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Real Message of The Bush Amnesty
The American Conservative ^ | 1/9/2004 | Pat Buchanan

Posted on 01/09/2004 12:56:02 PM PST by JohnGalt

Real Message of The Bush Amnesty

by Pat Buchanan

If George Bush’s amnesty for between 8 million and 14 million illegal aliens is enacted, you can kiss the old America goodbye.

Consider what the president is saying with his amnesty. He is telling us that he cannot or will not do his constitutional duty to defend the states from invasion. He is saying that he simply cannot or will not protect our borders or enforce our immigration laws. He is saying he will no longer send illegal aliens back.

Not long ago, this would have produced calls for impeachment and cries that, “If Bush won’t enforce our laws, let’s elect a president who will.”

By offering amnesty and residency to millions who broke in line, broke our laws and broke into our country, Bush is not only rewarding wholesale criminality, he proposes to legalize it.

His amnesty will send this message to the world: the candy store is open, and the Americans cannot protect it. Now is the time to bust in.

As there must be billions of people willing to come and work for a fraction of our minimum wage—and exploit our social safety net—the number who could come under the Bush guest-worker program is almost infinite.

Imagine a car wash that employs 40 African-American, Latino, and white working-class folks at $8 an hour each. A new car wash down the street opens up, offering 40 new jobs at $5.15 an hour. No Americans apply. Under Bush’s proposal, that employer would be free to go to Asia, Africa, and Latin America, round up workers, and bring them in.

The new car wash with its foreign workers then drives the old car wash with its American workers out of business. Taxpayers are then forced to subsidize the newly unemployed—and pay for the medical care, food stamps, rent supplements, welfare, and schooling of all the new immigrants and their families, provide legal services when they get in trouble and pay for more cops to police their neighborhoods.

And every child born of a guest worker would, under our 14th Amendment, become an American citizen, automatically entitled to all the benefits of citizenship. Meanwhile, Bush’s amnesty will do nothing to halt the illegal invasion that continues to this hour. If you would know what America’s social, cultural, and fiscal future will look like, take a ride through Los Angeles, capital of Mexifornia.

But why did President Bush pick now to propose as explosive an idea as amnesty, when it seemed he was holding a winning hand on the issues of taxes, national security, the economy, and gay marriages?

One sees here the cynical ploy of “Boy Genius” Karl Rove. With the filing deadlines for the Republican primaries having passed and no GOP opponent, with no Third Party challenger from the Right, and with Dean the likely Democratic nominee, Rove knows conservatives are boxed in. In the old cliché, “The conservatives have nowhere else to go.”

So Rove is executing an “apertura a sinistra,” an opening to the Left, pandering to Hispanics and Mexican President Vicente Fox, to whom Bush is to pay a visit.

But Rove may be too clever for the president’s good. For there is no hard evidence that Hispanics, other than those militants who detest Republicans, are demanding amnesty. And with Bush’s spending on foreign aid soaring, his deficits rising, and the White House refusing to veto a single spending bill, Rove & Co. may have stretched conservative loyalty to the breaking point.

For some conservatives, this amnesty will snap it. They may just get on their hind legs and fight, for huge majorities have repeatedly registered opposition to any amnesty for illegal aliens. How is the president helped by a bloody battle with his political base in an election year?

Half a century ago, Dwight Eisenhower, informed there were a million illegals in the United States, most of them from Mexico, ordered them sent back. The project was called “Operation Wetback.”

Ike was a strong president. But in George W. Bush, we have a leader unwilling to pay the political price of doing his duty and enforcing the immigration laws of his country because he fears the reaction from the media elite and Mexican-Americans.

When it comes to standing up to truly powerful ethnic lobbies—the Hispanic Lobby, the Cuban-American Lobby, the Israeli Lobby—Bush wilts and folds every time. Nor is it a healthy sign for the future of our republic when its president offers an amnesty to law-breakers, rather than doing his painful duty to protect his country from what has now become an unstoppable foreign invasion.

The real threats to America’s survival do not come from the Sunni Triangle. They come from within, and unfortunately we have a president who either does not understand them or will not look them in the face.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Editorial
KEYWORDS: aliens; crimepays; culturewar; illegalaliens; illegals; immigration; lawlessness; linecutters; nationalsuicide; notwhatinvasionmeans; patbuchanan; patisabeaner; rewardingcriminals
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Comment #121 Removed by Moderator

To: JohnGalt
Hear that, all? According to 'narby', if you support expelling illegal aliens you are no better than the Nazis.

LOL! Here come the liberal compassionate konservatives.

A government that cannot or will not control it's borders and protect it's sovereignty from millions entering illegitimately, will itself eventually become illegitimate. Bet the rent.

122 posted on 01/09/2004 2:43:39 PM PST by Joe Hadenuf (I failed anger management class, they decided to give me a passing grade anyway)
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To: Nick Danger
Can someone explain where this claim about residency is coming from? I've heard this from other authors as well. My understanding of the Bush proposal is that these people get no, nada, zero preference in gaining residency. As I understand it, they have to get in the same line everybody else does to get a green card. In the meantime, they have to 'fess up to who they are and where they are, which is not something we actually know right now.

FWIW, I don't know of anything specific, but when he was making his speech on this, I opened my eyes wide when I heard him say ... and some of them will even want to become American citizens!

I would bet my pension that if this thing goes through, there will be lawyers in court claiming if they put in the time as workers they should be citizens. And I'll bet they will get it. FWIW.

123 posted on 01/09/2004 2:44:54 PM PST by navyblue
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To: TomInNJ
One of the few Americans that make sense. God bless you Pat, You're a true-and-tried American hero.

Agree. He hit it right in the ten ring.

124 posted on 01/09/2004 2:44:56 PM PST by Joe Hadenuf (I failed anger management class, they decided to give me a passing grade anyway)
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To: All
By Mark Stevenson
ASSOCIATED PRESS
7:34 a.m. August 29, 2003

MEXICO CITY – Mexican migrant workers sent more money to their home country than either foreign investors or tourists this year, according to central bank figures released this week, but some here aren't sure whether the increasingly migrant-dominated economy is a good thing.

Since the central Bank of Mexico's current recording format began in 1980, remittances have never before exceeded both tourism and foreign investment over a six-month period.

Remittances began to gradually outstrip tourism starting in 1998, although some recorded "tourism" is actually Mexicans bringing rather than sending money to family members.

This year, recorded remittances jumped an astonishing 29 percent in the first half of 2003 to US$6.3 billion, outstripping the US$5.2 billion sent in direct foreign investment.

That's second only to income from oil exports, at more than US$8 billion, and well ahead of tourism at US$4.9 billion.

Although part of the surge was attributed to higher migration rates, better monitoring and a campaign to make money transfers cheaper and safer also resulted in more money being tracked as it crossed the border. The use of money orders increased by 104 percent in the first half of 2003 over the same period of 2002, while hard-to-count cash transfers dropped by 28.6 percent.

Roberto Madrazo, leader of the former ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, criticized the government for migration, depicting it as a forced and painful diaspora caused by a lack of job creation at home.

"This is a clear indication that we are on the threshold of a social crisis," he said.

125 posted on 01/09/2004 2:45:36 PM PST by PuNcH
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To: The_Eaglet
Please keep us posted about this site!

Yeah, it would be fun to see whether the fly by night operation would first crash under the weight of the Buchaninite masses or go broke first.

126 posted on 01/09/2004 2:46:25 PM PST by !1776!
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To: !1776!

First of all, guns have not become unnecessary, especially to all the people who use them defensively to stop or prevent crimes. That number exceeds the amount of times in which guns are used to commit crimes, by the way.

Secondly, I think you underestimate the Founders. I doubt they would have sacrificed the rights of the law-abiding becaue of criminal misuse. They probabl would have looked past all the lies and distortions of the left and media on the issue of guns.

Finally; this is another absurd comparison. Are you saying that you think its good that children born here get automatic citizenship? You think the phenomenon of anchor babies is a good thing? Do you think that the crafters of the 14th amendment wouldn't have made this clear had they known. Do you think a majority of Americans wouldn't support requiring at least one parent to be a citezen or permanent legal resident?

127 posted on 01/09/2004 2:47:56 PM PST by Aetius
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To: RicocheT
I hope Congress can stall any immigration proposal until after the 2004 elections.

Congress are the ones that are supposed to be responsible for developing laws in this country. Why are they now applauded for stalling when doing (or not doing) something is their responsibility?

128 posted on 01/09/2004 2:48:30 PM PST by !1776!
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To: quidnunc
Will Rogers never met Pat Buchanan.

No, but you can pretty easily understand where Will would stand if he were alive today. Shoulder to shoulder with Buchanan. He was scheduled to meet with other Conservative Democrats, to plan ways to fight Roosevelt's great turn to the Left, when he was killed in an accident.

Pat is guilty only of understatement, here. The President & Rove's real failure--and it underpins their shallow analysis, because they do not even see the real issue--is to firmly identify with their own people. Before you even address policy questions, you need an orientation. They show no basic American orientation. Their proposals are all driven by economics or political expediency--however flawed their perceptions of both--but there is no real ethnic pride or identification reflected in any of them.

One can embrace the idea of international friendship. One can applaud efforts to make peoples friendlier to one another. One can encourage commerce and trade, work for world peace and understanding, etc., etc.. But none of such concerns relieve anyone of the fact that they have roots. None of us sprang full grown, armed and shield in hand from the head of Father Zeus! Americans have roots; and most of us have loyalty to the ongoing American society; the descendants of those who built America. No where in Bush's policy on immigration, does one gather any sense at all, that he has such identification. Pat Buchanan does, and that makes him head and shoulders a better man than the President.

William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site

129 posted on 01/09/2004 2:49:53 PM PST by Ohioan
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To: Mr. Bird
Another difference is that the current influx is Mexican, and I think that makes a difference to Pat.

It is because the current influx is illegal and it just happens to be the overwhelming proportion of them happen to be Mexican. One can stick their head in the sand but the facts remain.

The illegal part makes a difference to Pat. It makes a difference to me too. No, I did not vote for Pat. I voted for Bush, much to my regret.

130 posted on 01/09/2004 2:51:03 PM PST by navyblue
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To: furball4paws
We need to examine the president's amnesty proposal real close: It's politically brilliant and morally repugnant.

Morally repugnant?

Breaking the law is "immoral", but is it not immoral to rip people from the jobs they hold by their own sweat and send them away merely because we didn't stop them at the border years ago?

That was OUR failure, not theirs.

As for it being unfair to immigrants who "play by the rules". It's high time we changed those rules and allwed all comers into this country.

One of the few welfare programs I'd like to see is free English classes for all of them.

Without immigrants, I think it's been shown that we'd already have a negative population growth. If you want to see a breakdown in society, just wait till there's not enough young people to support the old. And even worse, check out what will happen as companies stop growing. The result would be economic disaster.

We NEED people coming into America. Either that, or pursuade more folks to have more babies.

131 posted on 01/09/2004 2:51:46 PM PST by narby (McGovern lost in 72 - and launched the left's takover of the Dem party)
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To: oldvike
Snip...."Antonio Dejesus Idelfonso, 17, and Eliseo Marcelino-Quintero, 22, are charged in Tracy Owen's slaying and could face an additional charge in the killing of Owen's unborn child, detectives said.

The men told police they killed Owen because they thought they had hit her with their pickup truck and didn't want to get into trouble.

Marcelino-Quintero told police he bought the .22-caliber pistol used in the killing for $80 from a man on Thompson Place a few weeks before the shooting, detective Marvin Rivera said yesterday.

The men worked odd jobs for subcontractors and were in the country illegally, Rivera said.

The detective said he did not know how long the men had been in the country."

In the Gordon County town, police said Jerry William Jones, 31, abducted two daughters and their half sister after killing his three in-laws and one of his daughters.

I'm not sure, but comparing bad apples between a sample size of ~300 million and 8-14 million might be counter productive.

132 posted on 01/09/2004 2:51:58 PM PST by !1776!
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To: PuNcH
In that extreme situation less would die than died getting here packed like sardines in the back of trailers in the first place. (You must have forgotten about that part huh? )

I think you forgot that those who died in the trailers weren't loaded in at the point of a gun held by someone wearing an official US uniform while the News @ 11 camera crew documented it. Or that another camera crew will be waiting to document the unloading into the tented refugee camp out in the Sonoran desert. Or the powerful stories like the undocumented Colorado honor student who Tancredo dropped the dime on... Imagine how the story would play out--university student ripped from a college dorm in Denver & plunked into the hopeless despair of a scorpion infested tent out in the desert. When the stories become personal, they become powerful and I don't think you understand that.

133 posted on 01/09/2004 2:53:16 PM PST by elli1
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To: furball4paws
For some conservatives, this amnesty will snap it. They may just get on their hind legs and fight, for huge majorities have repeatedly registered opposition to any amnesty for illegal aliens. How is the president helped by a bloody battle with his political base in an election year?
134 posted on 01/09/2004 2:53:39 PM PST by Joe Hadenuf (I failed anger management class, they decided to give me a passing grade anyway)
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To: navyblue
So why do you not recognize Pres. Bush's responsibility in this? He appointed James Ziglar to head the INS who refused to deport arrested illegals.

You're saying the problem began Jan of 2001?

Get real.

135 posted on 01/09/2004 2:53:48 PM PST by narby (McGovern lost in 72 - and launched the left's takover of the Dem party)
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To: PuNcH
This argument is nonsense. If true it still doesnt excuse the fact

If you are right you are still wrong I guess.

136 posted on 01/09/2004 2:56:17 PM PST by !1776!
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To: Emitter
Well I was actually talking about the amnesty.........

My apologies if I misinterpreted your post. There are enough real issues here that I don't want to blur the important ones with my misunderstandings.

Though I still think my comments concerning Buchaninites apply in general...

137 posted on 01/09/2004 2:59:19 PM PST by !1776!
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To: narby
Anyone at all can see that that's not what he said, and that furthermore you're trying to deflect attention away from what you said, namely that Bush simply "inherited" the problem from prior administrations.

You've been talking out of both sides of your mouth all thread. If you're really as desirous as you say you are of coming up with a realistic solution, you might want to start showing a little more intellectual honesty.

138 posted on 01/09/2004 2:59:50 PM PST by inquest (The only problem with partisanship is that it leads to bipartisanship)
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To: PuNcH
Btw, after you've done your wonderful charity of giving American jobs to foreigners they will thank you by calling you a racist for treating them as second class citizens and demand more..and most likely get more.

Presidente Fox has already said it yesterday! We want more! We want more!

139 posted on 01/09/2004 3:00:29 PM PST by navyblue
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To: JohnGalt
It should be pretty clear by now that the elites in this country favor illegal immigration and that no serious effort will be made to do anything to stop it. Merely enforcing the penalties against employers who hire these illegals would have been sufficient to discourage them frm continuing to come up here. All I can figure is that they need the extra people to prop up the Social Security pyramid scheme and to provide cheap labor for powerful special interests. This legislation will just encourage more of the same.
140 posted on 01/09/2004 3:01:35 PM PST by westerfield
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