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More Cars Reported To Experience Runaway Problems After Recall Fixes - Are Japanese Cars Safe?: Left of Center View

It can be very easy to blame an entire nation for the mistakes of one company. The better question to be asking with all of these Toyota issues is whether or not Toyotas are safe. That is a legitimate question to ask in light of all the reported safety problems with the models from Toyota that seem to have some design flaws. What is not fair is depicting all Japanese cars as dangerous because one manufacturer has dangerous flaws in the design of some of their models.

Americans are often quick to turn any situation into an excuse to promote nationalism. Anything that poses a danger to Americans that is foreign in origin suddenly becomes an “us vs. them” situation. Because the dangerous defect is in a Japanese car suddenly all Japanese cars must be dangerous. Forget the fact that American manufacturers have knowingly allowed deadly defects to be left in their products because it would be cheaper to settle lawsuits than to fix the defect, we must buy American now because the foreign cars might just kill us all. It’s an exercise in insanity.

While we do need to support American workers and the businesses that employ them, not all of those businesses are American owned. Toyota employs tens of thousands of American workers in different capacities. From plant workers to repair technicians to salespeople, Americans working for Toyota depend on the success of the company for their livelihoods. There is no question that there are some issues with some Toyota models but that does not necessarily mean all Toyotas are bad.

The bottom line is that we don’t have all the facts and we don’t know how widespread the issues with Toyota are. There is no indication that the problems with Toyota in any way extend to other Japanese car makers. There is certainly nothing that justifies endangering the jobs of Americans working for Japanese auto makers by blindly abandoning all Japanese cars in a panic over the problems with some Toyotas.

LJ Finstermore - World Citizen | E-mail Comments on this column. | Click icon to Digg this article

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More Cars Reported To Experience Runaway Problems After Recall Fixes - Are Japanese Cars Safe?: Right of Center View

Companies will do whatever they need to do to preserve profits. That’s business. But what has happened with Toyota has gone far beyond preserving profits. Right now Toyota is in serious damage control mode. They made a series of cars that have some real safety problems and they are trying to limit how much people understand about what exactly is wrong with their cars. First it was the floor mats, then it was the gas pedal, now maybe there’s something wrong with the computer. What’s next? What’s not next for me is a Japanese made car.

With the number of choices we have available to us in the auto market we don’t have to buy unsafe cars. Putting that aside, the American economy is in big trouble and we need to be buying American as much as possible. American auto workers are being laid off every day and left with no means to support their families. The safety issues with Toyotas give us the perfect opportunity to reevaluate our auto buying decisions and start buying American again. Ford, Chrysler and GM all make some fine automobiles right here in America that don’t have the safety issues of the runaway Toyotas.

We need to circle the wagons and get Americans back to work. We also need to avoid buying products that put our lives and the lives of our families at risk. Now is the time to tell Japan to go back to the drawing board and make safer cars. It’s also the time for us to reconsider the American car. Our friends and neighbors need us to support the products they make and they make fine products. There is no need for us to buy foreign cars that put our lives in danger. We make perfectly good cars right here that don’t suddenly decide they want to go 100 MPH and not stop until they hit something.

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A Legal Immigrant’s Perspective

If you are not a Native American, you are an immigrant, so am I. I came legally to this country at the age of five with my parents who worked hard, paid taxes (even Jesus paid taxes), lived by the rules of this great nation and never took or accepted a penny from the government. We came seeking FREEDOM from a communist country. It was months before we were able to enter the US legally. I remember us getting medical exams, shots (small pox), background check, references, and going through numerous interviews once we arrived. I also remembered people coming to the US from all over the world who waited years since it was based on "Quotas". Read more...

Solving Our Immigration Problem

The major problem our country is facing with illegal immigrants today is because of the exploitation of these immigrants. We believe the solution to this problem is two-fold. First, we should allow more immigrants in this country to cut down on the number of illegal ones. Second, all immigrants should be educated about their rights at the expense of the government. Below, you will find an in-depth look at our suggested reforms.

Reforms for immigration limitations:

-New immigrants can't equal more than 1% of the US population in a given year (the population being from the last recorded census). That 1% will be further divided up to allow only a certain number of immigrants each month.
-Each country of origin for immigrants will be allowed a certain percentage of that 1%. No country could receive more than 10% of the total amount and no country can receive less than .1% of it. The left over percentage will be divided up between all countries as follows: Read more...

Do Elements Within the La Raza Movement Pose a Threat to America?

La Raza means literally “The Race” in Spanish. The movement was formed in 1968 to promote the interests of the Mexican-American community. Like the NAACP and other affirmative-action minded organizations, La Raza has many members that are interested in being part of America and promoting equality for all Americans. The fundamental goals as stated by the movement are benign and represent the ideals of American diversity and cultural pride.

There is another movement affiliated with La Raza that has historically been more militant and still maintains documents within their organization that point to isolationistic views Read More

A Plan

The one major thing that seems to be lacking in the immigration debate is a real plan that addresses the legitimate concerns with illegal immigration. There are strong opinions on both sides and a lot of rhetoric but there isn’t really any solid plan being promoted to address the illegal immigration issue in a way that is both fair and logical.

So, that being said here is my idea:Read More

Trucking Cross Borders

This is mainly a concern for the trucking business. If we allow these people to come into our country, bringing cargo that we in America have, and can supply, then we are saying that the American working people are not needed, and have lost all say to legally enforced DOT (Department of Transportation) laws.Read More