Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Michael E. Arth running for FL Governor--On Immigration

This is not an endorsement for his candidacy but rather an approval of what Michael Arth has to say on immigration.

"The U.S. has more immigrants than all the other countries in the world. In recent years annual immigration rates have been around 1.5 million legal immigrants and 700,000 illegal immigrants. As Bill Clinton put it in 1998, “America has constantly drawn strength and spirit from wave after wave of immigrant... They have proved to be the most restless, the most adventurous, the most innovative, and the most industrious of people.” All this is probably true, historically speaking. However, things have changed.

Certainly during the last decade or two, there have been negative social, political, environmental, demographic, and economic implications for the U.S. and the world. Immigration to the U.S. is bad for the planet as a whole, because Americans, who consume 25% of the world's resources, only comprise 4.5% of its population. As a result, migration to the U.S. increases the ecological and carbon footprint of immigrants by more than 500%. Thus, immigration into the U.S. has a negative effect on the world's carrying capacity.

Two serious underlying causes of immigration to the U.S. are overpopulation and poverty in the source countries. By having a “relief valve” that allows the unhappy poor to leave, it only prolongs the day of reckoning for the source countries. Immigration to the U.S. should be addressed at its source with international efforts at eliminating the 70 million more people that are added to the planet every year. If we had zero population growth, the immigration problem would wither away. To read more about this click here.

E-mail: campaign@MichaelEArth.org

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