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Marco Rubio and the immigration surrender
RedState ^ | August 15, 2013 | John Hayward

Posted on 08/16/2013 2:49:01 AM PDT by iowamark

Of all the arguments advanced in favor of amnesty for illegal aliens, perhaps the most outrageous came from Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) during a radio interview on Tuesday.  Outrage should not be exclusively directed at Rubio, because what he said is very possibly true.  And outrage should not be limited to the immigration issue, because what Rubio said will prove true of many other issues as well.  This is call-to-arms, fife-and-drum stuff.  The question is whether there are enough American patriots left to hear the music, and answer.

Rubio warned that if a comprehensive immigration bill is not passed by Republicans, he believes “this President will be tempted, if nothing happens in Congress, he will be tempted to issue an executive order like he did for the DREAM Act kids a year ago, where he basically legalizes 11 million people by the sign of a pen. Now, we won’t get an E-Verify, we won’t get any border security. But he’ll legalize them.”

As related by Politico, Rubio went on to describe a terrible checkmate in which the American people are left with no choice but to start passing citizenship papers around, pronto:

He called the current policy of “de facto amnesty” both “crazy” and “terrible” because the government knows little of undocumented immigrants’ criminal history and whether or not they are paying taxes. He said the legal immigration system is rooted in the past century, failing to track visitors and requiring skilled immigrants to jump through hoops more onerous than those moving to the United States because of family ties.

But most of all, Rubio emphasized Tuesday that he fears doing nothing at all will force President Obama’s hand — because without action from Congress, the country’s immigration problems will “only get worse as time goes on.”

“Unless we’re going to try to round up and deport 11 million people — something that not even the most vociferous opponent of the [Senate] bill proposed — then we are going to have to at some point address this issue,” Rubio said. “We can’t leave, in my mind, the way it is. Because I think a year from now we could find ourselves with all 11 million people here legally under an executive order from the president, but no E-Verify, no more border security, no more border agents, none of the other reforms that we desperately need.”

Well, that’s just peachy.  The ruling class caused this massive immigration problem to develop.  They allowed the accumulation of 11 or 12 million people who cannot be tracked at all – not even by the great All-Seeing Eye of Mordor that buries the rest of us under gigantic amounts of paperwork, and harvests gigabytes of meta-data on our every move.  And now that we’ve dispensed with the last vestiges of the American constitutional order – separation of powers, the rule of law – we’ve got no choice but to cut a deal with the despotic executive, before he gets tired of waiting and imports the 12 million new voters his Party wants by fiat.  We might hope for a crumb or two from the table, but there is no further question about who sits at that table, and who scrabbles around beneath it.  The ruling class has very little to say to Americans who still imagine that the government must fulfill duties to its citizens, or insist the government must be bound by the laws it passes.

Of course, as Larry Elder devastatingly asked Rubio via Twitter, “What’s stopping Obama from using executive orders after you do a deal?”  Why would the all-powerful despot who ignores his own signature legislative achievement, ObamaCare, feel obliged to fulfill any inconvenient terms of a grand immigration bargain?  The Gang of Eight bill Rubio championed in the Senate gives the Administration a variety of relatively polite ways to weasel out of border security commitments, such as by choking off funding, or having the Homeland Security secretary declare that border security is fine and dandy the way it is.  But any sort of “amnesty today for border security later” deal will surely end with Obama using his new dictatorial powers to rewrite the law later.  Why not?  What’s anyone going to do about it?

Why is Congress discussing anything else when this state of affairs exists?  Restoring the proper separation of powers is more important than anything on the Beltway agenda.  Declaring Affordable Care Act null and void because the President refuses to obey it would be a great start.  ObamaCare for all, or ObamaCare for none.  Enforce the law as written, or submit it to the legislature for review.  No American should be required to obey a law that politicians ignore.  That’s what the “rule of law” looks like, for the benefit of readers too young to remember it.

Once upon a time, there was a notion that even the President’s own party would be jealous of congressional prerogatives, and unite to halt executive overreach.  Those days are obviously over, if they were ever more than wishful thinking.  Now the opposition party is supine as the Constitutional order is restructured.  One of the most popular leaders of the opposition, much-touted as a leading presidential candidate for 2016, goes on the air to inform his constituents that we’d better capitulate to the President, or he’ll just do what he wants anyway.  There is no serious discussion of strenuously objecting to this, much less stopping him.

How do you get base voters energized for midterms in 2014 with that kind of message?  “Send more Republicans to Congress so we can politely resist for a bit longer before we cave to the Democrats!”  And good luck trying to run on a 2016 platform of installing a Republican president to use those dictatorial powers to do some good.  That won’t be permitted; the game is about the institutionalized power of the Left, and allies who believe they can profit from going along, like the business interests that love mass illegal migrations because they provide cheap labor.  If a Republican somehow wins in 2016, those “Obama powers” will instantaneously be stripped from the presidency.  Any Republican chief executive who thinks he can rewrite ObamaCare on the fly is in for a big surprise.  We should know better than to try using a system designed to increase and centralize power for the ends of liberty.  It’s just not good enough to put the “right person” behind the wheel for a few years.

Republicans are playing a rigged game that requires them to talk themselves halfway to capitulation before the negotiations with Democrats even begin.  It’s like a boxing match where the GOP gives itself a black eye before the first bell is rung.  Republicans accept leftist rules of engagement without quarrel, obediently sidelining the narratives that would change the terms of debate and energize Americans.  The resulting passion gap is enormous.  When only one side gets to employ populist rhetoric, emotional appeals, or moral arguments, you know it’s going to be a short, bloody fight that ends in a knockout.

And notice that only Republicans are required to stay down after the ten-count.  On issue after issue, legislative or electoral defeat is the end of the fight for Republicans, but only the beginning for the Left.

That’s how immigration reform will work, too.  Republicans are cordially invited to try stopping the amnesty process because some trigger or other has not been met.  They won’t do it; they’ll stop themselves long before the Democrats have to issue any formal response; and then the Democrats will portray them as heartless xenophobes in the next election anyway.

Likewise, anyone who really thinks the new “provisional citizens” won’t be voting or collecting welfare benefits for ten or twelve years is living on a different planet.  The “civil-rights” marches for provisional citizen “voting rights” will begin promptly, and they’ll be spectacular.  The pleas to feed those starving New American families with food stamps will be heartrending.  And in the unlikely event all that drama doesn’t make timid Republicans pin themselves to the mat, why wouldn’t the Super-President just wave his Magic Pen and make it all happen, declaring that his conscience won’t let him keep provisional citizens from the benefits they deserve?

The American system has been restructured so that citizens are forever on the defensive against the ruling class.  They declare each new objective.  We are then asked if we’re willing to go to the ends of the Earth to stop them.  The answer from our representatives is always “no.”  The law is a minor obstacle to power, not a barrier against it.  If we’re not going to take the Magic Pen away, what’s the point of investing time, money, and cultural energy in political opposition?


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Mexico; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Arizona; US: California; US: Florida; US: New Mexico; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: aliens; amnesty; arizona; california; florida; illegals; immigration; marcorubio; mexico; newmexico; politico; randnesty; randsconcerntrolls; rubio; tedcruz; texas

1 posted on 08/16/2013 2:49:01 AM PDT by iowamark
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To: iowamark

The usual BS. They really want us to believe these people and their employers want to pay taxes? They don’t want to solve it at all, they just want to shove another law we hate down our throats. To fix health insurance they could sell across state lines and compete. To fix illegal immigration, I would say make it illegal but that apparently isn’t working. Maybe they should try stopping the businesses that enslave these people. Send the IRS with their ARs after them and fine them heavily. If it were suddenly more expensive to hire illegals than Americans, it would fix the problem shortly. See the Alabama experiment.


2 posted on 08/16/2013 2:58:40 AM PDT by momincombatboots (Back to West by G-d Virginia.)
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To: iowamark

An Executive Order controls only the organizations and agencies within the Executive Branch. It cannot control the Courts, the Legislature, nor can it ‘order’ an American Citizen to “do” anything. It can’t truly ‘force’ me to do a damned thing.

Notwithstanding that fact, it often effectively acts outside that realm because we let it happen. These underling agencies issue rules and regulations per that EO and try to make the citizenry believe they are legally enacted laws. They are not. They can be brushed aside by another executive order in the next administration.

Rubio suffers from the mistaken impression that an Executive Order is God’s Word, and to keep god Obama from doing this WE (he thinks GOPe Replicants) just HAVE to enact some kind of legal law so god Obama’s version doesn’t come in force.

The truth is that an Executive Order, Policy, Action - whatever is ALWAYS subject to review and legal action. There is nothing to stop anyone from suing to stop its enforcement. And, this is where Rubio is misleading us, essentially lying in my opinion. We do not have to take a pike up the keester and enact something most of us do not want anyway just in the chance that god Obama will issue an EO.


3 posted on 08/16/2013 3:07:13 AM PDT by Gaffer
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To: Gaffer
>>Of course, as Larry Elder devastatingly asked Rubio via Twitter, “What’s stopping Obama from using executive orders after you do a deal?” Why would the all-powerful despot who ignores his own signature legislative achievement, ObamaCare, feel obliged to fulfill any inconvenient terms of a grand immigration bargain? The Gang of Eight bill Rubio championed in the Senate gives the Administration a variety of relatively polite ways to weasel out of border security commitments, such as by choking off funding, or having the Homeland Security secretary declare that border security is fine and dandy the way it is. But any sort of “amnesty today for border security later” deal will surely end with Obama using his new dictatorial powers to rewrite the law later. Why not? What’s anyone going to do about it?

That paragraph says it all...

4 posted on 08/16/2013 3:18:34 AM PDT by Cyropaedia ("Virtue cannot separate itself from reality without becoming a principal of evil...".)
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To: iowamark

Us against them. What the 2nd amendment is about.


5 posted on 08/16/2013 3:48:26 AM PDT by 867V309 (Stupidity is ordained; Ignorance is a choice.)
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To: iowamark

Just WHO is it that tells these halfwits they are “experts?” Note to Marco: Stop making a fool of yourself.


6 posted on 08/16/2013 4:30:09 AM PDT by jmaroneps37 (Conservatism is truth. Liberalism is lies.)
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To: iowamark

Note to Rubio.

It is your job to tell Obama to take his Executive Orders, and shove them up his rectum.

If you and the rest of the turds in Congress did your jobs there would be no Executive Orders.


7 posted on 08/16/2013 4:33:46 AM PDT by Venturer ( cowardice posturing as tolerance =political correctness)
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To: iowamark

We simply must cut our own throats in order to keep the kenyan from shooting us in the gut.


8 posted on 08/16/2013 5:09:50 AM PDT by arthurus (Read Hazlitt's Economics In One Lesson ONLINE http://steshaw.org/econohttp://www.fee.org/library/det)
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To: iowamark

Far too many in congress are like the first Bush..read my lips no new taxes and of course it came to be we did have new taxes.. The whole immigration system is dysfunctional.It has reached a point now of selecting which laws of immigration will be enforced and which ones will not be enforced. Already hundreds are showing at the border..we read it zillion times..
Nearly all of the asylum-seekers used special ‘code words’ that force federal immigration officials to allow them to stay in the country long enough to have an asylum hearing.

The top phrase is ‘credible fear’ - the immigrants say they have a ‘credible fear’ of the drug cartels in Mexico. Hotel rooms are being rent out,many illegals are released and promise to show up in court which they fail to do. If immigration reform were passed today..tomorrow hundreds more will show up at the border using their special code words and later on being cut loose.The gov cannot even fix this loophole and they want us all toooooooooo believe immigration reform will restore the rule of laws in this nation . The rule of law said build a double layer fence..this is not even being done except in a few very select places.What happens when the next wave family start showing up in cities across America ? I believe we will be right where are right now.


9 posted on 08/16/2013 5:19:53 AM PDT by moonshinner_09
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To: iowamark
The author makes an excellent point:

Why have a Congress & laws if Obama can just rule by decree?

Obamacare & immigration reform are insignificant compared to the illegal acts of this President, while the Pub leadership are waiting for the “right” moment to strike, even if they have to wait 1000 years, & apparently all those Tea Party Congressmen bought in to the wait strategy.

We now have a President most probably guilty of illegal arms shipments to terrorists AND drug smugglers, illegal manipulation of IRS reviews, illegal spying on Americans, & so much more, yet Boehner & Co. are still waiting for the right moment to strike. Why have an opposition party if they don't oppose such egregious violations of the law? Why VOTE for a party that repeatedly says one thing & does another, or does NOTHING?

Dumber people than even me might think the Pub leadership NEVER intends to fight Obamunism.

10 posted on 08/16/2013 5:51:44 AM PDT by Mister Da (The mark of a wise man is not what he knows, but what he knows he doesn't know!)
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