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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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To: narby
Bottom line, they got here and stayed here easily before amnesty, and they still do. Amnesty was meaningless.

Well then, all I can say is, believe what you want.

181 posted on 01/09/2004 3:50:35 PM PST by PuNcH
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To: BushisTheMan
If Pat is against it, it must be a really good idea then.

Lets see, Pat Buchanan is against it and the likes of Loretta Sanchez are all for it.

Interesting to see who some of you stand with.

Pat Buchanan is an idiot. Loretta Sanchez is also an idiot. But Loretta is too stupid to know what Bush's proposal really means...she thinks it means amnesty.

Huh? Buchanan is a genious compared to leftist, socialist, corrupt Loretta Sanchez.

Loretta Sanchez is dumber than a dog bone, but hey, you and Sanchez support the Bush Amnesty!

I let that stand.

182 posted on 01/09/2004 3:50:40 PM PST by Joe Hadenuf (I failed anger management class, they decided to give me a passing grade anyway)
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To: narby
He did try and handle this in 2001

How so? It didn't seem like he did anything to beef up the Border Patrol to some remotely half-way decent level, which is about the most obvious way of getting started on handling the problem. Even if we're nervous about deporting, we still could have done something to keep the problem from getting progressively worse. It didn't look like he ever looked in that direction at all.

Making mexicans "legal" would actually be taking away an advantage they have in hiring.

Perhaps, but it still wouldn't do anything to discourage further illegal immigration, as there'd be continued hope of more amnesty down the line.

I'd feel considerably more comfortable if his proposals included credible aggressive measures to stem the tide of illegal immigration, but so far, that doesn't seem to be forthcoming. The upshot is that his "solution" is going to be akin to the current overuse of parole for reducing prison populations; all it really accomplishes is ensuring a steady supply of new prisoners.

I studied history enough to remember the "Trail of Tears" sent Cherokee Indians into Oklahoma Territory. Huge numbers of them died. This talk about deporting millions of mexicans reminds me of this debacle, and despite whatever qualms I've got about living in "North Mexico", I still can't see sending millions of people down the road into the unknown. That's just not right. We let them in here, over decades of time. It's just not right to change our mind now and get serious about inforcing a law that existed when they got here.

Here's where you keep losing me. I just don't see how a mass deportation (assuming it even comes down to that) would be anything like the Trail of Tears. We have modern standards for operations like this, and plenty of advocacy groups to make sure that these standards stick. They'll be treated no worse than POWs, meaning, they'll be decently nourished, given adequate medical care, and not be subject to conditions conducive to epidemics of any kind. Out of curiosity, how many ethnic Japanese died during the round-ups of WWII? It definitely won't be any worse than that.

And as for us "letting them in here", they knew they were violating our laws when they came, and they knew, or should have known, that there would be a risk of getting caught one day and sent back. It's just part of the package that they chose. I can't accept that we owe them anything on that account.

So I say, everybody should be welcome in America. Just learn English, join the American culture, and become one of us.

I'd really like to be able to make that the policy someday (provided we're willing to do away with the so-called "civil rights" legislation that second-guesses employers, landlords, and others in deciding whom to and not to sign on; and of course that the federal welfare system be completely dismantled). I don't know if that's advisable at the present time.

183 posted on 01/09/2004 3:54:10 PM PST by inquest (The only problem with partisanship is that it leads to bipartisanship)
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To: riri
BTW, the bill also states that these "workers" will be allowed to bring their immediate families if they can prove they have a way to provide for them.

Interesting thought. When a person comes here legally on an immigration visa, it has to be proven that they have the means to live at least at 120% of the poverty line. Do the math.

184 posted on 01/09/2004 3:57:17 PM PST by navyblue
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Comment #185 Removed by Moderator

To: Joe Hadenuf
Rep. Foley Defends Bush's Immigration Plan PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. - We've reported the complaints against President Bush's plan on illegal alien workers , coming on the right from such congressmen as Rep. Tom Tancredo and Rep. Charlie Norwood and the left from the likes of Sen. Teddy Kennedy. Now it's time to hear from the president's supporters.

One such loyalist is Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., who spoke to NewsMax before the president's speech Thursday evening.

The congressman acknowledged that in both major parties "some people hate this" program, but he said the pressing issue of temporary foreign workers could no longer be ignored, as it was during the previous administration.

The president's forte is dealing with important matters that are sometimes unpopular or not politically expedient, Foley said.

"He's not afraid to tackle tough problems," the Florida Republican said. "He's a leader who decides what's best for the country, politics be damned."

As for the naysayers who constantly carp at Bush without offering solutions: "They have no credibility with me" after blowing "ample opportunity" to make improvements.

I believe this last paragraph applies to you.

186 posted on 01/09/2004 4:03:18 PM PST by BushisTheMan
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To: inquest
They're fairly common on the state level. The government waives some portion of the penalties in return for people coming forward and paying their back taxes. Under Bush's proposal we will waive imprisonment and deportation in return for people stepping forward and joining a legal system.
187 posted on 01/09/2004 4:04:11 PM PST by MattAMiller
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To: Joe Hadenuf
LOL! Frightening isn't it?

What's frightening is the fact that both parties apparently have no intention of doing anything serious to stop this problem despite polls that overwhelmingly show that most Americans don't support this. The treacherous B@t@rds we elected to serve us are selling us out. Goodbye middle class and hello huge slums of the underclass. Those who envision a new world order for this country must have been using Brazil as a model when they dreamed this stuff up.

188 posted on 01/09/2004 4:04:15 PM PST by westerfield
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To: BushisTheMan
As for the naysayers who constantly carp at Bush without offering solutions: I believe this last paragraph applies to you.

No solutions?

I'm confident that even you don't believe that. The solutions to our open bleeding borders are numerous and have been suggest thousands of times, here and elsewhere.

You know as well as I, the Bush and the government have no desire to secure our borders or protect our sovereignty.

It's nothing but slow motion, incremental amnesty. This is inordinately clear.

189 posted on 01/09/2004 4:08:56 PM PST by Joe Hadenuf (I failed anger management class, they decided to give me a passing grade anyway)
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To: navyblue
How many times do I have to answer? TODAY isn't soon enough for the idiots who think the entire country thinks like them?

Pardon me. Eff you all. I'm outta here.

190 posted on 01/09/2004 4:09:38 PM PST by Cyber Liberty (© 2003, Ravin' Lunatic since 4/98)
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To: westerfield
What's frightening is the fact that both parties apparently have no intention of doing anything serious to stop this problem despite polls that overwhelmingly show that most Americans don't support this. The treacherous B@t@rds we elected to serve us are selling us out.

Yep. That too is inordinately clear.

191 posted on 01/09/2004 4:09:57 PM PST by Joe Hadenuf (I failed anger management class, they decided to give me a passing grade anyway)
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To: MattAMiller
So then the analogy to the immigration situation would be to say that if illegals peacefully pack up and return to their country of origin, we'll let them go in peace, no questions asked. I don't think Pat would have much of a problem with that.
192 posted on 01/09/2004 4:10:39 PM PST by inquest (The only problem with partisanship is that it leads to bipartisanship)
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Comment #193 Removed by Moderator

To: !1776!
going broke is not a problem, and flying at night is the only way to go.
194 posted on 01/09/2004 4:16:22 PM PST by jpsb
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To: JohnGalt
Possession is 9/10's of the law.
195 posted on 01/09/2004 4:19:23 PM PST by independentmind
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Comment #196 Removed by Moderator

To: narby
Anyone who thinks we can withstand the international outrage if we deported 10 or 15 million people out into the Sonoran desert is an idiot.

We don't have to deport them. Enforce the laws against employing them, make them ineligible for welfare, in-state tuition, and all the other goodies they now get at taxpayer expense, and they'll leave voluntarily.

197 posted on 01/09/2004 4:22:21 PM PST by JoeFromSidney (All political power grows from the barrel of a gun. -- Mao Zedong. That's why the 2nd Amendment.)
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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.

Pat's half-right. Several million illegal immigrants should be considered a serious threat. Offering them a chance to become real Americans may be our wisest course of action.

198 posted on 01/09/2004 4:22:59 PM PST by independentmind
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To: narby
You keep talking about millions of hikers. Look around California. Every Mexican I know has a big car, often better than mine. Or they have friends who own a big car. They wouldn't walk anywhere. Nor would they take a bus. They'd drive just like they do now.
199 posted on 01/09/2004 4:23:01 PM PST by born yesterday
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To: narby
You keep talking about millions of hikers. Look around California. Every Mexican I know has a big car, often better than mine. Or they have friends who own a big car. They wouldn't walk anywhere. Nor would they take a bus. They'd drive just like they do now.
200 posted on 01/09/2004 4:24:07 PM PST by born yesterday
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