On 8 October 2011, California Governor Jerry Brown signed the second half of a two part bill called “The California Dream Act (AB 131),“ a law that would allow undocumented students, who, if they had been brought to the US before the age of 16, access to public financial aid if they met certain educational requirements[1]. These standards, the same to which American citizens are held, include GPA requirements and regular school attendance. They also provide grounds to the leftist argument that should aliens perform to or above the level of their legal counterparts, they should also be provided with taxpayer subsidized financial welfare. In this case, they mean grant money, scholarships and federal loans.
Jerry Brown was quick to reassure leftist/democratic, socialist and minority voters in California’s gubernatorial campaign that illegal children would not be punished for decisions that were, at their age, beyond their control. In fact, Brown’s ideology is indeed almost (The Fountainhead author Ayn Rand) Randian in nature, i.e. people cannot be born into obligation, and that upon their entrance into the world they should be void of social and state expectation. At least that’s how it all sounded to me. But please make no mistake, the implementation of AB 130/131, the so niftily called “Dream Act,” is a supercilious display of fiscal abuse by the Californian government.
AB 131 was quick to enter and leave the media scene. In fact, besides a small link on the homepage of MSNBC.com, I was surprised to find that both conservative and liberal news had left it relatively alone. Jerry Brown’s promotion of the legislature leaked quietly through the press, a smart move considering the potential outcry that would have been expected from right winged conservatives and Tea Partiers. With most attention fixated between the discovery of the bigoted name of Rick Perry’s former ranch and the surprise that an African American is slowly beginning to dominate the GOP race, it was an opportune time to push this through, even if Jerry Brown had done so unintentionally.
But I think unfortunately the aftershock of such a bill will be noticeable in the future, perhaps so far ahead that it will be difficult to blame the creator of the law and how to solve the impending brain-drain because of it (similar to how the country attributes some of its woes to Obama and some to George W., and how most have no clue how to fix it.)
It is generally accepted that most work best by the means of financial incentive. Such ideology is supported by paradigm shifts in immigration, like America’s 200 years of immigration, or the collapse of communistic governments (and yes, I’m aware that isn’t the sole reason do for the collapse of the Soviet Empire.) Liberals, especially in this case, fail to realize that by removing financial incentive to anyone, let alone students, it is to be expected that both the quality and quantity (in this case we are not speaking simply of “homework,” I’m talking about university research) of work being conducted in the state is expected to drop. That’s not the worst though. Individuals, or students in this case, not only will seek better financial opportunities (private funding though private universities), they could leave the state all together, resulting in a loss of man- and brainpower to a dominate California collegiate system.
Break it down: Let’s take myself as an example. If I were applying to earn a master’s degree in the state of California, I would view schools such as first class institutions Berkeley, UCLA, Stanford and USC as top choice and realistic options. I would need financial aid, however, and most students do (In fact, during my undergraduate years, I did not once hear of any student not needing tuition assistance). But upon finding out that potentially less money would be available to me, because it’s partially being diverted to others (regardless of to whom it’s going), I’d look to earn a higher degree at a place where I could get more funding. In lousy economic times such as these, people are going to go to who doles out the MOST. And for the school mentioned above, that means prospective candidates opting to attend either better private options, or out-of-state schools.
And so, the money that my law abiding, tax paying parents have been plugging into the system for over 28 years fails to reach the one personal they had hoped to benefit from it: ME. If I were someone with basic common sense, why would I then choose to live in a state where my tax paying dollars benefited people who didn’t contribute their fair share? I know this is an over generalized statement, but it is an accurate simplification of the problems that not only plague our nation, but the rest of the world (Think PIIGS). It is minor issues like these, which augment into serious social problems that generate rightwing creativity like the formation of The Tea Party, and ideas that inspired the Libertarian Party of the US in the 1970’s to deem it’s motto “TANSTAAFL,” or “There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch[2].“ And people like me, hardworking, backbreaking citizens that would like to continue to make a life in the United States, want people to cover their part when it’s time to pay the check.
And they won’t. Which is why it’s to be expected that the elite of the state will take taxation laws like this bill into consideration when deciding where to go for higher education, or where to start a family so that their children can get all the financial help they can. It’s no wonder that the brain drain that once plagued countries like India and China, is now trending in reverse. Better public funding is beginning to exist in these nations.
It’s hard to make a moral argument against children, from whichever nation, who have been brought to this country. It’s even harder, however, after legislation like these, for citizens to see the point of feeding into a leaky system. And that’s significant right now for a declining nation. In a country in which the term “The American Dream“ became recognizable to the entire world for multiple centuries, it still is possible to rise to the top with just the shirt on your back. Just step on one of California’s many elite universities and look around. Millions have done it, and many more millions will. In the mean time, I’d just like to cover for my share of the tab.
[1] http://www.californiadreamact.org/
[2] http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/cp3/message/9701
