POL 300: April 3

-When deciding what to eat, how much should we consider the workers who pick, process, and transport it?

A great deal of thought should go into the choices we make at the grocery store for a number of reasons. Eating foreign beef products can have a harmful effect on our environment. For example, thousands upon thousands of acres of rain forest are cleared daily in the Amazon Rainforest to make way for cattle farming just countries like Brazil can cash-in on the world's appetite for beef. These practices contribute to hazardous living conditions for those people who are close to these new ranches, let alone the world ecosystem given that the Amazon has been dubbed the "Lungs of the Earth." If an immigrant worker is being treated in a California vineyard just so I can have cheap grapes, I am just as guilty as the vineyard owner since my purchase only encourages unjust practices. I could only imagine what would happen if people realized their RIGHT to protest such immoral actions. If we want it, they, Congress, food corporations, and the like, will give it to us ONLY if we tell them how pissed off we are and that we want change.

-Whether or not you think illegal immigration is a problem, how is illegal immigration connected to the food we eat?

Illegal immigration is directly related to the food we eat. It is important to note that no person ever leaves their country when things are going great. The immigrants who have come to our country have always been in the same boat, no pun intended, in that they were fleeing oppression, famine, and/or lack of opportunity. The "poor and huddled masses" have done well for us also with Irish and Italian immigrants building our cities, the Chinese building our railroads, and now Hispanics who labor to put food on our table. What has happened now though is that it is politically popular to target easy scapegoats during down economic times ("They took maa' jurb."), illegal immigrants who are cleaning up the crap, sometimes literally, that the average US citizen wouldn't even stomach. On top of that, we live in a society where crime, in this case illegal immigration, goes unpunished and the people we should be punishing are a large part of the problem. If beef companies are actively recruiting people in Mexico, regardless of eligibility to work in the US, they should receive a fine. I'm not talking about some slap on the wrist fine that has no real cajones behind it either, I'm talking about something where it really hurts that they reconsider their practices so that they no longer higher cheap labor. There are many who talk about the evils of illegal immigration but are looking at it far too narrowly. Illegal immigrants are cheap labor, labor effects prices, and when labor prices go up food prices go up (very "Duh" statement). Therefore, the correlation is clear.... and so are the true culprits.