The
following was written in April 2014, as part of a response to the
Campaign for Liberty's 2012 survey questionnaire for candidates
running for federal office.
17.
Will you vote to oppose all taxpayer-funded benefits for illegal
immigrants?
Yes,
I will vote to oppose all taxpayer-funded federal benefits for
undocumented immigrants.
Although
race discrimination in employment practices and the eVerify program
are, undeniably, obstacles to undocumented immigrants obtaining the
means of survival and a decent standard of living, there are
additional obstacles; namely, the increasing monopolization of the
public sector over the distribution of welfare services.
Government
departments and bureaus which prohibit the private sector and the
non-profit voluntary sector from competing to provide welfare
services deny people who entered this country through illegal methods
the ability to obtain their needs through earning money and paying
for those goods and services with cash or credit, and through
receiving voluntary mutual aid given interpersonally
and via charitable
organizations.
Such
individuals have already been denied the legal right to work, and so
– with no remaining legal alternatives - they often find themselves
in need of goods and services which the government has limited the
ability of non-governmental actors to provide. They cannot attempt to
make use of many of such services, because they would risk revealing
their immigration status to the government in order to do so, thereby
risking deportation.
When
undocumented immigrants cannot either work to obtain, or receive for
free, services which are typically provided by government, government
overreach is to blame. If ever a government requires its citizens to
present sufficient documentation of their identity whenever they
needed food
or water,
then we would be asking whether undocumented immigrants even have the
right to eat and drink - hence
survive – and survival will be considered a right granted by
government, to an even greater degree than it is already. But when
welfare provision is not exclusively done by government, it cannot be
cut by legislators who cut services in order to satisfy taxpayers.
If
the public sector continues to monopolize the provision of welfare,
then when State-run markets collapse - and/or when governments become
unable to sufficiently provide welfare - people's basic needs will
not be met. That is, unless a thriving underground market featuring
gift-giving, bartering, sharing, and trade between voluntarily
cooperating individuals is permitted to function; absent price
controls, purchase mandates, citizenship requirements, and barriers
to participation and competition in markets.
The
federal government should neither require states to provide
taxpayer-funded benefits to undocumented immigrants, nor prohibit
them from
doing so. I will urge states to allow such individuals to freely
access and/or purchase any and all ordinary consumer goods and
services – whether health services, education, or items which
require minimum age for purchase – without presenting documentation
or registering with a government administration.
Additionally,
I will vote to repeal the D.R.E.A.M. (Development, Relief, and
Education for Alien Minors) Act because of the manner in which it was
implemented; President Obama implemented it via an
executive order after the bill had been rejected by Congress. But I
also support repealing the Act because of the choices it offered
undocumented immigrants as a condition of staying; to study in
college or serve in the military. Most of such individuals come to
the United States to work,
not to study or to fight the federal government's enemies; without
the option of apprenticeship in one's field as an alternative, such
legislation amounts to little more than a threat to temporarily
derail the kind of life desired by the immigrant.
I
will urge states to implement generous guest worker programs for
undocumented immigrants, allow people to work while on welfare and
transition from one to the other with a smooth transition by enacting
negative income taxes, pass state-level D.R.E.A.M.-Act-type
legislation that includes apprenticeship as a condition for
citizenship, and consider having separate licenses for driving and
car insurance versus for
travel and security purposes.
For
more entries on borders, immigration, and territorial integrity,
please visit:
http://www.aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2014/04/social-policies-for-2012-us-house.html
For
more entries on social services, public planning, and welfare, please
visit:
http://www.aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-general-welfare-clause.html
For
more entries on taxation, please visit:
