Posted on 08/25/2006 5:27:28 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued
It’s the question of the decade if not the question of the century: “Why is there such a disconnect between the political class and the people of the United States on the issue of illegal immigration?” The easy answers are that Republicans want cheap labor for their big-business contributors and Democrats see a near-limitless source of new votes.
Conventional wisdom rarely goes beyond that point, but really, labor and votes are mere surface issues. To some extent, and perhaps even unconsciously, our political elites seem to feel that many of their problems -- stuff like the recent Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal -- are really the fault of their constituents. Those darned voters sometimes organize, write letters, go on the blogs, and complain about high taxes -- sometimes they even vote a politician out of office. The nerve!
Perhaps a better class of constituents could be found that in time might begin to replace the whiners that our officials have to deal with now. You know -- a new type of voter that could be shaped into a perfect constituent that would never demand term limits or open government.
That’s the conclusion of Fredo Arias-King, who met privately with at least 80 members of Congress while handling public relations for then-candidate Vicente Fox in 1999 and 2000. The Harvard-educated Arias-King made 14 trips to the United States for Fox and attended both of the American political conventions. He says 90 percent of the officials that he spoke to wanted big increases in immigration. A few, he says, disparaged their white constituents calling them “rednecks” and apologizing for their views on immigration.
(Excerpt) Read more at humanevents.com ...
There is no error on my part, though there is a second on yours.
Go back to the threads of the primary during and after. You were on them. They still exist in FR banks. And you know, and I know, it was claimed that primary destroyed Tancredo in national politics as an influential force..and that amnesty has gained the approval of the American people.
FF to present. I see no evidence of those claims having become reality. I really don't know if Tancrdeo claimed that race as a national referndum. I don't remember. But I know amnesty folks claimed the same after the race. And I also know the Pence/Hutchinson plan was typed up recently, in the Washington Times? As having been rejected by the majority of their Republicans collegues in the House.
Lesson learned? That primary ended up changing little in this fight. But it's all you have to hold to, so, I know you'll continue to do so.
I'm not a pol in D.C. I'm simply a voter in the heartland, the daughter of immigrants to the heartland of our country about 150 years ago. And while I don't know for sure, I'm sure they ran up against attitudes like yours in their time.
I've noticed how your arguments changed from using the words "immigration" to "border security" on this very thread. And when you describe my argument you change "bigotry" to "racism".
That is really unfair rhetoric.
Weak judges will probably rule against strong borders the same way their trying to rule against a strong military.
Fix the judges before you fix the borders, or you'll have neither strong justice nor strong security.
There is already a noun for "disconnect" (a verb) -- DISCONNECTION
</GRAMMAR POLICE>
Yes, go back to those threads. It was buchanan and tancredo claiming it was going to be a national referendum leading up to the election. You folks were sured fired up about your referendum; tons of out-of-state money and volunteers came into the state for "your" referendum. In the real world that's called loosing your arse. For instance, look at this thread: it has less posts then the one about the "Air America Complaint Department" that started a day later. Yep...a real hot topic.
We don't wait to fix judges. We do it election by election.
And with an election about 70 days away, it behooves us AT THIS TIME not to drag down republicans with internal food fights over the border.
We can start the food fight again after November 7th.
I don't remember anything like 9/11 happening 150 years ago so why would anyone have mentioned "border security" then?
I'm sorry, I don't understand your point.
You mentioned the word "immigration" changing to "border security" and your ancestors coming 150 years ago.
It's getting late in Michigan so maybe I read something that differently from what you read.
I'm still not sure of your point.
The illegal invasion in a national disaster and most politicians are totally out of touch with the vast majority of their constituents.
We're facing a fiscal and cultural catastrophe. Ever increasing taxes for illegals - for social welfare services, bankrupt school districts, insolvent hospitals, the enormous criminal and social costs of the drug cartel, the expenses of becoming a bi-lingual society.
This is NOT a matter of opinion. The comprehensive and scholarly study by Robert Rector of Heritage - to cite only one - spells out the utter ruin we face in the next couple decades if the illegal tsunami is not ended.
It's astonishing that in an age of international terrorism our borders are out-of-control -- and the national political establishment doesn't give a hoot --- FIVE years after 9/11!
Polls all indicate that two-thirds of the nation want secure borders FIRST and NOW. But as the post said, too many Republican business interests love that cheap labor and the Dems love those votes -- and our very culture is rapidly being destroyed.
Already OTM's from the Middle East are learning some Spanish and crossing the Mexican border.
Of course, opponents of border restriction are resorting to their usual ploy of name-calling: racism, xenophobia, etc., etc.
We'd better wake up - it will soon be irreversible and too late for America!
She's missed the underlying globalism slant. The following is assembled (hopefully cogently) from prior posts on FR.
The behavior of our president and certain members of the US senate has been very confusing relative to the illegal immigration issue, but I believe I finally understand the underlying dynamic of the situation. Many people think the president and certain senators:
1) have a heart for illegal immigrants- WRONG! or
2) are reaching out to illegals and trying to build their respective voting constituencies for the future- MOSTLY WRONG!
The overarching truth is, in their worldview, it's a world of business and sovereign nations only serve to restrict business operations and ultimately, profits. Who needs borders? Free trade, cheap labor, and open borders for all! Yep, they're all one world government whores sold out to their big business constituents. That's the only explanation that is consistent with their actions over the last 20 years. In truth, they've all sold us down the river for big business and a one world government which will benefit.... you guessed it.... big business.
Finally, I've been wondering what the rush was on this "comprehensive immigration reform" legislation after years of neglect. I've found it. Looks like the RICO Act Addendum of 1996 is being used to go after employers of illegals with recent success (Mohawk Industries v. Williams, No. 05-465) at the federal court level. See the following articles.
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1145442295449
http://www.cis.org/articles/2003/back1103.html
God forbid that businesses that have paid good money for elected officials get shellacked for billions in lawsuits. After all they've paid good money so that they can skirt the law with impunity.
I've decided that there really is no difference between Democrats and Republicans on the "open borders" side of this debate. When you're at their station in the food chain, it's doubtful whether you actually have any principles. It seems the goal is to develop a self-propagating constituency (paying plus enough non-paying to get elected). The development of any particular policies is designed to serve their paying big business constituents and certainly not based on any deeply held personal values as they like to tell you in their campaign speeches.
Yep, they've managed to create their own private ruling class that will prosper no matter how much hell the rest of us have to go through. It's high time to rid our country of career politicians.
...and I missed it that "Lynn"" is a guy. ;o)
HMMM. Why does that not surprise me? LOL!
I agree with you. Not much of a wat on terror when you can't won't protect your own borders. In fact, it borders on treason.
Well stated!
It wasn't time 2 years ago, it wasn't time 6 years ago. Will it EVER be time to defend this country against the illegal but 'politically encouraged' invasion?
If we allow the politicians to continue pandering to the illegals, it won't be long until we no longer have a country. I'm beginning to think that if they are determined to pander to illegals then its time to stop paying taxes. They can't arrest us all. Its getting to the point where I just don't care anymore. Neither of the main parties has been listening for a long time now.
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