Posted on 01/17/2004 6:54:51 PM PST by Reaganwuzthebest
President Bush's immigration initiative has sparked a great deal of discussion across the country. Perhaps the most interesting debate centers on whether the president, in announcing the initiative, has embraced conservative principles or abandoned them. I believe a temporary worker program is consistent with conservative principles, and here's why.
First, conservatives value national security, and the status quo encourages anything but national security. The presence of 8 million to 12 million illegal aliens within the confines of our borders should prompt the type of reform the president has suggested.
President Bush's proposal will ensure smarter border enforcement by redirecting resources for border security and the war on terrorism away from the dishwashers and landscapers who are trying to cross the border illegally and toward the smugglers and terrorists who are attempting to cross the border for purposes far more nefarious than filling jobs that American workers are not taking.
We can try to tighten up border enforcement even more than we already have (we've already increased spending on border enforcement six-fold over the past 20 years), but as long as the United States offers foreign workers more opportunity for work than their home countries do, people will risk their lives to cross the border.
According to Steven Camarota of the Center for Immigration Studies, "A real effort to control the border with Mexico would require perhaps 20,000 agents and the development of a system of formidable fences and other barriers along those parts of the border used for illegal crossings."
It should also be noted that some 40 percent of those illegally in the United States first entered the country legally and then overstayed their visas. Even if we did manage to seal the border from illegal crossings, the problem would still be with us. Clearly, we can't solve this problem through border enforcement alone.
A temporary worker program, coupled with serious workplace enforcement, would bring those who are in the shadows out into the open. Temporary workers would be registered. We would finally know who they are, how long they've been here, and when they must return to their home country or change their status.
Again, the "carrot" of a temporary worker program must be coupled with the "stick" of workplace enforcement. With a reasonable legal avenue available, workers should have no excuse for not utilizing it and employers should have no excuse for hiring those who do not.
The latter point is important. Conservatives respect the law. Our current immigration laws, everyone will agree, are so convoluted and out of touch with how people actually organize their lives that it does not foster respect for the law. If we want the law to be enforced, we need to have a law that can realistically be enforced given our labor needs. Which brings me to another point.
Conservatives recognize that America has a need for labor that Americans are unable or unwilling to fill. This is the case today, and will increasingly be the case in years to come as our workforce becomes older and better educated. Now, some will dispute this, noting that "there are some 10 million unemployed in this country, and some 10 million illegal aliens - do the math!"
This math adds up only if you accept that it is the federal government's role, for example, to persuade an unemployed fisherman in Maine to take a job as a landscaper in Phoenix. Or to move an unemployed schoolteacher in Indiana to the lettuce fields in Yuma. The former Soviet Union tried and failed with this type of economic planning for decades. Cuba is still trying. Neither are examples that conservatives should seek to emulate.
Third, conservatives are compassionate, despite what liberals will tell you. The fact that hundreds of illegal aliens, many of whom are women and children, die in the desert each year should compel us to action. Because a temporary worker program would allow workers to enter and exit the country through border checkpoints, the incentive to risk one's life in the desert would be diminished considerably. Under the current situation, those illegally crossing the border in search of work must make the calculation of whether to endure long periods, even years, without seeing their families, or to attempt to bring their families with them. The latter choice often leads to deadly consequences.
Finally, we conservatives are called conservatives because we want to "conserve" practices and principles that have withstood the test of time. There is little about the status quo in immigration policy that is worth conserving. Bush recognizes this. We conservatives, whether we agree with every detail of his plan or not, should applaud him for it.
Where have I said that? I have listed the only two scenarios I can see that will solve the problem. I don't think either scenario is possible at this time. I think the Bush proposal will not work but I think it is a good faith effort and one that he has advocated ever since he became a public figure. You are frustrated because you can't come up with a workable solution either. There really are some problems that cannot be solved until there is an across the board consensus on what the solution should be. I don't see even the barest hint of that attempt being made on Freerpublic. All I see i the usual contrarians using a very emotional issue as their stalking horse for dumping on the GOP and Bush in particular. This is not new, it has been a continuous theme by some on Freerepublic since the 2000 elections. There are more than a few around here that want a fist fight instead of a debate, Me, I am comfortable doing either.
I think you meant to say:
I read the thread and your " analogy " isn't pertinent to me and your post is worded badly.
Nor am I attempting to come up with the solution to the problem. I am putting forth ideas that I think might help solve the problem. I have never been one to throw up my hands and say "this can't be done". There is always a solution. Bush has proposed a solution. I don't care for his solution. Does that make me a Bush basher? Must I agree with his solution to be a good little conservative? Or can I have a mind of my own?
My point on this topic has been simple. The proposal by Bush will not solve the problem that he is stating that he is addressing. Is that too emotional? I believe he is playing politics with this issue, and in fact, nothing will come of it. More emotion?
The biggest problem that I see with Bush is not the immigration issue. It is his ability to swing to the left and take the conservative vote for granted. What that does is move the entire debate further to the left, not just on this issue, but on all issues. In essence, it creates a new 'center', one that is further to the left than before.
I would like Bush to remain on the right. Now that is something to get emotional about. ;)
I GROW MY OWN STRAWBERRIES!!!!! I'll sell them to you, and only you, for say $10 a lb. Blackbird.
Maybe a business hiring illegals should be required to shut their doors until a complete investigation of their hiring practices can be conducted. That would get the attention of those with money invested as well as employees who would be encouraged to prevent hiring illegals. Let the whiners complain that they can't operate without illegal help. Let's just keep them from operating.
To hear you tell it, YES. You are all over these threads telling us that none of us ever voted for or ever supported Bush from the beginning. Over and over you tell us this. It's a fable, but that hasn't stopped you (and the rest of your 21% crowd) from saying it over and over and over and over ad nauseum, has it tex? Now you straddle that fence to the other side of the argument. It should be clear to even YOU at this point, that 21%, not the 22% that you declare, is a MINORITY number, get that? MINORITY. Blackbird.
This is precisely the point that all should be aware of, there is a far more sinister illegal alien force crossing our borders daily.... from Central America, Cuba, Middle East, and South America who are attempting to bring the Terrorist War home to America. They are being brought across via car, vans and on foot – stopping these aliens is the object of the President’s proposals – Green Card laborers are just that, day to week workers who have no intention of becoming a citizen, they just do the work and then leave. The others plan great harm for the United States and form cells across the land. They must be found and deported ASAP. As for those Green Card workers who try to 'disappear' into the land; over staying their visas; under the new proposals they will be found and deported. It is the Congress you must watch like a hawk!
Here are just a few rules and regs. that must be changed, the new proposals will help.
There are far more than these few that need changing.
Rove's job is to map out Bush's agenda, and it's funny that you would consider putting the immigration issue squarely on the table for Congress to address, to be political suicide.
I guess Tantrum Tom's method of political irrelevancy (how many of his immigration initiatives have gone beyond conception? Answer: None) is better to you.
You and the Bush administration are on the wrong side of the issue.
Just like most posts and opinions...so what's your point?
In 1986 Reagan did what he did for illegals by giving amnesty and employers feet were held to the fire by having to confirm each employee on their payroll was legally in America and all future new hires as well. We all had to complete some government form to verify our status.
Actually, thinking back on it, it was just a another bandaid solution to the problem. Didn't do anything but add more employee paperwork to be filed away for nothing other than to say we did it. No one from the government ever came to see whether these forms were completed or not. Just another round of bureaucratic bs.
I'm not holding my breath that Bush's proposal will solve anything on the issue of illegal aliens invading our country. I'm tired of being bs'd to death by a bunch of touchy feely gooey words, I long for a president who is firm and strong on the rule of law and could care less about what the NYT's has to say about him or Vicente Fox.
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