Have We Forgotten About Illegal Immigration?

Based on Super Tuesday's results, apparently so. What happened? Are our memories really that short? Has the anger faded so quickly? Where is our country headed and where has our party gone?

Who would have thought national security and sovereignty would be nothing more than a fad?

Conservatives, Its Time to Speak Up,

Mark Levin has written a wonderful piece about John McCain and why Conservatives need to speak up now. Below is an excerpt, read the whole thing here.

There are other reasons to speak out now, and loudly, against a McCain candidacy — before it is too late for the movement and the party. Do we conservatives believe in the Constitution or not? Do we believe in as much open political speech as possible or not? The McCain supporters rightly point out that free speech has never been a pure principle. But wild swings of change, aimed at empowering the federal government (or more particularly, incumbent politicians) against citizen activism prior to an election, is exceedingly imprudent. And prudence is a hallmark of conservative thought, or at least used to be. McCain-Feingold is without question the greatest assault on free political speech since Buckley v. Valeo, and is far more draconian. And, once again, McCain’s rhetoric as its leading advocate was dishonest. He repeatedly used the word “corruption” to describe those “forces” who aligned against his effort. As with Rumsfeld, he targeted a member of the Federal Election Commission, Bradley Smith, for disdain and worse. McCain filed a brief in the Supreme Court with several Democrats against the Wisconsin Right to Life organization challenging its right to run informative ads prior to an election. Wisconsin Right to Life won. Ironically, as best I can tell, this is the most aggressive action he has taken in all his years in Washington on the right-to-life issue, which probably explains why the vast majority of these groups have endorsed other candidates. The point is that McCain’s easy disregard of first principles, in this case political speech, runs deep with many conservatives and is not easily downplayed. (And the fact that President Bush signed the bill is no justification.)

Much has been written about the three legs of the conservative movement and how Mike Huckabee’s campaign has resonated with the family-values folks. Well, he doesn’t appear to have won over a majority of those voters. But I’ll leave that for another day. Much has been written about the national-security leg of the movement, including by VDH (albeit with its selective attention to aspects of the McCain record). But not enough attention is given to the economic leg, which has much to be concerned about in McCain. Some define McCain’s as a spending hawk for his efforts in ending earmarks and opposition to certain spending programs. But the McCain record is much more than that. As mentioned earlier, the McCain-Kennedy amnesty bill was among the most irresponsible and reckless budgetary and economic legislative efforts of all time. Moreover, McCain has repeatedly demanded that federal power be used to tame perfectly legitimate private enterprises, from energy and pharmaceutical companies, to media companies and anything else he considers “corrupt” or “the enemy” or what have you. And as I first noted here, McCain’s claim during recent debates that he opposed the 2001/2003 Bush tax cuts because Congress refused to cut spending is highly misleading. Time and again McCain resorted to class warfare propaganda, asserting that he opposed the tax cuts because they “favored the rich.” He has embraced the same approach in the McCain-Kennedy-Edwards bill, a phony “patients’ bill of rights” that would essentially empower further the trial bar to sue insurance companies and other businesses involved in the provision of health care, including employers. And his “re-importation” of drugs position, which he claims will reduce the cost of prescriptions in our country, comes straight from Hillary Clinton’s heath-care task force. He would drive much needed research and development from those American companies that are inventing and producing most of the world’s life-saving and life-extending drugs.

McCain’s position on the environment is every bit as radical as any of the most liberal Democrats in the Senate. He would empower the federal government to regulate and tax the private sector in ways that it has never before. He is convinced that man is responsible for global warming, such as it is, and consequently the federal government must act to control man. McCain has proposed everything from a massive database of carbon emitters, capping carbon emissions, trading carbon emissions, taxing carbon emissions, and so forth. Of course, like most big-government politicians, little concern is paid to the Constitution or economic outcomes, including forcing more smoke-stack industries and their jobs offshore.

Illegal Immigration is not a crime?

Glenn Beck interviewed Rudy Giuliani today. I won't summarize much, because I encourage you to read the entire thing yourself. But at one point, Mayor Giuliani said that illegal immigration was not a crime, or more accurately it was a civil offense and not a criminal one.

Semantically, that might be correct. I'll let the lawyers decide that. But if it is not a criminal offense, it should be. If we can't deport or criminalize 12 million people who committed illegal acts, we should find a way. We have to stop illegal immigration now. A fence is not enough if you don't penalize the people who get through.

I wholeheartedly appreciate that people want to come into this country and take advantage of our many blessings as Americans, but you must do it the right way. But the right way is too tough, burdensome, or takes too long. Tough.

I don't say that lightly. Everything worth having is worth working towards. That is lesson more people in this country need to understand. Most of us will not win the PowerBall, we have to work hard for everything we have. There are few shortcuts in life. More people need to be taught that.

Want to be wealthy... you have to study, work hard, and take a little risk. Want to be skinny... you have to eat right and exercise more. Want to get a good job... then get a good education, study, watch, learn. Want to protect us from terrorists... it will take sacrifice and a long hard battle. Anything that is worthwhile is worth striving for and working towards. We seem to have forgotten that.

Ask a successful business owner about cutting corners and taking shortcuts. How many do you think will give you story after story of how shortcuts cost them more in the long run? Ask a home builder about cutting corners and using cheaper materials. How many do you think will tell you that it will lead to more problems down the road?

We need to stop excusing behavior in this country. We need to stop accepting something that is wrong because the desired outcome is right. I can't (and wouldn't) cheat my customers because I want to get ahead quicker. I can't steal from the bank because money is getting tight.

Life is hard work. Accomplishing goals takes effort and time. Those things that are worthwhile are worth fighting for.

You know, if more people understood that there would be less divorce in this country. When things start getting tough, people just want to quit or take a short cut. Its the same with fixing the tax code, fixing social security, fighting the war on terror... and yes its the same with immigration.

Those things that are worthwhile require time, effort, and sacrifice. If getting into this country is so worthwhile, why should it be any different? How does the value proposition change if everyone got to take shortcuts?

We can't excuse illegal behavior because we think the goal is right. What message does that send to our children? What message does that send to the world? If we excuse this illegal behavior, which one is next?

I Stand Corrected...

I'll admit it. Calling Fred Thompson the winner before seeing the commercial, the debate, or the post-debate Leno appearance might have been pre-mature. I still believe it was an intelligent and out-of-the-box political move. And Fred did well on The Tonight Show last night. But, what I noticed last night on Leno with Senator Fred is something I fear will cause some viewers to tune out. Fred doesn't seem to believe in sound bytes much (I applaud him for that), but some of his answers to Jay's questions were a bit long for the setting. I, for one, actually appreciate that... I like that there is no easy answer on Iraq or the "Shouldn't People Like Us More?" nonsense... but I'm not sure that Leno was the right place for such critical topics from a man who actually had realistic and well thought out positions. I wonder if some in the audience tuned him out when the answers lasted longer than 10 seconds. It is late night however, and people are either watching through their eyelids... looking for a laugh... or paying more attention to the Serta sheep they are trying to count and not the background noise of the tv. I guess in the coming days we will know how successful the Leno-Pre-Launch-Launch was.

That being said... for the albeit smaller, but probably more interested audience who watched the debate... there is no question who the winner was... Mike Huckabee. Being a recent Huckabee fan, maybe I'm a bit biased, but Governor Huckabee stood out among the GOP hopefuls last night. And based on the unscientific measure of sales at our little shop, Huckabee outsold Thompson stuff 5 to 1 (of course we only sell gear for a few candidates).

Mike Huckabee was a star. It was nice to see someone (other than the moderators) really take on Ron Paul. Their exchange about pulling out of Iraq should be popular on YouTube today. Ron Paul is a divider. He's wrong about Iraq withdrawal, he's wrong about how to fight the war and arguably why we are there. He's certainly wrong about how you handle these situations. And if you watched the debate in its entirety, you know that Ron Paul just doesn't get what we are fighting now. Contrary to what Paul said during another exchange in the debate, Islamic Terrorists don't hate us because we had troops in Saudi Arabia... they hate us because we are not them. Mike Huckabee got it right, time and time again.

My only disagreement with Huckabee is the immigration issue. Yes, he says he is for locking down our borders, but also sticks with a previous claim that some of the anti-illegal immigration movement is racist. I don't think that's fair, nor does it characterize this debate properly. The word "racist" is thrown around entirely too much in today's culture, and I dare say the Republican Party shouldn't be throwing out such labels, especially when they are about to face a woman or a black man as the Democratic nominee. Its too easy to score political points and label something as racism when you disagree with their point of view. Just wait to see how many people are called "sexist" or "racist" when they disagree with Hillary or Obama as the election draws near.

Wanting people to assimilate, learn our language, adopt our culture, and desire to be an American first is not racist... it is what the founders believed. Yes, we will take "your huddled masses yearning to breathe free" but we expect them to come here because they want to stay. We expect them to come looking for a better life, "yearning to breathe free" and make this their new home and their new country. We expect them to join our society and help continue to build on what makes America great.

The problem with the influx of illegal Mexicans into this country is that many of them aren't here "yearning to breathe free" and aren't ready to join our society and continue to build on the ideal that is America. They are here for short-term opportunity... many of whom will return their earnings and eventually themselves to Mexico as time moves on. And it shows by the way they come. If you wanted to be a part of what makes America great, you would try to do so legally. You would respect our laws and desire citizenship. For people who do it the right way, I welcome you with open arms. Come, Join Us. BUT, for those who only wish to exploit opportunity and send their social security back to Mexico to prop-up their economy and have no desire to follow our laws or become a citizen... then we don't need you.

Its not racism. Its reality. Its the desire to protect what makes America great and not dilute it. We are Americans... first and foremost. Any other hyphenated label or allegiance elsewhere is not needed or desired. As Governor Huckabee said last night regarding Iraq... we are "One Nation, Under God." We shouldn't have it any other way.