lity of CaliforniaÆs policymakers to budget ample resources for healthcare, employment, education, and other aspects of a quality lifestyle mandate restraint and innovation pertaining to immigration. Proponents of immigration maintain immigrants pay taxes, thereby contributing to the economy. However, an overwhelming number of immigrants are impoverished with poor or no education and lacking in job skills. Most of these low-skilled immigrants do not pay anywhere near enough taxes from their low incomes to help offset the enormous costs of educating their children and providing their families with healthcare. Yeh Ling-Ling (2005) argues that current immigration policies contribute to a low quality of life in California and exacerbate its difficulties in trying to come up with enough resources to resolve current issues. As Ling-Ling (2005, p. 95) notes, ôCalifornia cannot expect long-term prosperity if we continue to import poverty.ö Despite such views, as a Turkish immigrant to the United States, I find that this nation as a whole remains great because it is a nation of immigrants. Most of these immigrants were poor when they came to the U.S. and made successful lives for themselves and contributed to the U.S. economy and society. It is a lack of education suited to todayÆs job market that hampers most immigrants, not poverty. CaliforniaÆs budget woes and educational funding cuts in concurrence with rising tuition rates are most responsible. We need innovative legislation and restraint on cuts against immigrant social programs in order to restore this aspect of the California Dream.
Urban transportation must be increased and traffic must be minimized in order to prevent the California lifestyle of freedom from being completely lost in gridlock. The gridlock that has become CaliforniaÆs freeways is highly detrimental to CalifornianÆs quality of life. This is true in terms of taking 45 minutes to an hour to travel a...