Immigration in America: How Do We Fix a System in Crisis?

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What if more people would want to come to our country under an open-border policy than already live here? The American taxpayer is not obligated to fund the safety net for the poor people who Mexico is encouraging to leave that country and become our problem. While the last week has resulted in angry and at times ugly debate about how we will approach immigration reform, it has brought a certain degree of clarity to the debate. While we are a generous people, we are also a realistic people driven by a sense of fairness and common sense, with our own fiscal, social and political challenges to address.

We have this current immigration mess because of an unholy alliance on immigration policy between Democrats and certain elements of the Republican Party. This has already put the American taxpayer under duress. Democrats have sought political gain by admitting more immigrants. The Chamber of Commerce-business interests inside the Republican Party have sought short-term business gains through willing and cheap immigrant labor.

But be assured, in their pursuit of political and financial gain, both parties have sold out the American taxpayer and the future of our country. And if we continue on the current trajectory, taxpayers are going to be asked to shoulder an even greater financial burden. There will either be unrest and potential bloodshed in the streets, or the millions of people out of work will be thrown onto our already overstressed social welfare programs.

And the only way those programs will be able to withstand the stress is if the American taxpayer is hit with crushing tax increases.

We must choose today what our country will become in less than a generation. Understanding political realities, many on the center-right are willing to make compromises to give our nation a more sensible immigration policy. One element of this compromise would be to create a path to citizenship for the nearly , illegal immigrants brought to the U. But many conservatives refuse to budge on key issues, such as a path to citizenship.

They want Democrats to give up all their positions without getting anything from Republicans in return. Here I would look back at history for some guidance. There was no greater force for racist public policy in the first 60 years of the 20th century and earlier than the Democratic Party, particularly the Democratic Party in the South.

Yet because President Lyndon Johnson bent to the social upheaval in the s, it is Democrats who are now somehow viewed as the great advocates for hard-fought social change — when in fact, their party was one of the greatest obstacles to change until fairly recent history. Republicans can make the argument that when it comes to addressing illegal immigration, their position is on far more solid moral and policy ground than the efforts of Democrats before the s to block civil rights for black Americans.

The only reason Democrats are now blocking real immigration reform is because they want to use illegal immigrants for political gain. Republicans now have the opportunity to transform our party and our nation by embracing real immigration reform: This could very well turn political realities on their head. They will go into a job market that looks especially bleak for young people. Many college graduates are unemployed or working minimum-wage jobs.

Some of the troubles facing new graduates can be attributed to the post-recession economy.

But there are larger forces at work that are transforming the nature of employment in America—forces that colleges and universities have been slow to recognize, much less respond to. This issue book looks at the purpose of higher education and what our colleges and universities can and should do to address the future of work. It was developed as part of a national initiative organized by Augsburg College and other organizations.

More about the initiative on Huffington Post. See also the National Issues Forums. Dialogues — Contributing Editor. This book brings together 18 prominent leaders in business, education, sports, technology, and the arts for a series of dialogues on leadership.

What's unusual about the collection is that each of the leaders is deliberately paired with someone from a different profession or field of endeavor. The result is a set of conversations that span boundaries, cultures, and perspectives in creative and sometimes startling ways. Tech entrepreneur Paul E.

Jacobs and Lang Lang, the celebrated classical pianist, reflect on the rigors of pursuing excellence. The book, for which I served as contributing editor, is published by Egon Zehnder International.

Account Options

Americans are more dissatisfied with government than ever. Any one of these problems taken in isolation would represent a serious challenge to our American democracy. But taken together, they make it almost impossible for government to address the short- and long-term problems facing the nation. How do we get American government working for us again? This issue book, prepared for the National Issues Forums, explores the options. On Collaboration — Contributor. On Collaboration is an essay collection published by Tate, London, that looks at the dynamics of collaboration.

It brings together several general essays on collaboration—including a piece I wrote titled "Building Collaborative Communities"—as well as a half-dozen case studies of collaborative projects carried out in the U. As I say in my essay, collaborative efforts tend to be loosely structured, highly adaptive, and inherently creative.

As a form of joint decision-making, collaboration represents one of the most promising ways that people, groups and organizations can work together to bring about change, because unlike mere cooperation, they tend to be based on advancing collectively-defined goals. But as we work our way out of a tough economic recession and in the face of a growing tide of illegal immigration, some wonder whether newcomers are compromising our quality of life, taking jobs away from those already here, and threatening our security and sovereignty as a nation.

Those who support immigration are often bent on helping or employing newcomers. Those in favor of restricting immigrants worry about the growing costs—both social and economic—of assimilating and aiding new arrivals. For their part, immigrants themselves typically want little more than a better life. Whose interests should be served? Can these often-conflicting interests be balanced? Prepared for the National Issues Forums, Immigration in America originally published in and updated in explores these questions and looks at a range of reform options.

Doing Democracy — Author. Doing Democracy surveys a burgeoning network of organizations in the U. Their names vary—some call themselves public policy institutes, others centers for civic life—yet they share a common approach, one aimed at tackling tough public issues, strengthening communities, and building civic capacity. This report looks the state of the network today, how it has evolved over the years, and what it has achieved. The report includes a preface by David Mathews, president of the Kettering Foundation. This is a book about how to create social change and imagine a more perfect world.

Author William Murtha describes Words as "a testament to the hopes, resilience, courage, and life-message of the visionaries. This is their story. And best of all, their uplifting and courageous stories clearly demonstrate much of what is going right in the world. Taking the road less traveled for those daring to challenge the status quo was far from easy and often involved a great deal of pain, retribution, and self-sacrifice.

Nobel Peace Lectures — Editor. Peace, is the latest in a series of volumes presenting the texts of the Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speeches. In addition to the Nobel lectures for the years , the book offers a detailed introduction to each prize, the official announcement of the award, the presentations speeches by the Norwegian Nobel Committee chairman, biographies of the laureates, and extensive notes and bibliographies. Edited with the distinguished historian Irwin Abrams, the book was published by World Scientific under the auspices of the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm.

Public Innovators — Author. Based on a year-long study I led for the Harwood Institute, this report looks at public innovators—who they are, how they do their work, and why they are one of the keys to bringing about the change we need in America's communities.

Public innovators are stewards of change at the community level. They are not quite civic leaders, not quite community organizers, and not quite social entrepreneurs, but something of all three. Their work is aimed at engaging people, catalyzing conversations, articulating questions and common concerns, and aligning people, organizations, and resources to achieve real impact. The report describes ten public innovators who are making change happen in ten communities across the country—exemplary leaders who are at the forefront of a remarkable wave of innovation taking place at the grassroots level across America.

Here's how to solve the immigration crisis

The Little Brown Reader — Contributor. The Little, Brown Reader , one of the best-known and most respected thematic readers available today, brings together contemporary and classic readings with extensive critical reading and writing instruction and numerous illustrations. Cain, enhances both features, further improving the text's focus on critical thinking and writing.

The anthology includes an interview I conducted with writer Richard Rodriguez exploring how American cultural identity is in the throes of a radical transformation today. Composing Knowledge — Contributor. This textbook explores the role of language in learning, the conventions of the classroom, the nature of persuasion, the importance of collaboration, the force of gender, the impact of technology, and the power of the image.

Immigration in America: How Do We Fix a System in Crisis?

When students contend with these issues, they see the ways that scholars view them, and enter the academic conversations that shape their college years — and their future professional and civic lives. The book includes an essay of mine on how the Internet is changing our relationship to the local community, for better and for worse.

A Voice in the Wilderness: Conversations with Terry Tempest Williams — Contributor. A Voice in the Wilderness brings together 16 interviews—including one of my own—with writer and naturalist Terry Tempest Williams. They sparkle with anecdotes, observations, clarifications, and even confessions that are not available in any other source. Mapping the Political Landscape — Contributor. Mapping the Political Landscape: An Introduction to Political Science explores many issues that reflect the large diversity of 21st century society.

Taking into account the increasing globalization of issues, the book relates classical concepts of political science to differing political and cultural experiences. Mapping the Political Landscape is divided in to four thematic parts: Politics as Discipline, Ideas, Institutions and Change, with a small section of classic and contemporary readings following each chapter. The volume includes an interview I conducted with author Benjamin Barber. Investing in Public Life — Author.

books & publications

The foundation world is reluctant to openly admit it, but there is a pervasive sense today that community-building projects, for all their good intentions, routinely fall short of their goals. All too often, they fail to tap into vital civic resources and energy, build effective relationships with the public, develop broad-based networks and coalitions, and sustain the commitment over the long haul. What can grantmakers and nonprofits do to address the problem?

This report, based on a year-long series of dialogues convened by the Pew Partnership for Civic Change and the Kettering Foundation, looks some practical—and surprisingly effective—strategies.

• The Missing Mom
• Die E-Mail. Eine Bedrohung für analoge Kommunikationsformen? (German Edition)
• Sourdoughs, Claim Jumpers & Dry Gulchers: Fifty of the Grittiest Moments in the History of Frontier Prospecting
• The Three Tunes
• Passeurs dombre, épisode 4: Ombre et lumière (Numerik séries) (French Edition)