Republican attorney Jacob Monty calls on his party to tackle the problem of immigration reform in a serious and rational way. I think he makes some good points about the toxic relations the GOP currently has with Hispanics nationally, and about the fact that the Democrats haven't exactly trampled over anyone to get a handle on this. None of that stopped me from having a belly laugh over this:
Republicans have a long-standing record of courageous support for realistic immigration reform that goes back more than 20 years. It was Republican icon President Reagan who successfully battled organized labor and the GOP's own right wing to normalize 3 million undocumented immigrants. By building on that record, Republicans will begin the process of taking back the harsh words of some of the extremists on the right -- and begin putting a critical wedge into the Democratic coalition in the process. By forcing the issue, Republicans will force Democrats to take sides, exposing serious fractures in the Democratic coalition. Equally important, for the first time since the November elections, they'll show America they are still a party with positive, practical ideas to solve real and long-standing problems -- and the courage to move them forward.
Oh, and since we're invoking St. Ronald Reagan, the Republican they don't make 'em like any more, I'll note that he also embraced serious, realistic solutions to budget problems (which were of his own making, mind you, but still), including tax increases. Today's Republicans? Not so much.
And even if you could find such a Republican to push for serious comprehensive immigration reform, how are you going to keep the screaming banshees of ideological purity from ripping him apart? To his credit, Monty recognizes this problem. But if he has a solution for it, he keeps it to himself.
Bottom line, this is indeed an issue that needs leadership and serious, comprehensive thinking. All I can say is good luck finding those things in today's Republican Party.
Posted by Charles Kuffner on March 29, 2009 to National newsRonald Reagan also embraced a "serious, realistic solution" to illegal immigration which the Republican and Democatic "leadership" both nationally and locally ignored simply because both represented the corporate interests which put profit above all else including the law. No one minded "cheap labor" until the bill arrived. Immigration reform at this point is mere rhetoric. We have an estimated 50 million illegal immigrants and their families in this country which both parties now refer to as "guest workers" which "legitimizes" them along with the millions of "outsourced workers" all of whom have put millions of Americans out to pasture so to speak.
What is it everyone wants reformed? The law.
It is illegal to hire illegal imigrants in this country and has been since Ronald Reagan took his pen and made it illegal and warned everyone of what would happen if we did not stop illegal immigration. And during the first attempt at "immigration reform" by Congress ten years later, Barbara Jordan echoed that warning.
The term "immigration reform" is misleading. The term should be immigration law reform and those who support it have forgotten the warnings of both Ronald Reagan and Barbara Jordan.
The law should be enforced and Congress should address the real problem which is the real reason why so many continue to come here merely to survive. And that problem is the Mexican government which decided that rather than addressing the problem of the poor in Mexico, it was easier to just "export" the poor to the United States.
It is not xenophobic to put the interests of the American people first - it is merely putting the interests of the American people first.
Posted by: Baby Snooks on March 29, 2009 5:27 PM