Border Wars (Paul and Johnson race left on amnesty)

NRO ^ | May 24, 2011 4:00am | Kevin D. Williamson

[11th Commandment]

A strange thing is afoot in the little libertarian corner of the Republican presidential primary: a race to the left on immigration.

U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, until recently something of an immigration hawk — no amnesty, no birthright citizenship, no welfare benefits — has, as they say, evolved. Representative Paul was a tough critic of the Bush administration’s “comprehensive reform” (read: “surrender”) project; today, he is calling for amnesty in the form of “green cards with an asterisk.” ....

.......................What’s got into Ron Paul? The best guess is: Gary Johnson. Johnson, a former governor of New Mexico, has joined the Republican primary race, too, and he’s out to out-libertarian the libertarians’ poster boy.

[11th Commandment]

The entire article needs to be read. The point of the article is that Paul has moved to a pure economic (libertarian) argument on immigration and has abandoned the cultural aspect of immigration. If this is true I would say that there is nothing wrong with Paul's libertarians, but is economics is abhorrent.

[RockinRight]

Although I have libertarian “tendencies” - I strongly disagree with this.

Culture is important. FEW conservatives admit this, let alone anyone else as it’s racist/ethnocentric/demagoguery/xenophobic to say so.

[junta]

All ideology is bunk, ideas are great but they are not to be worshipped, and these two fools will poll 1%.

[no-to-illegals]

Most all policy stances today and yesterday end with one goal in mind ... imho
Such policy came to be after WWII ... imho
The culmination of years to bring this policy to fruition is being witnessed in the present ... imho

[Scotsman will be Free]

IMHO culture trumps all. Our country was pre eminent because of our culture, not the other way around. As our culture has been watered down we have declined as a country.

[SoConPubbie]

But dont’cha know, Ron Paul is our Constitutional Savior!

He is the ONLY Republican who just wants to follow the constitution!

[HiJinx]

Ping!

[ScottinVA]

So, you Paulbots... what say you now???

[Monorprise]

It’s true we can’t be importing people like George Soros who just take advantage of the fruits of America while working to bring down everything it stands for.

[ansel12]

2004 Libertarian Party Platform-Immigration

Here is the 2004 Libertarian Party Platform on immigration.

Immigration
The Issue: We welcome all refugees to our country and condemn the efforts of U.S. officials to create a new “Berlin Wall” which would keep them captive. We condemn the U.S. government’s policy of barring those refugees from our country and preventing Americans from assisting their passage to help them escape tyranny or improve their economic prospects.

The Principle: We hold that human rights should not be denied or abridged on the basis of nationality. Undocumented non-citizens should not be denied the fundamental freedom to labor and to move about unmolested. Furthermore, immigration must not be restricted for reasons of race, religion, political creed, age or sexual preference. We oppose government welfare and resettlement payments to non-citizens just as we oppose government welfare payments to all other persons.

Solutions: We condemn massive roundups of Hispanic Americans and others by the federal government in its hunt for individuals not possessing required government documents. We strongly oppose all measures that punish employers who hire undocumented workers. Such measures repress free enterprise, harass workers, and systematically discourage employers from hiring Hispanics.

Transitional Action: We call for the elimination of all restrictions on immigration, the abolition of the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Border Patrol, and a declaration of full amnesty for all people who have entered the country illegally.