that in the long run an American Union has the greatest potential for creating long lasting political and economic stability.
Posted by james-hazard
at 12:52 PM PDT
Updated: Monday, 23 June 2008 6:27 PM PDT
