Benjamin Franklin National Memorial in the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Immigration Reform is finally front and center in our national debate, no thanks to a feckless President unwilling to show his hand in this controversial debate. A group of republican and democratic Senators have come forward with a framework for a bill they hope to write, then pass on to the GOP controlled House by Spring. It’s a noble effort that will only become law if priorities are straight. And so far I’ve not seen evidence that their priorities are straight. So far, the only priority I’ve seen bantered about is the news medias claim the Republicans might come on board due to their desire for Hispanic votes. How’s that sit with you for integrity?
Estimates place the number of illegal aliens in this country at 11 million persons. 40% of these immigrants came to the country legally and over-stayed their visas. 80% of these illegals came from Mexico or some Latin nation. All of them place heavy burdens on our countries resources; jobs, welfare, schools, hospitals, justice system, etc. It’s a blight on the country and a serious threat to both economic recovery and deficit spending. And unless the problem is solved there is no hope of it getting better. It will only get worse. So some compromise, in the spirit of Benjamin Franklin, seems in order.
One of our countries greatest statesmen was the Philadelphia printer who almost singlehandedly brought the French into the Revolutionary War, and through an established aura pressed authors of our Federal Constitution to accord. The 81-year old Franklin urged his fellow delegates to the 1787 Constitutional Convention to be willing to sacrifice, not their principles, but their overwhelming urge to be right.
Franklin said that day that through his long life, he had often been forced
“by better information or fuller consideration to change opinions . . . which I once thought right, but found to be otherwise. It is therefore that the older I grow, the more apt I am to doubt my own judgment, and to pay more respect to the judgment of others.”
Details of the proposed immigration reform plan can be read in detail here, in the ABC News story: Details of the Immigration Plan.
What has always been the sticking point is what to do with the 11-million illegals already in this country. Hard liners insist they not get “amnesty”. But lets face it. Such a stance is both un-American and cruel. Americans grant amnesty all the time. It was written into the Constitution that Franklin worked so hard on. But Liberal Democrats have never wanted to face the reality of Republican priorities first: secure the border and remove the magnets. Granting illegals a path to citizenship is absolutely fine with me. But first things first. The border must be secured and allowing illegals to suck-up every welfare and entitlement program this country offers will not diminish the uncontrolled flow of illegal immigrants into this country. It will, in fact, accelerate it.
I’ve never understood why Democrats failed to understand that the jobs and benefits taken by illegals more drastically affect people who statistically tend to be Democratic voters. When you employ a Spanish-speaking person to cook your hamburgers, lay your carpet or install your new roof you aren’t taking a job from some college educated intellectual. You are taking a job from the least educated in our society, and far too often that person is black. When you provide a Section 8, or welfare home, to an illegal Mexican family you aren’t shutting out that home from a Stanford University grad and their kids. The American family who needs the warmth and security of that shelter is poor and ill-educated.
The current compromise proposal calls for more border agents and security monitoring using unmanned drones before any amnesty is granted. This sounds like a step in the right direction. It also proposes stream-lining the legal immigration process to make it easier to come into this country than the current nightmarish system. It also allows for more immigrants to legally come during times of economic growth and slow immigration during times of no or slow growth. Again, good ideas.
The American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU, has already come out against a registration plan allowing background checks for employers to see if potential new hires are legal residents in this country. They have an excellent point. A national ID card program, which this plan would certainly require, is an infringement on the implied Constititional right to privacy. But the problem can be easily solved by making the Federal Background check program and registration voluntary. If employers choose not to use it and are found to have hired illegals penalize them with such severe consequences that they would be unwise to not use it.
At the turn of the 20th Century and just before, this country was being overwhelmed by new immigrants. But at that time you were not allowed into this country without a sponsor and without a desirable skill. That too would seem to be a standard in our own national interests.
I don’t expect this bill to go anywhere. Because while I hope and expect Republicans to compromise on the “path to citizenship” issue; I expect Democrats to use the poor Hispanics/Latinos in this country as they continue to use the blacks in this country as political footballs with which to perpetually bash the GOP and subsequently remain in power. It’s not solutions they want. They’ll paint the Republicans reasonable positions regarding border security first as too tough and inhumane. And in doing so the complicit media will again drive more Latinos into the hands of their overseers, the Democratic party.
January 28, 2013
Categories: National Politics, Washington State . Tags: ABC News, American Civil Liberties Union, Benjamin Franklin, benjamin franklin national memorial, current-events, Democratic Party (United States), Democrats, Government, illegal immigrant, immigration, politics, President Obama, Republican, Stanford University, United States, US Senate . Author: Michael Schuett . Comments: Comments Off
