Political Philosophy: On the current immigration issues

Things that are effortless are the best things in life.

Last night, a wise Native American man plead to a group of people to welcome our brothers and sisters from Canada, Mexico, Panama, and the like as such, our brothers and sisters. he went on to explain that had it not been for events such as the yielding of California to the Union and Texas at the Alamo, the people we know as Navajo, Yuki, Mohave, Apache and many others would simply be Mexicans today. The borders are artificial borders and our people (the Natives) span two hemispheres.

His intention was not to make a political statement, yet his words were so strong in light of the current situation. I have been moved by the words lately of so many Native Americans being so pro-immigrant. Somehow it seems absurd to them that the descendants of immigrants (the white man) claim so much that this land cannot welcome it's native brothers and sisters from a mile or an inch past an artificial line.

If it is solely about being illegal or respecting the laws, I ask you to consider this: In the words of Red Wolf, "Everyone is ignoring that these people, because of their status try ferverently to obey the law and pay taxes. Their only crime is to not YET have legal residency. Aside from that they generally obey all of the laws for fear of being caught. I ask you then, to tell me that you, as a citizen, have never done something illegal? You'd be hard pressed to find me a person who has never cheated on his taxes. You are no different than the one without papers who pays his taxes."

One of the founding fathers of our modern political philosophy (aside from Hobbes and a sprinkle of others) was John Locke. Influencing our Constitution, Democratic structure, and essentially everything we know as law and politics in the United States, John Locke is rightfully one of the most respected political philosophers. Why then does our greed for land ignore one of the mainstays of his views on property? He said in his Two Treatises ~2.27, one must leave enough and as good for others (the sufficiency restriction) when staking claims on property. To embrace these ideals when it benefits us and ignore them when it comes time to benefit others is absurd and hypocritical. In a world where population overgrowth has made this simple concept unobtainable, how can we rectify this? Ought it not be to share the land with our own people?

A friend said to me last night that it is time that someone takes a stand against Nationalism in the same way that people such as MLK took a stand against Racism. I said to say that with passion and not act is the hinderance to change.