Immigration... Crisis or Opportunity?

Our country's crisis of the day continues to be the Border, the lack of security of our Southern Border; the illegal immigration of Central American people, who have no hope that their countries can provide a safe environment and the future their children deserve.

Crisis… or opportunity?  This depends who you ask.  If Napoleon or Charlemagne were alive today… definitely, they would seize this as an opportunity.  An opportunity to conquer countries, who don’t have the means, or the strategies to provide for their youth and their poor.  Well, if this is the case, how can we turn this crisis around, create more opportunities and expand our borders? 

For those governments that are weakened by corruption, where their dysfunction is enabling the poverty of many  and cannot provide for their children, perhaps, we could invite them to become "States" of our Union and create a bigger country.  United we stand, said a logo from a Presidential Campaign several years ago.

Those new "States" should contribute their resources to finance their development.  Why should US tax payers have to save the world, when a bit of empowerment can assist these disempowered communities to grow and create better conditions?

If one day, our people from United States need to migrate to Central and South America, what kind of reception will we expect from our South of the Border Countries?  What if they reject us and send us back?  Well, do onto others as we want them to do to us, is the Golden Rule we preach on Sundays.

Napoleon or Charlemagne, are distant figures, but today Fidel Castro and his brother Raul, have been doing just that.  They have infiltrated the governments of South America, ie Venezuela, with a devastating and dishonest philosophy:  Take away from the rich, so they can enrich themselves.  Venezuela, which used to be a rich country where the petroleum flowed, is decaying in poverty with lack of electricity, water, etc.  We will wake up one day and realize that the rest of our American continent is Communist, and that we have a serious enemy south of our border.

An actual example of current expansion is Russia and President Putin which seem to reminds us that even in a generation that believes in democracy, expansion could be reframed as a "team effort" and a way of countries to join together under one leader (I can hear the Yeah Right! from many readers).

A financial form of "expansion" we have seen in Europe, where the currency was standarized to the Euro, facilitating the commerce between countries.  This idea was mentioned by Mexican ex President Vicente Fox, in an interview with Larry King on May, 2009 (on You Tube) when he said that the currency standarization could be a long term goal of America.  Five years later, this idea has not even been discussed. Wonder how long did he mean by long term?  And what are the pros and cons of the currency standarization?

Finally, we need to mention the purchase of Panamá from Colombia to build the Interoceanic Canal.  It was purchased for 25 million dollars at the beginning of the last century, and United States has done tremendous things for a land which otherwise would be jungle today, and would have been abandoned by Colombia, as it has been its neighbor Chocó.

If Central and South American Countries joined our Union, and became one country, we would be stronger, bigger and more powerful.  We could make sure that we don't have enemies in our own continent. Perhaps, then Canada may decide to join in as well and that way, no one needs to migrate, because there would be no borders.  Or perhaps if this is a crazy idea,  it could really be what the song “La Vida Loca” is about...