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Jewish World Review
April 26, 2010/ 12 Iyar 5770
Son of Amnesty
By
Arnold Ahlert
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
In my last column, I noted that no society can survive a prolonged infatuation with moral ambiguity. Perhaps no other political issue in America today embraces such ambiguity better than the notion of illegal immigration "reform."
Everyone with a brain wave knows the progressive drill: illegal immigrants aren't illegal, they're "undocumented." They do the work "Americans won't do." Because they've lived here illegally for x number of years, they are now entitled to live here. We may as well legalize them, because we can't possibly deport twelve million people. Enforcing border security is akin to "re-building the Berlin Wall" on our southern borders. And last, but not least, my personal favorite regarding an integrally related issue: requiring picture ID for voting is "unfair."
Let's whack these odious notions one by one:
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"Undocumented" vs. "illegal." Undocumented is a truly Orwellian term. It implies that those who snuck into this country are victims of some sort of bureaucratic snafu—rather than the perpetrators of a crime. This is an utter lie. There is no document in existence that magically confers legality on illegal behavior. Even more reprehensible is the fact that those who choose to do the right thing and emigrate here legally are completely mocked for their efforts. Any society which rewards bad behavior evens as mocks good behavior is in deep trouble.
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Illegals do the "work Americans won't do." Sadly for my country, there is a kernel of truth here. It is quite astonishing that, in the space of my own lifetime, that we've gone from the idea that any job was honorable, to the idea that some are "beneath our dignity." Even worse, is the kids who've never worked at all who believe this. In a better world their parents would be ashamed. In this world, too many parents are "job snobs" who recoil from the idea that junior might have to get his hands dirty.
On the other hand, reality bites: is there another country suffering from nearly 10% unemployment—and 20% under-employment—ready to embrace millions of illegal workers? Spare me the comparisons to Europe. They're importing workers due to declining native populations, and they're certainly not getting ready to confer legality on millions of non-citizens in one fell swoop.
Or should I say one fell swoop again? Does everyone forget we legalized million of illegals as part of 1986 immigration reform package—and virtually abandoned the law enforcement elements of that bill? That's exactly what provided the impetus for the massive rise in illegal immigration from then until now. Why in the world should we do it again?
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Long-time illegal residents are entitled to live here. Really? Why? Because the federal government has been grossly negligent when it comes to protecting the nation's sovereignty? Because liberals set up sanctuary cities in direct defiance of federal immigration law? How about because long-time, undetected criminal activity not only deserves a special exemption from prosecution, but the bestowment of privileges such as driver's licenses, in-state college tuition, welfare, health care, etc., often unavailable to American citizens?
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We can't possibly deport twelve million illegals. First comment: "twelve million" is a number right out of a media-driven hat. How do we know it's twelve million? We can't even conduct a reliable census of Americans, but we're supposed to believe some arbitrary number of illegal population estimates is the indisputable truth? What if it's thirty million? How many Americans are prepared to legalize a group of people equivalent to ten percent of our entire population—before they bring the rest of their families into the country?
We don't have to engage in massive deportation. All we have to do is enforce existing law, and illegals will deport themselves. How long that takes is irrelevant, as long as the process is moving in the right direction.
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Enforcing border protection is akin to re-building the Berlin Wall. The fact that this idiotic argument has any traction whatsoever is a testament to a public school system which produces both weak thinkers and historical illiterates. The Berlin Wall was built to keep people in, not out. And one of the fundamental functions of government is to "provide for the common defense" of the nation. The ruling class's determination to leave our borders purposefully unprotected is a complete abrogation of their Constitutionally-mandated responsibilities—period.
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Requiring picture ID for voting is "unfair." You bet it is—for those who wish to vote illegally. For a country in which every serious business transaction requires such identification, it's the ultimate no-brainer. Four-fifths of Americans don't trust their government now. What would an obviously tainted election do to that number? And spare me any comparisons to the 2000 election. After liberals perpetrated two gigantic lies about Florida: a) that Bush lost and b) "million of blacks were "disenfranchised," the truth was swept under the rug. Every re-count done by liberal media organizations showed Bush with an even greater margin of victory than the number commonly used by news organizations, and an investigation by the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice "found no credible evidence that any Floridians were intentionally denied the right to vote in the 2000 election."
Despite all their rationalizations, the fight against picture IDs by progressives has one obvious motivation: to give those who can't win elections legitimately a chance to steal them. That progressives would abide such chicanery is no surprise. Their method of force-feeding their agenda on an unwilling American majority, as evidenced most recently by the passage of the health care bill, can be reduced to one simple idea: the ends justify the means.
Understand precisely what is occurring here: a large portion of Congress, along with the Obama administration, are taking the side of non-citizens against the wishes of the overwhelming majority of Americans. The fact that this issue is being raised again, less than three years after the public's complete repudiation of anything remotely resembling "reform," is yet another reminder that a Democratically-controlled Congress and White House are prepared to do anything to expand the size and scope of government—and permanently entrench their party in control of it.
A government by, of and for the people? Not the American people.
All of the above demonstrates the utter moral bankruptcy of progressives—and sadly, many of their enablers in the Republican party. If America is ever to regain its footing, such people must be purged from the body politic. That means virtually every Democrat up for re-election—and any Republican dumb enough to abide such a blatant power grab by the opposition party. Spare me the idea that Hispanics will abandon Republicans in droves if they resist amnesty. Some surveys show that legal immigrants of Hispanic descent are as fed up with illegal immigration as anyone else. And even if they weren't, who need two political parties willing to abandon the rule of law for political expediency? Who need two political parties willing to kowtow to the extortionist demands of interest groups representing non-citizens?
Obama and the Democrats have made it crystal clear that they are going to do everything they can to pass as much of their progressive agenda as possible before the November election. If Republicans don't make it equally clear that they are going to do everything they can to thwart them, they are headed for the ash heap of political history. Once again: you don't make bipartisan compromises with those whose contempt for American exceptionalism, history, culture and traditions is palpable.
Nothing demonstrates that contempt more than illegal immigration "reform." Everyone knows it amounts to amnesty for law-breaking border-busters. The public fought it tooth and nail the last time it was attempted, and that was before they were as fed up with Washington, D.C. as they are now.
Think they were angry then? You ain't seen nothin' yet.
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Comment on JWR Contributor Arnold Ahlert's column, by clicking here.
Previously:
04/22/10: Mortgages and Moral Meltdowns
04/20/10: Bashing Christians — Or Gays?
04/15/10: Personal Integri-‘tea’
04/12/10: Fools, Tools and Ghouls
04/08/10: (Tea) Party On
04/05/10: The Triumph of Mediocrity
04/02/10: Two For the Road
03/29/10: The Innate Immorality of Liberalism
03/24/10: The Art of War
03/22/10: I Want My Country Back
03/18/10: A Perpetual Process
03/17/10: American Exhibitionists
03/15/10: A Light Bulb Moment of Clarity
03/10/10: Little Things Mean A Lot
02/03/10: Budgetary Fork in the Road
02/01/10: Liberal Economic Illiteracy
01/27/10: ‘Roe-ing and Wade-ing’ Back to Reason
01/25/10: Arrogance When Up, Denial When Down
01/20/10: Connecting the Educational Dots
01/19/10: The Next Tea Party?
01/15/10: The Myth That Keeps on Giving
01/13/10: Airport Security Begins Away From the Airport
01/11/10: Secrets and Lies
01/08/10: Embracing Bigotry — or Rejecting Bullying?
01/06/10: Hanging by an Ideological Thread
01/04/10: Our ‘Wonderama’ Bureaucracy
12/30/09: A Day Off
12/28/09: Dangerous Myths
12/25/09: I, Me, Mine
12/23/09: A Very Harry Christmas
12/21/09: My Opinon
12/18/09: The Party of Repeal
12/15/09: Privileged Exemption
11/30/09: ‘Settled’ Science and Unsettled Children
11/30/09: American Sharia Law
11/23/09:The Trial (Travesty) of the Century
11/04/09: American Vampires and Their Political Enablers
11/01/09: ‘Opting Out’ of Insanity?
10/28/09: Cell Phones Cause Brain Cancer. Brain Required
10/26/09: Communism: Nazism With Better PR
10/21/09: Just Asking
10/16/09: Cost Projections vs. Actual Costs, or Hope and Change vs. Reality
10/14/09: News you can use …
10/07/09: Incremental Insidiousness
10/05/09: MIA: Common Sense and Common Decency
09/30/09: Iran: Bad Options and Unpreparedness
09/21/09: Crying Racism: the Last Refuge of Scoundrels
09/11/09: 9/11 Cannot Be Sanitized
09/08/09: ‘Truthers’ and Consequences
09/01/09: A ‘Paper Trail’ Challenge for the Mainstream Media
08/31/09: Drowning in Amorality
08/26/09: The Republican Recovery Program
© 2010, Arnold Ahlert
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