Phil Collins Was Right

OK, so it was Genesis, not Phil Collins alone. But he/they was/were right: it is no fun being an illegal alien.

I confess to being totally in knots over the latest immigration proposals before Congress. As a matter of simple human decency, it's wrong to make felons out of both people who come to America to improve their circumstances and people who help illegal immigrants once they are here. However, if illegal immigrants are given guest worker status, they'll become a permanent economic underclass which business interests can exploit to drive down wages and benefits for citizens, undercut the power of labor unions to protect their members, and generally otherwise wreak havoc on everyone who is a worker bee and not an owner bee.

"Them what has, gets--and the rest of us gets screwed."

On the other other [yes, I meant to repeat that--Ed.] hand, I can also see the country coming apart at the seams, as more and more people come here for better money than they can earn at home, but who have no interest or stake in perpetuating the idea of "America." Is it fear of being discovered as illegal that keeps these immigrant communities so insular? Or is it lack of interest in making even a token effort to learn some American English? Or is it just plain bad manners--the scourge that seems to be afflicting every society on Earth right now?

I just do not know, and I am distressed. I do not like sitting on fences--for one thing, doing so is most uncomfortable--but I dislike the terrain on either side I'd land on if I were to come down. So, my readership, assuming you are out there, help me out. Post comments. Give me some insight, a fresh way of evaluating the situation, so that I can live with the results of getting off the fence. I'm counting on your individual and collective brilliance to show me the way.