Reply #8: How does Lou's Mexican-baiting benefit Americans?

[Kelly Rupert]

Illegal immigrants are absolutely necessary for our economy--and no reputable economist would claim otherwise. Lou's claims that "Illegals" are hurting the average American are unsupported and unsupportable. Moreover, neither Lou's ranting about Mexicans nor his distrust of China/India changes the situation. Rather, it just redirects American attention from meaningful economic issues to xenophobia.

To put it in somewhat-Marxist-sounding terms (which I very rarely do, but which might be slightly illuminating in this situation), hatred of outsiders creates a false cross-class solidarity, which preempts and prevents the natural solidarity between the working class against the ownership class. Lou is telling people, "All your problems are because of the foreigners. Forget unionization, forget single-payer health care, forget progressive taxation. You want to get rid of the foreigners."

His focus on "illegals" certainly does not benefit Americans.