CAUSE AND AFFECT

In 1960, shortly after the major construction of our nations interstate highway system mandated by Dwight Eisenhower, the population of the United States stood at 179,323,175. In the year 2000 our population was 281,421,906 and rising, an increase of over ONE HUNDRED MILLION! And we wonder why our bridges and roads are in such a sorry state. When I was in school during the early 70's, environmentalism and conservation were just starting to take root. People began to realize that a particular portion of land could only sustain so many people. As students, we were taught by those early idealists that one way to help save the Earth was through population control. A net growth of zero being the target. Have just enough babies to replace the people who passed away. We were taught that as Americans it was our moral duty to have small families. Many of us bought into this. But herein lies the problem. While we were doing our civic duty by having smaller families in hopes of saving some of America's natural beauty for future generations, our politicians, motivated by corporate greed, opened the floodgates of immigration in 1965 and kept them open. This supplied the corporations with a steady source of cheap labor and competition for the native born in order to keep wages artificially low. Where are these environmenaltist now? Why are they not hemming and hawing over the strain that this steady stream of immigration puts on our natural resources. Almost any problem you can point to today has its roots in over population. Transporation infrastructure? Well, more heavy trucks needed to haul goods to a larger consumer base. Traffic jams and road rage? One hundred million more people on our roads will tend to aggravate anyone. Skyrocketing health care costs? The medical industry has to make up for the losses incured by treating the uninsured somewhere. I will issue a challenge. Mention almost any problem our country is facing today, and I guarantee I will invariably be able to trace its origin to overpopulation due to our insane immigration policies.

James J. Calautti