Posted on 05/30/2006 6:08:51 AM PDT by NapkinUser
Quick: What do 61% of Republican and 10% of Democrat Senators have in common? They represent America—at least on the issue of immigration.
These numbers, drawn from the recorded vote on last week’s disastrous amnesty-granting immigration “reform” bill in the Senate, starkly illustrate two related insights about the ongoing illegal immigration crisis. One is that, despite gleeful media reports that “Congressional Republicans” are at odds with most of their supporters on the immigration issue, the great majority of Republican congressmen are not.
The Republican leadership of the House of Representatives refused to even consider amnesty, legalization, or a guest worker program for illegal aliens in their border security bill; and 32 of the 55 Republicans in the Senate opposed the Senate amnesty, despite enormous pressure from the President and their leadership. The bill passed the Senate, despite nearly 2-1 opposition from Republicans, on the strength of overwhelming 90% support from Democrats.
Essentially, the President and the rest of the open borders minority conspired with Democrats to defeat the Republican majority.
Which leads us to the second insight: the strange pro-amnesty coalition consists, therefore, principally of Democrats. Should anger over the immigration debacle cause the Senate, or especially the House, to fall into Democrat’s hands in the November elections, the result will be an unstoppable march toward amnesty and massive, unimaginable increases in both legal and illegal immigration.
On the other hand, if a Republican-controlled Congress also delivers amnesty and unimaginable increases in both legal and illegal immigration, who cares who wins in November? This dilemma places the pro-enforcement, secure borders grass roots conservatives in a delicate position. We must find a way to defeat the powerful minority within the Republican Party that wishes to throw open the borders entirely, without also defeating the majority that wishes to secure them.
We cannot, therefore, stay home in November or become demoralized and walk away from political activism. In fact, we must redouble our activism or certainly see an overwhelming and irreversible change for the worse befall the country. But we cannot continue to offer blanket support to the Republican Party as a whole.
It is thus time to begin withholding donations from the general party apparatus. When you donate to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, for example, you are donating to help re-elect both Jeff Sessions and Lincoln Chaffee and you are giving a vote of confidence to the current leadership of the Party—wherein lies much of the pro-amnesty minority. A less self-contradictory approach would be to donate directly to the campaigns of pro-enforcement politicians, or donate to political action committees, such as Tom Tancredo’s Team America PAC, that reward only those candidates that wish to secure our nation’s borders and visa systems.
Once amnesty is passed, it can never be undone, and the human floodgates will open. This issue is therefore important enough by itself to act on, to vote on, and to donate on. But, interestingly, there is another reason why it would benefit conservatives to take the illegal immigration battle to the long-term and stick to their guns vehemently: just look at who the pro-amnesty Republicans are.
The 32 Senate Republicans voting against amnesty and for better enforcement have an impressive lifetime voting rating from the American Conservative Union of 91 out of 100. This means that on the whole range of political issues, the secure borders coalition is very solidly conservative.
The 23 Republican Senators that voted for the amnesty, by contrast, have a lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union of just 77 out of 100, a full 14 points lower. This should not come as much of a surprise when one considers that to support amnesty for illegal aliens, the 23 broke with their base and joined with Democrats to defeat the majority position within their own party.
Every so-called RINO, or “Republican In Name Only,” within the Senate voted for amnesty. The issue is shaping up to be a very informative indicator of a candidate’s larger set of beliefs. Many of the Republicans touting amnesty have not just broken with their conservative core supporters over one issue. They have broken with them time and again.
Like a number of lesser internal conflicts over the past year or so, the battle over immigration does not threaten to split the Republican Party, so much as further define it as the party of conservatism, giving voters a clear choice between Republicans and Democrats. This is not a battle to be avoided. Immigration and border security could very well become the high-profile litmus test issues for the next several years.
Let the pro-amnesty RINOs (El RINOs?) get their support from the illegal aliens they believe they are so wisely courting. Give your support to the Republicans that are still courting you. But above all, do not give up and go away quietly.
Mr. Johnson, a writer and medical researcher in Cambridge, MA., is a regular contributor to Human Events. His column generally appears on Mondays. Archives and additional material can be found at www.macjohnson.com
This article is crap. Any politician that scores a 77 on the ACU meter is ok by me.
I also noticed, the author did not give the avg. ACU score for the democrats which is probably about 10.
Amen, Fight harder, don't give up.
Work for those representatives who will put a kabosh on this travesty.
Remove the likes of Mclame and the rest of his kennedy loving buddies and send them home with a pink slip.
According to FOXNEWS yesterday
a.m., Congressmen/Senators went
home for the holiday expecting
their constituents to be asking
WHEN is Congress going to get
going on Health Care, Social
Security, etc. They were over-
whelmed by the IMMIGRATION topic
wherever they went!
Gotta get outside the Beltway more
often, boys and girls!
America could become another France. If Congress should fall into the hands of Democrats, they will do this to the U.S.A. Make no mistake.
Do not let the Democrats seize power! They will destroy America!
We will deal with the RINOs in the primaries.
You meant to say, if you are single issue (immigration) conservative, then (blah blah blah).
John McCain has an average of 83, is he OK by you?
Yes, Mccain is ok by me, because the real problem is reid, boxer, clinton, shumer, etc.
Personally, instead of trying to sack mccain, how about trying to elect steele in MD to take over sarbanes seat and keeping santorum in a very tough election in PA and how about sacking cantwell and stabenow who are both vulnerable democrats.
It would not hurt to keep chaffee and dewine either when you consider the democrats they are running against.
This is the doing of the Bush dynasty.
Being an age long Republican supporter, I know better than to support anyone whom they propose. When it comes to spending and immigration they are firmly in the illegal-spendit camp.
I do not propose to encumber my progeny with their lawless intentions.
No. It is time to get rid of them this cycle. Chaffee has an opponent in the primary. But just having an "R" after their name does not cut it anymore. The so called "big tent" was a BIG mistake IMHO and we are paying the price.
That's an empty promise. At least 14 of the Republicans who voted in favor of the Senate immigration bill are NOT up for re-election in 2006. To suggest we wait past the 2006 elections to take action is a non-starter.
In addition to lack of enforcement at either the border or employers, under Bush's direction, the Treasury Dept issued regulations specifically endorsing Matricula Consulars for banking ID purposes. This was necessary for illegals to open bank accounts, send foreign wire transfers, and get mortgages/car loans.
In other words, Bush attempted to integrate illegals into our society so that it would be fait accompli by the time Congress got around to the issue. If you want to find the ONE person who is really responsible for the last 6 years, look no further.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.