Letter to the editor

U.S. should try for ‘honest’ labor

Kenneth Hurst seems to be misinformed on a couple points in his
submission, “U.S. must not accept a bill of wrongs”
(April 6).

First, the U.S. does indeed allow for private ownership of
property, but we also have a very strong sense of collective
ownership, expressed in our national parks, highway system and
thousands of other public services. We also spend as much money as
the entire world combined to fund a standing army that protects our
collected resources on a daily basis. The fact that we do not
discriminate against blacks, women or any other group (such as
those downtrodden people born on a third Sunday of March) stems
from their rights as U.S. citizens, outlined in the Bill of Rights.
This is not to say that immigrants, legal or otherwise, have no
rights because they are not U.S. nationals, but we have valid
reasons to distinguish and limit those people who have not
established allegiance to our country.

Second, Hurst perpetuates the silly idea that the jobs held by
undocumented workers would not be filled if we enforced the
proposed immigration legislation (or for that matter, the already
existing Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986). It is true
that of all areas of our economy, agriculture has been the slowest
to modernize, relying on methods that have remained largely
unchanged for a century. This lack of technological development
stems from an abundance of cheap labor, yet the only reason the
labor has remained cheap is due to extortion on a fundamental
level; since the laborers have no legal status, they have no
position to bargain for better wages, much less sue for the minimum
living wage afforded to our own citizens. The presence of
undocumented workers within our borders means that our own citizens
cannot compete for jobs whose wages have been pushed far below the
cost of living.

The prosperity of private enterprise ““ and the U.S.
economy in turn ““ has been based on a form of theft.
Initially, this took the form of slavery. Though slavery was
eventually abolished, we have never been able to beat our addiction
to cheap labor, eventually leading us to exploit foreign nationals
because they have virtually no legal status within our borders.
Every one of us has benefited from this exploitation, which is
proven by strolling through the produce aisle. It’s nice not
having to pay $8 for a head of lettuce, but it would be even better
if we could do it honestly, and I think it’s time to try.

Justin Runia Los Angeles resident