US Immigration Reform Is Vital—But World Population Growth Coming Like A Tsunami.

Roy Beck`s famous immigration


Gumballs presentation
eloquently demonstrates that if all the people in the
world who would like to come to America actually
do—currently an estimated 80 million—we would be
absolutely overwhelmed.

But 80 million is only slightly more than the net
(births over deaths) number of humans added to the world
population every year. And some experts very plausibly
argue that the planet can`t sustain over the next 100
years the number of humans
already alive—nearly 7 billion. At the current rate, several billion
more will be
added in the next decades.

One proponent of the need for a drastic and rapid
lowering of world population is Dr. Jack Alpert, a
Stanford educator.  His website offers a
comprehensive seminar on this issue.  Try tapping
into his web site as Alpert outlines a course of action
that must be followed if humanity expects to survive the
21st century. You may visit Dr. Alpert at


www.skil.org
and view his video


here.

We who favor real immigration reform—which is not now
even being intelligently discussed by our top elected
leaders—continue to ponder strategies to counter the
business, religious and ethnic advocacy
groups constantly working for Open Borders

However, behind the present immigration debate there
lurks urgent questions about mounting world population
growth, which brought world population from under two
billion in 1890 to its present level.  Like a
tsunami, unseen by those in its path until it is too
late, this wave of people threatens everyone on the
planet. 

I am reminded of the


famous
Edgar Allen Poe 1845 allegorical short story



The Masque of the Red Death,
which tells about a disease known as the Red Death which
plagues a fictional country and causes its victims to
die quickly and gruesomely.  

To escape its spread, the ruling Prince, Prospero, (as
in prosperity?) decides to retreat into his palace,
locking the gates and throwing a fancy masquerade ball,
highlighted in various rooms by fabulous colors. 
The seventh palace room is black with red windows. 
It contains an ebony clock that rings each hour, loud
and most distracting, causing all to stop, before
resuming their revelry. 

Does this remind us today of the massive traumas of



hunger and chaos
experienced already by over a billion people? Look
around the world and you can see, among the few, a level
of lavish life style, seldom if ever enjoyed in human
history.  Food, health care, housing, you name it!  
And this applies to the many, not the few, in the USA
and many developed nations.  Do we Americans see
those TV pictures of starving people living in
conditions which we find horrible? Yet we turn off our
TVs and move on without much further thought? 
Build up more armaments and more overseas base?

The prince`s guests avoid this ominous black and red
room. They find the other gorgeous rooms seemingly
filled with dreams, allowing them maximum pleasure.  

Sort of like living in a $25 million NYC


Park Avenue condo
vs. a cardboard box in


Mumbai,
eh? 

Then a new guest appears, dressed more ghoulishly than
his counterparts. His mask looks like the face of a
corpse, his garments resemble a funeral shroud, and his
face reveals spots of blood suggesting that he is a
victim of the Red Death.

Prospero becomes angry that someone with so little humor
and levity would join his party. The other guests,
however, are so afraid of this masked man that they fail
to prevent him from walking through each room. Prospero
finally catches up to the new guest in the black-and-red
room. As soon as he confronts the figure, Prospero dies.

When other party-goers enter the room to attack the
cloaked man, they find that there is nobody beneath the
costume. Everyone then dies, for the Red Death has
infiltrated the castle.

Similarly, the significance of unsustainable population
growth is pooh-poohed by many observers. They say we
will be protected by the endless growth of more food
supplies, the emergence of technologies that will allow
limitless expansion of human numbers—ultimately, by our
world class military.  But, say most of this
school, if deaths are needed these will occur among the
poor and weak.  So not to worry—the strong will be
left.   Hey, just a bit of evolution, right?   

Wrong. Ultimately, depending on just how this human
tsunami plays out, much of the world`s civilizing
elements will be wiped away, as our environment gets
further ravaged, food supplies dwindle, and burgeoning
numbers bring the kind of civil breakdowns now so
prevalent in many of the world`s poorer countries.

Yes, U.S. immigration policy remains urgently in need of
real reform. But even the best reform will not solve the
ultimate problem now gaining hurricane force.

Technology, military power, nothing will stop some ugly
form of disaster unless we quickly see a major reduction
in world human numbers. 

Experts argue constantly about what the sustainable
number is. The certain answer: much lower than it is
now. Dr. Albert`s number: 100 million.

What`s your optimum number—and how do you support it?

Donald A. Collins [email
him], is a freelance writer living in Washington DC and a former long time member of the board of FAIR, the Federation for American Immigration Reform. His views are his own.