An informational meeting was held Monday to raise support for a national boycott of Taco Bell in response to Taco Bell's purchasing of tomatoes from Florida migrant laborers whose wages fall below the minimum wage. I attended the meeting, with a number of free-market-oriented students.
After the politically biased presentation, the question-and-answer portion became a forum of heated debate. Aside from the specific faulty economic analysis offered in the meeting, one specific question piqued my interest more than any other. A student asked why we should be concerned with the wage level of individuals who are in this country illegally. She was met with a rigorous opposition of moans and grunts.
While the liberal portion of the audience expressed great hatred for her remark, they failed to address it with reason, intelligence or the critical thinking that this university prides itself upon. I intend to grant this concern the attention it deserves.
As a supporter of the free market, I disagree with any legitimacy of our government's authority to stipulate border policies, but the nature of this country as a welfare provider gives our student inquisitor the justification for her statement.
Simply put, we all pay taxes, forcefully taken by the government, in order to provide subsidies and redistribution programs such as welfare, healthcare, public schools, social security and many more. These illegal immigrants utilize these programs at the greater cost to innocent taxpayers. This is a clear injustice as a violation of property rights.
Left-wing activism has spread itself to so many divergent issues that it has lost all hope of consistent rational justification. The issue of raising worker conditions, wages and health benefits for underprivileged migrant laborers cannot be a movement centered on justice if it is at the forceful cost of innocent third party citizens. Being a liberal activist against border policies and in support of welfare services is theoretically contradictory.
Insistence of wealth redistribution to pay for the supposed needs of less fortunate individuals is the harsh reality of our socio-political climate. Citizens who oppose such legislation have every legitimate right to raise qualms against flexible border policies in the face of such forceful welfare programs.
Every immigrant in this country below the arbitrary poverty line of governmental creed is just another rising expense to the hardworking American tax-paying victim.
None of this analysis was welcomed or encouraged at the boycott informational meeting. Comments were made like, "I can't believe you go to a Jesuit University!" This close-minded political adherence is ignorant, hypocritical and just plain sad. Worse even still, it managed to stretch its reach beyond this comment and into the criticisms of the free market students' attendance in general.
While the moderators played a video glorifying guerilla political activism through rallies, hunger strikes, boycotts, sit-ins and hate speech, the economics students were criticized as impolite and rude for their argumentative nature.
I have little else to do but laugh at this complete and utter display of invincible ignorance.
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