https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/12/11/18134360/trump-immigrants-border-wall
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/the-military-targets-youth-for-recruitment
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2006/01/mili-j31.html
Hypocrisy is rampant in many issues when politics are brought up. One that has been on my mind a lot has been the major topic of immigration. Often this talk comes up of immigrants at our border. Europeans were one time ourselves, illegal immigrants to this country which was already home to Native Americans. Our politicians are against immigration, but not really. Let me explain why that is. Let’s just say that tomorrow the staunchest and most ferverent anti-immigration could have their wish and have all immigrants deported. This would never work for them. For one, they depend too much on immigration labor in corporate industries to save money and become wealthier. Also, they would probably lose much of the immigrant labor at their houses. Corporations would now be forced to pay workers living wages.
This would make many prominent Democrats and Republicans lose money. They may also see a massive uptick in worker unions and co-ops. This brings us to another issue with the government; student loans. Student loans and the military go hand-in-hand. Student loans happen because we have a predatory debt collection system and the propaganda that when you are growing up in school and in high school, that you need to go to an expensive 4-year college in order to get the job you want. Trade schools, apprenticeship programs and community college degrees are never really discussed as options. I think that if more people went this route and pursued trades, that there would be less of a desperation for loans.
Since the Vietnam War, the military has done heavy recruiting around lower-income areas that are not as well educated. Better education programs for kids makes them harder to convince/manipulate in joining. While I wish the military wasn’t necessary, it is. However, I think it is possible to reform it, though it wouldn’t be easy. Democratizing the military would go along way in decreasing violence. Also, if rich kids/sons of people in politics weren’t exempt from being drafted, it is another necessity that would cut down on wars. A big part of why our country has continuous wars is to keep the war industry companies happy; the wealthy think it is our job to die for them instead of the other way around. If they were actually made to feel the consequences of their actions in a meaningful way, I think we would have much less of an industrial complex.
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