Do you know what a "Charter Member" is? Have you ever been a Charter Member of anything? If not, I will try to explain exactly what it is and how significant it is. That is the point of this blog.
I have been a charter member a couple of times and it is a very significant thing. Here is an example. What if you and some of your friends wanted to form a Homebrewing group? Here is how they would go about it. They would pitch-in their different pieces of brewing equipment and pool their money to by some additional items. One of the members might donate a location for them to set up their home brewing operation. Over time they would brew many batches of beer and accumulate different supplies. Some members would drop out for lack of interest and donate their equipment to the group. Now comes the interesting point.
After operating for several years, some new person wants to join. How do these charter members deal with this new person? The charter members have put a lot of work and cost into forming the home brewing group. Should they let in this new person for "free" or require them to "buy in" and pay their share of the work and expenses already put in by the charter members? This is a difficult question, because back in the beginning, the charter members did not have to pay for anything to join. How would you handle this situation?
Isn't this a little like the situation that we have with the illegal immigrants? My family dates from Jamestown and the original Native Americans, so I feel that I am a charter member of this country. Further, my ancestors fought in all the Wars and cleared much of this land for farming. What they did not build, they paid taxes to build. Like the home brew club above, they had 10 members and had no need for more other than to replace a member who had moved away. Do we need more immigrants to clear the land for farming? No. Do we need more immigrants to pump oil out of the ground or to mine coal? No, again. If we let in an immigrant, should they have to pay some kind of "buy in" fee? Further, if they come from a place where they over bred the place until it was a "s... hole" should we let then abandon the mess that they have made or expect them to clean it up?
I could have used all kinds of examples, but I think that you can see that immigrants have a responsibility, not a free ride. What we need to do is to focus on exactly what that responsibility is. I don't feel that I have the authority to give away for free all the work that my ancestors put in to build this place. Me, like them have worked to make this place better for my children than how I found it, not for immigrants who paid nothing!
Think of yourself as a "Charter Member" of this club we call the United States and do your responsibility to protect it. If you don't, in time this place will look like the places where those many free loading immigrant came from!
PS--Years ago I belonged to a country club. I paid $10,000 for my membership which I thought was a lot at the time. A few years later I moved and had to sell my membership.. I sold my membership for $18,000 for a profit of $8,000. Isn't this just like early immigrants to the United States where they could homestead 160 acres for "free" and then years later their children were able to sell that same land for $500,000. A new immigrant would then have to pay $500,000 for what the original immigrants got for "free". For this reason, I do not see a problem requiring new immigrants to have to "buy in" when they want to immigrate here. Look at Switzerland or places like Japan. They have an immigration policy that protects their citizens.
I have been a charter member a couple of times and it is a very significant thing. Here is an example. What if you and some of your friends wanted to form a Homebrewing group? Here is how they would go about it. They would pitch-in their different pieces of brewing equipment and pool their money to by some additional items. One of the members might donate a location for them to set up their home brewing operation. Over time they would brew many batches of beer and accumulate different supplies. Some members would drop out for lack of interest and donate their equipment to the group. Now comes the interesting point.
After operating for several years, some new person wants to join. How do these charter members deal with this new person? The charter members have put a lot of work and cost into forming the home brewing group. Should they let in this new person for "free" or require them to "buy in" and pay their share of the work and expenses already put in by the charter members? This is a difficult question, because back in the beginning, the charter members did not have to pay for anything to join. How would you handle this situation?
Isn't this a little like the situation that we have with the illegal immigrants? My family dates from Jamestown and the original Native Americans, so I feel that I am a charter member of this country. Further, my ancestors fought in all the Wars and cleared much of this land for farming. What they did not build, they paid taxes to build. Like the home brew club above, they had 10 members and had no need for more other than to replace a member who had moved away. Do we need more immigrants to clear the land for farming? No. Do we need more immigrants to pump oil out of the ground or to mine coal? No, again. If we let in an immigrant, should they have to pay some kind of "buy in" fee? Further, if they come from a place where they over bred the place until it was a "s... hole" should we let then abandon the mess that they have made or expect them to clean it up?
I could have used all kinds of examples, but I think that you can see that immigrants have a responsibility, not a free ride. What we need to do is to focus on exactly what that responsibility is. I don't feel that I have the authority to give away for free all the work that my ancestors put in to build this place. Me, like them have worked to make this place better for my children than how I found it, not for immigrants who paid nothing!
Think of yourself as a "Charter Member" of this club we call the United States and do your responsibility to protect it. If you don't, in time this place will look like the places where those many free loading immigrant came from!
PS--Years ago I belonged to a country club. I paid $10,000 for my membership which I thought was a lot at the time. A few years later I moved and had to sell my membership.. I sold my membership for $18,000 for a profit of $8,000. Isn't this just like early immigrants to the United States where they could homestead 160 acres for "free" and then years later their children were able to sell that same land for $500,000. A new immigrant would then have to pay $500,000 for what the original immigrants got for "free". For this reason, I do not see a problem requiring new immigrants to have to "buy in" when they want to immigrate here. Look at Switzerland or places like Japan. They have an immigration policy that protects their citizens.
