Posted on 07/06/2007 5:19:31 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Former Sen. Fred Thompson has begun his unannounced quest for the Republican presidential nomination by telling audiences in New Hampshire that Washington is badly out of touch with the country.
As a senior campaign adviser put it to The Washington Post's Michael Shear, Thompson believes that "the politicians have lost their connection with what people really want and what they really expect."
Few if any of the other 17 men and one woman vying for the presidency would be bold enough to challenge Thompson's claim. The belief that official Washington is deaf to the people's wishes is a staple of political rhetoric for both Republicans and Democrats.
Let a reporter who is not running for anything suggest that exactly the opposite may be true: A particularly virulent strain of populism has made official Washington altogether too responsive to public opinion.
From Aristotle to Edmund Burke, philosophers have written of the healthy tension that normally exists between the understanding and strategies of leaders and the sentiments and opinions of their people.
In today's Washington, a badly weakened president and a dangerously compliant congressional leadership are no match for the power of public opinion — magnified and sometimes exaggerated by modern communications and interest-group pressure.
The latest cave-ins involve immigration and trade policy, and both are seriously threatening to the national interest.
The collapse of the immigration-reform bill in the Senate at the end of June means that the broken border system, which allows a continuing flood of illegal immigrants to enter the United States with no hope of ever attaining the responsibilities and privileges of citizenship, will continue for at least another two years. No one is talking of reviving the effort until after the 2008 election installs a new president and Congress.
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.nwsource.com ...
In my opinion, anyone who crashes the broken border should NEVER "attain the responsibilities and privileges of citizenship" - not EVER. And the same must hold true for their progeny.
That must be the enduring, lifelong penalty for illegally breaking into the United States.
Sure, they can work here, they can have families. But neither they or their families should ever be permitted full citizenship, but instead, must remain "something lower than" citizens for as long as they choose to stay here.
If we give amnesty and "hope" to the millions already here, there are tens upon tens of millions MORE who will invade us.
No citizenship, ever. And no "hope".
- John
Too late..their children are already legal citizens and voters...and they have more than 2.5 per family.
Broder, an “elbow-rubber” from way back.
Some days, I call him the “Blue-ice bomber.”
ping
BTTT!
Wrong. The citizens will keep the pressure to build the fence. If there is no immediate satisfaction then the armed citizens will seal the border by force. If the government and/or other groups try to prevent the citizens from exercising their rights then a Civil War is inevitable.
One more thing, I wonder what our government will do if the Mexican army slaughters US citizens inside the US?? Sadly, I really don't know the answer to this possibility!
“No, David Broder does not favor a dictator. He is simply stating his opinion that public sentiment is wrong with respect to immigration policies.:
Then Broder doesn’t have a clue, and should stay the hell
out of the discussion. I’m sure his 2 million dollar house
doesn’t have 3 illegal families living next door
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