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Jewish World Review May 23, 2006 / 25 Iyar, 5766 Conservatives need to see the big picture By Jack Kelly
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Medicare and Social Security will become insolvent sooner than estimated earlier, Medicare's trustees said in their annual report, issued May 1.
Mexico has a presidential election on July 2. The leading candidates are Felipe Calderon, a conservative, and Andres Lopez Obrador, a leftist who has the backing of Venezuelan thug Hugo Chavez and Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.
What does this have to do with President Bush's plan for comprehensive immigration reform? Maybe lots.
Medicare and Social Security are going broke chiefly because there aren't enough workers paying into the systems to support beneficiaries. Unless millions of new workers can be found to pay the payroll tax, the retirement of the baby boom generation will bust both programs.
An Obrador victory likely would be a greater blow to our national security than the Ayatollah Khomeini's ouster of the shah of Iran has proven to be. Imagine the harm a Marxist dictator controlling a nation of 108 million people which shares a 2,000-mile border with us can do. President Bush has. You should.
The No. 1 source of revenue for Mexico is remittances from Mexicans working in the United States. Threatening those remittances helps Mr. Obrador. Regularizing them helps Mr. Calderon.
We should not institute a major domestic program primarily to aid a foreign ally. But a guest-worker program can benefit both our economy and our security.
Supporters of a guest-worker program say there are jobs too few Americans are willing to do at anything close to prevailing wages. Opponents says businessmen are just looking for cheap labor to exploit.
There is truth in both positions, but the weight of evidence supports the need for immigrant labor, at least for seasonal agricultural industries.
Our economy is booming, so it is difficult to argue that immigrant labor is harming it. Unemployment is approaching all-time lows, so it is difficult to argue we could dispense with immigrant labor without serious economic consequences.
A properly designed guest worker program can meet the legitimate needs of business, while sharply reducing the exploitation of illegals and the depressing effect that has on wages.
Lawful guest workers with tamper-proof ID cards would end the excuses businesses have for employing illegals.
If the Border Patrol didn't have to chase so many people who just want to come here to work, more of its time and resources could be devoted to hunting down those who pose serious threats to our security.
Many are unwilling to see the potential benefits in a guest worker program and a path to normalization for illegals already here because they are angry, with good reason.
In 1986, we were promised a "comprehensive" solution: strict enforcement coupled with amnesty for illegals already here. The amnesty was delivered, but not the enforcement, with the result there are roughly 12 million illegals now compared to about 4 million then. Americans don't want to be bamboozled again.
But some conservatives are so angry they complain even when they get what they want. JWR columnist Michelle Malkin has been demanding a crackdown on employers who hire illegals. Now that that's happening, she says it's just for show. When President Bush announced enforcement measures its editorial board approved of, the Manchester Union Leader said his heart wasn't in it.
President Bush has said the right things about enforcement. He'd better mean them, or there will be hell to pay. Voters in Herndon, Va., tossed out the mayor and town council because they supported an employment center for illegals. Rep. Tom Osborne, the Cornhuskers' football coach during their glory years, was an icon in Nebraska, but lost a gubernatorial primary this month because he backed a bill providing college tuition breaks for illegals.
Anger shouldn't blind us to opportunity. What to do about the 11 million to 12 million illegals already here is understandably contentious. But the key issue is how to keep more illegals from coming in.
President Bush hasn't done enough to secure our borders. But he has done more than Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, his dad and Bill Clinton combined.
The surprisingly large vote in the Senate Wednesday for a border fence indicates the Osborne example has raised the consciousness of even many Democrats. The political atmosphere has never been better for enactment of meaningful enforcement measures. That atmosphere is unlikely to improve if we kick this can down the road to a future, perhaps Democratic, Congress.
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JWR contributor Jack Kelly, a former Marine and Green Beret, was a deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force in the Reagan administration. Comment by clicking here.
© 2006, Jack Kelly |
Arnold Ahlert | |||||||||||
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