Exceptions

  Listen, you can't be exceptional if you keep making exceptions! That is what we are facing today in America. There was a time when we were exceptional. It was the reason people wanted to come to America. The dream was attainable in this land through hard work. Then we started making exceptions to the rule. Think about it. 

 In the beginning there was open land for everyone. America was a foundling nation. We needed skilled workers, we needed those willing to work, to build, and to create a nation. That need continued well into the 19th century. But as far back as 1893 it was stated, the frontier was no more. Immigration needed to be monitored and controlled. It was in 1882 the first piece of significant immigration legislation was passed. It was in response to the state of California complaining about Chinese labor willing to work for less and costing jobs. I know, California right. But they were mostly unskilled laborers. At that time the bulk of the workforce were unskilled workers. That remained true until the industrial revolution began replacing those workers with machinery. The so-called second industrial revolution in America began in the mid 1800's. Manual labor was slowly being replaced by machines. Today the need for manual laborers is far less than it was a hundred years ago, yet today the vast majority of immigrants are unskilled. The impact on the economy and indeed the overall health of the nation is being affected. America needs skilled labor. 

 The requirements for admission to this nation have changed over the years. All the changes are far too numerous for me to pretend to understand. I know there were certain requirements in years past concerning your health, your ability to work, and your background. I know there was a requirement to have someone sponsor you. My own grandmother came from Sweden and was subject to all those requirements. None of that is required today. If you failed to meet those requirements, you were sent right back where you came from! There were no exceptions to the rule. 

 In years past immigrants assimilated into the neighborhoods where they settled. They didn't occupy city blocks and create quasi-nations in our cities and towns. That first happened in California with the creation of China town in San Francisco. It happened in other cities as well as the Chinese immigrants streamed into America. Today there are many quasi-nations occupying out cities and towns. Entire blocks of immigrants that can barely read, write or speak English. Some of these neighborhoods now insisting they should operate under their own laws! They feel like they should be the exception to the rules.

 And that brings us to today. Today we have literally thousands of illegal immigrants streaming across the border, each one an exception to the rule. They claim exceptions based on our laws. Refugees is the common exception, those fleeing for their lives! Yeah, they're running for their lives alright, carrying thousand dollar I-phones, backpacks, walking hundreds of miles yet appearing at the border well fed, relatively clean and in great shape. Each one an exception.

 Allow me to reiterate my original thought. You can't be exceptional if you keep making exceptions!