WHAT IF???

If you can believe the news reports, there are anywhere from fifteen to twenty-five million illegal aliens living and working in this country. Who knows, really? I am going to use this essay to try and examine some of these numbers and their implications.

I believe that there is an agency that does know or at least has a pretty good idea of how many illegals are actually here and working. That agency is the Social Security Administration. Some have said that this agency is so large with so much on their plate that they cannot possibly know who is legal and who is illegal. What if that is just nonsense? Consider this. What would happen if you collected five dollars too much on a check from that agency? What would happen? Well, they would know within a very short period of time and they would collect back the over payment as well as any interest they can collect. What if you didn’t pay into Social Security the amount they decided you should? How long before they would be all over you? Trust me, it would not take very long.

Now think of this. Every illegal alien working in this country on a legitimate job has used a Social Security number and all of those numbers are phony. Their employer has collected and sent to SSA the amount necessary. Let’s look at the numbers. What if we use for demonstration purposes, that instead of twenty-five million illegals, there are just say fifteen million. Let’s further figure that only ten million of them have so-called legitimate jobs because we know that many, many of them work in the “underground economy” and are paid in cash with no records kept. So what if those ten million paid just fifty dollars a month into Social Security. That, my friends, comes to six billion dollars per year. Using this scenario, SSA is collecting six billion dollars each year with no real possibility of ever paying any of it out. Is it any wonder that those in power in Washington refuse to do anything about illegal aliens? If they did, this little flood of money would come to a screeching halt. Then they would have to deal with the real issue that they have spent the Social Security Trust Fund and have no way of repaying that fund.

But Ron, you’re such a skeptic. Do you really think our government could be so devious? To that question I would just answer, what do you think? If any of this is true, then our government, the Social Security Administration and the IRS are co-conspirators in a massive racketeering fraud. There is no way that the SSA can receive these millions of dollars each month with these phony Social Security numbers being used and not know what is going on. Twenty year old computers with ancient soft ware would have alerted them years ago. So you be the judge.

As a recipient of Social Security, I am glad they have found a way of funding their liability. I just wish it could be done in a more legitimate fashion.

Here’s a thought. What if these illegals could be allowed to work here legally? What if there was in place a guest worker program whereby persons from other countries could work, pay taxes, and return to their homes when that work was finished? To those among you who cry that such a program would cause lettuce to double in price, I say too bad. If I want to eat lettuce, I will pay whatever it costs or I will do without. I refuse to believe that this matter could not be fixed. We just need people in place who are willing to do the work to fix it. We are spending a fortune trying to shore up a porous border with no solution in sight.

Finally, what if we elected people who were serious about fixing this mess? One thing is certain, it is not going to fix itself.

Ron Scarbro October 27, 2010

FREE SPEECH???

Are there limits on free speech in America? We are about to find out. The US Supreme Court is hearing the case of the small church which likes to go to military funerals and scream protests. The church is Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. They appear to be a church of about fifty to sixty people, most of whom seem to be related to each other. One thing is clear, this is a group of haters. From all indications this is the most un-Christian Christian church I have ever heard of. They were sued by the father of a fallen Marine. At that Marine’s funeral they protested in an ugly and disgusting way. Their stated view is that since America is tolerating homosexuality, God is punishing us by killing our servicemen in combat. Further, they seem to believe that we deserve all the grief being visited upon us, and it should continue until we revert to their very narrow way of thinking. The Marine’s father won a judgment of eleven million dollars which was later reduced to five million. An appeals court threw out the judgment claiming it violated the church’s free speech rights. The case has now found its way to the Supreme Court.

So, what to think of this. I am going to offer an opinion which could probably upset some folks. As Americans we are freedom loving people and freedom can sometimes get pretty messy. Freedom of speech means that even ugly speaking people have the right to that speech. There is no one on earth who can decide for me what I can say. As a free American I can open my mouth and reveal my inner most stupidity at any time if I so choose. So can the Waterboro Baptist Church. Free speech doesn’t mean just the speech that you happen to agree with. Freedom of speech doesn’t mean just the pretty words that are not controversial. No, this right allows for all speech, ugly, hateful, disgusting, and just plain down right stupid also.

I believe The Supreme Court will find the same way. Some may feel that this is a bad decision. Consider this, what if someone decided some day that your choice of songs you wished to sing, or the poetry you wished to recite, were uncomfortable to them. Would you favor their right to shut you up? What if they felt that your newspaper held the wrong political opinion? Would you favor a law shutting up that newspaper? We have, in our history, fought and died for this right, and sometimes, even when we don’t like the message of some moron, they still have the right to spew that view. Both hate speech and love speech are just speech in the eyes of the law and the Constitution.

The absolute best way of dealing with the Waterboro Baptist Church is to ignore them. No press, no TV coverage, just ignore them. Trust me, they will go away. If we denied them publicity, they would disappear just as quickly as they appeared. The Marine whose funeral they protested died so they could have the freedom to hold that protest. Seems ironic, doesn’t it.

You, who are reading this, are reading it on the Opinion Page of this newspaper. This column is my opinion. I have the freedom to express my opinion because this is America. The nitwits who display their ignorance at military funerals have the same freedom. They can scream all the hate they wish. It only serves to show the world what morons they are.

Ron Scarbro October 10, 2010