1. David Brooks is simply not a Conservative. He may from time to time use some words that sound Conservative but my sense is that he is decidedly more concerned with giving his employeer the sheerest facade of balanced editiorialism while appearing intellectually thoughtful and refined than he is devoted to the conservative principles of this nation's founding no matter what. I actually have higher regard for the likes of Paul Krugman who make no bones about where they stand. Quit apologizing for Conservative principles (and principals), David.
2. The oft repeated mantra that Dem talking heads have been spouting is that the GOP is finished if they don't start to identify with Hispanics and pass this bill. Since when did Dems become so altruistic about keeping the GoP alive? That's like Israel consulting with Hezbollah for national security strategies. Has the GOP "leadership" become so rudderless and unaware of the Conservative principles that gave the Party its few huge successes with Reagan, the first GOP majority in Congress in the second half of the 1900s and the most recent GOP majority in Congress that they feel the only place they can turn for advice is to Chuck Schumer, David Axelrod and the mainstream media?
4. GOP leadership needs to grow a pair (maybe Sarah Palin could lend her's to some of them) and stop allowing the dialogue to be that the GoP and Conservatives (two circles whose Venn overlap is growing ever smaller) are "anti-immigrant". That's a campaign strategy lie (from the same ones who brought you "pushing grandma off the cliff" and "GoP war on women"), the Dems know it but the idiots in charge of the national GoP just wring their hands and look guilty while the media and Dems (redundancy alert) repeat it. I've participated personally and actively in helping 12 legal immigrants obtain their US citizenship through the proper established legal pathway to that great privilege and I'm not ashamed to say it brought tears to my eyes each time one of them uttered the Pledge of Allegiance and became a fellow citizen of this remarkable nation. That is more "pro-immigrant" than 99.99% of those spouting the BS that Conservatives are anti-immigrant.
5. Our elected officials have an obligation to the CURRENT citizens of this country to pass fiscally-responsible balanced budgets and address the policies that are failing us economically such as the relentless extra-legislative regulations by government bureaucrats that serve more to bring them fiscal sustenance than allow the greatest economic engine in the world to generate wealth for its citizenry. And as far as wealth, when we unleash our entrepreneurs and generate that wealth, we also do a damned good job sharing it with those in need around the globe for we are also a generous nation with our wealth when we can be and our lives when we must be. This is the most immigrant friendly nation on earth but somehow we have allowed the liberals to paint it as some sort of xenophobic hell hole for immigrants. Shame on all of us.
6. The real question here is what is the pressing need to pass "comprehensive" immigration reform? I mean it must be critical since John Boehner declared this the most important piece of legislation he plans to pass this year. Really? The most important legislation? With a stagnant economy, spiraling out of control debt and an unprecedented march toward a nation of government overreach and eroding of Americans' liberty and THAT is the most important thing you can come up with? Not that I care very much for polls, but most of the polls I've seen on this issue from Hispanics place this pretty low on the list of issues they care about--and get this, at the top of their list is Joe Biden's "three-letter word": J-O-B-S. No kidding. So even the immigrants this purports to serve are telling elected officials to do something about employment in this country. But the only jobs our elected officals seem to be hell bent on preserving are their own--and THAT my friends is precisely why they keep telling us we NEED this reform because both sides think this means more voters to keep them in their plush offices and leather chairs with hot young interns stroking their overinflated egos. The Chamber of Commerce wants it for more cheap labor--is there really a shortage of labor with 7.5% (reported, actual may be as high as 19%) unemployment? Really? And if we think it's expensive now to pay for all the services of the "shadow" dwellers, what about the "come to America for free health care, free foodstamps, free college education and free pathway to citizenship" crowd that we will only draw in even bigger numbers than today? We cannot generate that kind of wealth now and it is highly unlikely that if this nation continues to allow the Progressive's agenda to advance we will ever be able to afford it. That is precisely what Cloward-Piven proposed, by the way, to collapse the welfare system so that a "more socially just" national annual salary system can be erected in its place. And if the members of the Chamber of Commerce believe for one minute that once this "reform" passes, that labor will continue to be cheap, they are even more stupid than I thought.
I feel as if I'm watching one of those horror films where seemingly educated people keep walking into dark hallways where you know the ax murderer is waiting and even after they find their buddy's head laying on the floor beside his bloody body, they keep walking through the house looking for Lord knows what instead of saying "we need to go the other way NOW!" Guess what, it never goes well for those people in the movies. Sure hope real life works out better. I doubt it will.
Commenting on this one while visiting the lovely isle of Bermuda. Seem to have strict immigration policies here, as well as strict work rules. Funny, I don't feel like I am in a xenophobic culture.
ReplyDeleteCommenting on this one while visiting the lovely isle of Bermuda. Seem to have strict immigration policies here, as well as strict work rules. Funny, I don't feel like I am in a xenophobic culture.
ReplyDeleteKudos on the Peanuts cartoon - I've been saying that immigration reform was like Lucy, Charlie Brown & the football for weeks.
ReplyDeleteI find that particular comic strip extremely useful as an explanatory tool . . . "The Emperor's New Clothes" - that comes in handy too!
Sysvisas Consultants is the Pakistan’s leading immigration and study abroad services. Deals in immigration, university admission, visa processing.
ReplyDeletebest immigration consultants in Pakistan
Thanks for the such kind of information, i really appreciate you for that kind of information, keep share more content.
ReplyDeleteAustralia Immigration Services New Delhi | immigration consultants in India | Best Immigration Consultants in Delhi
Thanks for sharing such informative blog post and used images are very attractive. Thanks
ReplyDelete