That this bill is hundreds of pages long and was mostly crafted in secret
without hearings and without input from the public should also make us wary.
So should Sen. Edward Kennedy's enthusiasm for it. Each time Kennedy
embraces a Republican, the Republican usually gets his pocket picked. Worse,
Republicans don't seem to mind.
Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh predicted last week that if the Senate
draft legislation becomes law "there is an 80 percent chance that Hillary
Clinton will be the next president of the United States Š we are doomed in
'08." He predicted this would be "the last straw as far as the Republican
base is concerned in being able to trust Republicans that it elects to
represent them."
Why do our elected leaders care more for noncitizens than they do citizens?
There is no constitutional right to come to America; neither is there a
right to become a U.S. citizen. Do we let robbers keep the money if they
successfully break into a bank? Isn't this the message we have been sending
to illegals: if you can get here, you can have all sorts of goodies
previously reserved for people who abide by the law?
Former Attorney General Edwin Meese thinks the only way to solve the illegal
immigration problem is for lawmakers to "uphold the principle that the rule
of law requires the fair, firm and equitable enforcement of the law." He
would avoid granting amnesty to those who've lived and worked in the United
States illegally and ensure that any temporary-worker program is short term.
Meese knows something about the subject. He admits 1986 legislation that
attempted to stem the tide of illegal immigration by combining amnesty with
increased workplace enforcement of immigration law failed.
The stakes are enormous, for the country and for the future of the
Republican Party. It's not worth passing this measure just so both sides can
claim "victory," if the victory is a Pyrrhic one. |