It was the audio that did it. Riding in the car, listening to a news report of the "student protests" against the immigration bills, I heard the sounds of crowds chanting, shouting, demanding. For a moment, I thought I was hearing student protesters in France. And that sound alarmed me, and activated me on immigration in a way no economic arguments could do.

I was hearing the sound of governance by street protests and mobs. Get used to it. If the Left has its way, that will be our governing method in the U.S. The stakes are far higher than just the outcome of the current immigration debate. The question is not only, how many immigrants, legal or otherwise, are we going to let in the country. The issue is, how do we conduct our politics and settle our differences. If the Left has its way, street mobs will be coming to a city near you.

Look at the photos from the rallies in France, and see the similarities. The million people in the streets of France were mostly native French students, and labor union members. The French student strikes were organized by their labor union handlers.

What was the protest about? A proposed law called "the first jobs contract" was designed to do something about the persistently high unemployment rate among French youth, currently 22% and under 20% only one year out of the last decade. The law under protest creates a more flexible labor market for workers under the age of 26. Employers would be allowed to fire young workers without cause within their first two years of employment.

Think about that. In America, just about anybody of any age can be fired without cause. But in France, the concept is considered such an outrageous step toward the heartless "Anglo-Saxon model" that a million people are out in the streets. In other words, a million Frenchmen are in the streets to protest a very reasonable law.

Why are the protesters out in the streets of America? To protest immigration reform. Many aspects of the House bill are completely reasonable and even necessary attempts to deal with an influx of illegal immigrants. Even if you don’t agree with every aspect of the House immigration bill, skipping school is no way to show it.

Yes, demonstrating is everyone’s right. But it is also the school’s right and responsibility to count it as an unexcused absence. Yes, voicing your opinion is American. Stopping traffic, throwing rocks at cars and generally intimidating people who disagree with you is not. I live in San Diego where several school districts, including Oceanside and Vista, have closed down for one or more days, fearing violent confrontations between students. And flying the Mexican flag doesn’t exactly signal a desire to become American citizens.

Who is behind these nation-wide, well-coordinated protests? It is hard to believe that French youth are impassioned about not being fired from jobs they don’t have. And indeed, the main organizers of the French protests have been the public employee unions, which account for one-quarter of the labor force in France. The French protests were held in conjunction with nation-wide strikes of public employees, shutting down public services such as transportation, schools, mail delivery and broadcasting. The ability to make people miserable is the source of the union’s power. Continued...