Bigotry and Mistrust Fuel Stupidity on Immigration Matters

I just got out of a class (AJ Juvenile Procedures) where I had to put up with right-wing dolt of a professor who went on and on about “illegals” not paying their taxes and them being leeches on the tax dollars  in general and the justice system specifically. He didn’t stop there, but at that point I just continued reading my Star Wars novel.

Anyone who has met me knows that normally I don’t put up with that stuff and I immediately refute those kind of ridiculous generalizations. I typically point out research done by the New York Times in April 2005  that stated that an estimated $7 billion was paid into Social Security by illegal immigrants that year, even though they will not receive a single dollar of those benefits. $1.5 billion was paid into Medicare for which they are also ineligible(10% of the Social Security surplus that year was thought to have been due to the contributions of illegal immigrants)(Yes you read that right, there was a surplus in Social Security that year). 

Do right wingers really think that illegal immigrants can go up to a cash register and say “I’m illegal! I’m not paying that $.07 on the dollar!” Sometimes their stupidity on the matter astounds me. Perhaps it’s bigotry and mistrust which fuels their inability to see fact and reason?

The Professor asked later that same class “What is California’s Biggest Asset?”  Earlier he had started the class by taunting liberal ideals that are stereotypically thought to be associated with places of higher learning so nobody really wanted to answer. I said, ” California’s diversity is one of it’s biggest assets.” He laughed and said “Are you being serious? That’s one of those school answers!”; he was referring to liberalism in schools propagated by liberal professors. There’s this women of a certain age who’s in the class and she turned to me and said “You’re Nuts!”. I didn’t say anything to either of them. And to be honest I was kinda surprised I said what I said.

Is diversity really an asset? Can it be detrimental to have “diversity”?Is Diversity an asset to California?

It didn’t take long for me to say yes to all three of those questions. California is easily the most prosperous state in the union. We are also the most diverse, and we have the biggest population. California is the embodiment of the Union. Race tensions are a thing of the past for California. Widespread violence against a specific demographic is unknown to California, at least since I’ve been alive.

We are all different yet we prosper. We’ve worked together and built the most prosperous state in the Union.

There’s no doubt Diversity is an asset.