Tuesday, February 13, 2007
By the Sweat of Your Brow Will You Eat Your Food [Mark Krikorian]
Last thoughts Rove's comments, from e-mailers:
I attended the National Federation of Small Business, Washington Summit where Karl Rove made his remarks saying that he "didn't want his kid digging ditches and slinggin' tar". The remarks shocked me, as I think it shocked most people in the room. The small business folks were to polite to boo, but you could hear the disappointment and snickers of dissatisfaction rumble through audience immediately after those remarks. Many of the small business people in attendance got their start doing though jobs in the family business or started their businesses from very humble beginnings. I can tell you they did not take kindly to his remarks. He later said in the same speech that everyone who comes into the country should learn English after which the room exploded with applause. The contrast of reactions couldn't have been more stark.
When you mentioned in the corner that Rove had said the same thing recently, I was infuriated all over again. Karl Rove is really envisioning John Edwards' Two Americas; one America where American citizens get the nice jobs, and one America where Mexican illegal aliens get to do the dirty jobs for very low wages. Is that what the kind of nation Republican Party stands for? Talk about class warfare.
And another writer sent this:
Theologian Gregory Baum once argued that people with really tough physical jobs, the kind Rove doesn't like, should be paid much more money than those in professions like doctors and lawyers. His argument was that the former are doing work people might rather not like to do, whereas the latter are doing what they exactly want to do.
[Me] We obviously shouldn't interfere with the market to dictate that dishwashers be paid more than lawyers — though their work sure would seem to be more socially useful — but how can we justify intentionally flooding the job market with foreign labor to drive their wages down?
02/13 09:48 AM
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