[AuntB]

This one seems to have the right idea!

ALLEN WEST

http://www.allenwestforcongress.com/issues

Illegal Immigration:

The Constitution of the United States of America has these three mandates; ensure domestic tranquility, promote the general welfare, and provide for the common defense. All three of these directives relate to the issue of illegal immigration, as illegal immigration adversely affects our economy, jobs, national security, crime levels, education, and healthcare. Illegal immigration also allows human traffickers, drug runners, and Islamic terrorists to exploiting our porous border.

Quite simply, federal laws already on the books aimed at stopping the flow of illegal immigration must be enforced. Furthermore, states must be given the resources necessary to confront the problem, which includes strengthening the border patrol. When dealing with illegal immigration, the answer is simple; enforce Constitutional mandates, and you will protect Floridians and the American people.

[Jack Hammer]

It’s not necessary to indulge in a lot of blah blah; just find the illegal immigrants, send them back where they came from, and be sure they don’t come back here.

[jpsb]

Bump, nicely written on spot on.

[FreedomNotSafety]

You cannot have open borders and welfare. The writer's people came over and had a very stark choice. Provide for yourself and family or die. It is amazing the work ethos of people who know there will be no handouts. It is also amazing how desirous people, who earn their living through honest work, are to keep the fruit of their labors.

Get rid of welfare or get rid of immigration.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

"Immigrants once understood that they had embarked on a tough road, but that there was a pot of gold at the end -- if not for them, then for their children. Today's immigrants are taught to demand the gold immediately without earning it. But immigrants, illegal and legal, are not the main source of America's ills. Like most of our ailments, the immigration problem will be cured if we return the country to the principles upon which it was founded."

[moonshinner_09]

Why did they pass all the laws in 1986 to assure all the problems would never be a great as they are now. How many decades have we heard working on securing the border.

[kabar]

Then, as those two great adventures came to a close in the early twentieth century, we returned to more restrictive policies. We threw open the gates again after WWII and they have remained open ever since.

Our specific immigration schemes have also varied. Which countries we favored; what criteria we sought (relatives, specific work skills, educational level, age) -- these too have not remained constant. Nevertheless, I don't think that any of those critically affected the end result. Most of the people arriving at our borders were "yearning to breathe free."

The author doesn't have a clue. The 1965 Immigration Act: Anatomy of a Disaster changed the demographics of this country forever. Pushed by Teddy Kennedy and the Dems as a way to make America look more like the world rather than a European dominated culture and ethnicity, the act has helped sow the seeds of multiculturalism and diversity as our national ethos. We have lost our sense of national identity as a result and Balkanized this country along ethnic, racial, and linguistic lines.

By 2023 half of the children 18 and under will be minorities as defined by the USG and by 2042 half of the country will be minorities. Does any sane person believe that this will be beneficial to the future of this nation?

Bureau of the Census: An Older and More Diverse Nation by Midcentury

[fightinJAG]

The answer is simple. Unlike in France or Sweden or Cambodia, the citizens of our nation do not derive their national identity from a specific piece of land or a religion or an ethnic heritage, a race or even a language -- although it is possible to argue about the last one. To be an American is instead to subscribe to an idea, which comprises a philosophy of government, a means of organizing society and an economic system.

This article was pure joy to read, inspiring and moving as well.

Here's an interesting piece that reaches the same conclusion -- i.e., the power of the American idea and the ruin that will surely come from abandoning it -- but from the vantage of a person who is not an American, but a German economist:

Obama's Misguided Approach: American Has Become Too European

[HiJinx]

Ping!

[rodguy911]

Liberalism during the entire 20th century has incrementally helped to destroy the country.

Each and every generation gets a little more used to ignoring social mores, laws, the constitution than the last. The result is the obama generation where the "dear leader" brainwashed all. Those who don't obey are accused of being racists, murderers or worse yet Capitalists.

We are witnessing the destruction of a once great society. Question is can it be saved?

[rmlew]

The answer is simple. Unlike in France or Sweden or Cambodia, the citizens of our nation do not derive their national identity from a specific piece of land or a religion or an ethnic heritage, a race or even a language -- although it is possible to argue about the last one. To be an American is instead to subscribe to an idea, which comprises a philosophy of government, a means of organizing society and an economic system.

The United States of America did not come into existence slowly over eons through the gradual, natural congealing of a people via one or more of the above categories. It was created essentially ex nihilo at the end of the eighteenth century by means of two founding documents -- the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution -- as well as through the writings and speeches of the men, and their associates, who penned those documents.

The author knows nothing of our history. The ideas were not universal. Our polity came from our culture and history. Ideas do not form ex nihilo, they are born of traditions and culture. Other countries copied large section of the Constitution and failed.

[chesley]

His ancestors were immigrants. Mine were settlers and colonists. There is a BIG difference.

[Razz Barry]

Indeed, the latter is the key point. It is not that the new immigrant is from Latin America or Asia or the Middle East instead of Europe; it is not that he speaks Spanish instead of German or French; it is not that his work ethic is weaker than those of previous immigrants -- it's not; and it is not that she is not steeped in American history -- my grandmothers couldn't distinguish John Adams from Samuel Adams. It is that we the people, or at least a sizeable segment of us, have lost faith in our own ideals. You cannot inculcate newcomers into your way of life if you no longer subscribe to its tenets. So we make no effort to ensure that new immigrants possess or are given the ideas that quickly grant them access to an American identity.

I read a history book from the 1930's that said after we kicked Mexican butt all the way to Mexico City, some wanted to keep all that land as well. It was decided that we could not fold that many Spanish speaking people into our English speaking country.

I was told that the reason we have a public school system was to get everyone on the same page. To get all the immigrants speaking English and understand our history.