Posted on 01/08/2004 3:34:13 PM PST by kellynla
I am beginning to think John McCain actually won the presidency in 2000.
Conservatives were relieved when the Straight Talk Express petered out during the 2000 primary season. John McCain, although tough on national security and runaway spending, was hardly a conservative on major issues such as campaign finance, healthcare reform and immigration.
Yet this is exactly where we find President Bush today (except unlike McCain, Bush doesn’t seem to have much of a problem with runaway spending). Last year President George Bush signed the McCain-Feingold bill into law, which is one of the worst assaults on political speech this country has ever seen. When conservatives (and many liberals) howled, the President’s advisers whispered that they believed the Supreme Court would “clean up” the more onerous parts of the bill which dictates the types of political ads that can air before a general election or primary contest. Of course the Supreme Court rubber stamped the entire thing and so the result is less, not more political speech in the U.S.
And now President Bush charges across the landscape to rescue us from our “unfair” and “broken” immigration system by rewarding people who came here illegally with the promise of legal status. This proposal essentially mirrors the immigration legislation sponsored by—you got it—Sen. McCain. Under the Bush/McCain plan, anyone outside the U.S. who wants to come into the country would only need to show proof of a “job offer” in order to get an initial three-year work permit that would be renewable for an unspecified period. Such temporary workers could also bring family members here. What prevents these people from staying on beyond their time premitted for "temporary" work? As it stands now, there seems to be no limit on the immigration —temporary or permanent— allowed under this plan. And as for the claim that this would be a big boon to the American economy? Illegal immigration costs taxpayers $20 billion each year, in extra education, healthcare, welfare, and prison costs. Today thirty-four percent of Mexicans legally in the U.S., and 25 percent of Mexicans illegally here are welfare.
How are those costs diminished under the Bush plan?
Most bewildering is the Administration idea that this plan is necessary for homeland security reasons. On the contrary, it would not be surprising if some would-be terrorists are among the millions of illegals who will become “documented” under the Bush plan. As Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) charged, "Guest worker programs and gradual amnesty provide cover for terrorists."
It’s easy to understand why Vicente Fox, McCain, big business, and La Raza are happy this week—but what’s in this new proposal for working class American families? How about those immigrants who a lot of time and money to comply with our immigration laws?
The real answer is absolutely nothing. The only reasonable prediction is that wages for a wide range of jobs will be kept artificially depressed by outside workers—now with “legal status” will work for peanuts. “I have worked construction for 30 years as a truck driver (18-wheeler),” wrote one of my listeners, “And every year my pay has gone down because Mexicans are flooding the trucking industry…."
When Bill Clinton says we live in an “increasingly borderless world,” we’re not surprised. It’s the usual globaloney blather. But when a Republican president advocates a policy that will make our borders effectively meaningless, we should be outraged.
With his approval numbers high, President Bush has made a devil’s bargain with business and Hispanic groups. Elites from both parties are ignoring the view of a strong majority of Americans that we need to stop illegal immigration, not high-five it.
Another listener wonders: “What happened to the ‘party of principle’? More like the party of pandering. Considering the massive numbers involved, this amnesty being floated really is Pandora's Box, once opened cannot be closed.”
President Bush has now done the equivalent of posting a sign at the border: “Help Wanted for $5.15/hour.”
Conservatives are right to be disappointed in President Bush. We are right to ignore the Administration’s promise that this time, non-amnesty amnesty will be good for the American people. Our citizenship and legal residence should be reserved for people who love this country enough that breaking her laws—whether at the border or on the street—is out of the question. The next time I hear from his Administration that it is doing all it can to protect our homeland, secure our borders, and increase our standard of living, I will laugh.
Now I know the definition of “compassionate conservative:” a person who campaigns as a conservative, then sells out key conservative principles.
I like it.
I'll get to work on the script this weekend.
You said... You vote for Dean or stay home or vote 3rd party and you elect a Democrat and your displeasure is maximized. You vote for Bush and your displeasure is minimized. This is not rocket science.
Perhaps if construction workers did not expect to receive wages that just a few decades ago would not be earned by a Doctor, and buyers did not expect to receive more for the money when purchasing a house, then Americans would be working in construction.
But, let's face it, it's ridiculous to think that one could work in construction, and live in a style that just a few decades ago was reserved for bankers and professionals.
I make a good living now, and I look back wondering how in the hell I made it on a fraction of what I make now...but I did, and I see others coming up behind me making do with less.
Our expectations are out of whack with reality.
How come no one ever calculates the impact on the economy via lower prices for goods and services that are directly related to the lower wages paid illegal immigrants?
I'll pay the higher cost for these goods, if it will secure our borders, because I know that innovation will create the impetus for prices to be reduced!
Because they don't want anyone to think about that aspect, that's why.
Think about this...every time an Illegal Infiltrator needs ANY medical attention, they use the Emergency Room and an Ambulance. Why? Beacuse FEDERAL LAW MANDATES that no one can be turned away, even ILLEGAL INFILTRATORS, that comes in by ambulance!
Now, an American Citizen can have his pay attached if he can't pay the bill, but the ILLEGAL INFILTRATORS have their bills paid for by... the AMERICAN TAXPAYER!
Now, while an ILLEGAL INFILTRATOR is riding in an ambulance with a bad cold, someone else in town who is an AMERICAN CITIZEN is having a coronary...but the closest ambulance is hauling an ILLEGAL INFILTRATOR to the emergency room...care to put the cost on that?
Don't you realize we are under foreign occupation? You always have to learn the language of the invader.
Add to that fining and jailing those who knowingly hire invaders (or omit background checks) and passing laws where US citizens can claim wages they would've gotten from employers who hired non-citizens instead.
The 80% to 90% of US citizens who are disgusted with the lack of respect politicians and corporate types show for citizenship and the borders will be accused of all kinds of things by those who try to tell us how to think. Nothing will change until politicians in the mold of Representative Tancredo wake up and see that this is a winning issue.
No, I just have sympathy for people who do hard honest work in search of a better life.
Funny...you seem to have more "sympathy" for ILLEGAL INFILTRATORS than you do anyone else that has a run in with the Jack-Boot Crowd...why is that.
If you need proof, just look back on the Columbine threads, and other threads where the Police overstepped their bounds!
Sorry, Pooh. There is no way that number is right. I'm an Ops officer and I that's not the way it's done.
I've no doubt it wouldn't come cheap but that's way off.
Sorry but I just can't think that a person who is cleaning toilets 10 hours a day as the evilest of the evilest in the world, like it seems you are wont to do.
Correctomundo.
As always.
kelly...ours is an open society that respects the right of the individual to be free from unreasonable searches.
If a person overstaying their temporary visa decides to fade into the society, how would you go about finding them?
Would you conduct house searches in the hope that you could capture them somewhere?
How about the ten million illegal aliens in the country, roughly half of them are Mexican, so, do you stop people walking down the street because they "look" Mexican, and ask them to show you proof that they belong here?
If stopped at the street tomorrow, could you prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that you were in fact an American citizen?
I look Hispanic, will I be required to carry sufficient identification on me at all times to satisfy the curiosity of an overzealous LEO?
Just about then only thing that can be done, is to be sufficiently aware to "nab" visa violators at every point they cross paths with law enforcement agencies, and we do that now.
Last year, there were nearly one million voluntary departures of people who were caught overstaying their visas, and a number of forced deportations that I can't recall off the top of my head right now.
But you seem to think that they "see all and hear all", if that's the case, why don't they do better at avoiding bombs in Iraq while driving those very same Humvees around?
The message is: Shut Up and Pay Your Taxes.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.