Why Not Vote for Generic Republicans?

I don't know about you, but I get numerous requests for campaign contributions. Even John McCain wants my support (translation: dollars). I get phone calls from the Republican National Committee, the College Republicans, The Republican Senatorial Alliance (or something like that), all asking me to contribute because the Republicans are better than Hillary.

That strikes me as the same type argument that the Democrats used in 2004: "We're not George Bush". The recent cloture vote on gave me at least seven reasons to not support generic Republicans and ten possible reasons to like the Democrats. Of course, one might argue that some of the Democrat votes were for other reasons, but I think Boxer knows that her constituents will really be upset if amnesty carries. Maybe "Sheets" Byrd is just a bigot. That still leaves eight good Democrats.

In case you missed the link above, here are the Republicans who favor amnesty:

Graham (R-SC)
Hagel (R-NE)
Lugar (R-IN)
Martinez (R-FL)
McCain (R-AZ)
Specter (R-PA)
Voinovich (R-OH)

Here are the Democrats who helped keep the amendment from coming to a vote:

Bingaman (D-NM)
Boxer (D-CA)
Byrd (D-WV)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Landrieu (D-LA)
McCaskill (D-MO)
Pryor (D-AR)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Tester (D-MT)
Webb (D-VA)

Call or write and thank them.

Amnesty

am·nes·ty /am-nuh-stee/ noun, plural -ties, verb, -tied, -ty·ing.
–noun

1. a general pardon for offenses, esp. political offenses, against a government, often granted before any trial or conviction.
2. Law. an act of forgiveness for past offenses, esp. to a class of persons as a whole.
3. a forgetting or overlooking of any past offense.

–verb (used with object)

4. to grant amnesty to; pardon.

The way I see it, people who are here illegally should have one of two options: pay for the crime or leave. Anything short of that seems to me to perfectly fit the definition of amnesty. So, whatever else the President may think this bill is, it is amnesty. This is not a difficult concept.

See, when people come to America, we expect it to be in order to become Americans. If they are only here for a visit, that is fine, too -- as long as they are here legally. If people are here illegally, then they might need amnesty. Unfortunately, that also involves jumping ahead of other people who are trying to do the right thing. Apparently our politicians could not care less about those who are trying to come into the country legally. This whole measure is drafted to cater to the 12 million illegal aliens that it is impossible to round up.

I'm done with the lot of them, except for my two Senators and my representative.

The Senate Immigration Vote

In case you are wondering how YOUR Senator voted, here they are. The Yes votes are for amnesty - no, wait, it's not amnesty - guest workers. Yeah, that's the ticket.

Grouped By Vote Position

YEAs ---62
Akaka (D-HI) Baucus (D-MT) Bayh (D-IN) Bennett (R-UT) Biden (D-DE) Bingaman (D-NM) Boxer (D-CA) Brownback (R-KS) Cantwell (D-WA) Carper (D-DE) Chafee (R-RI) Clinton (D-NY) Coleman (R-MN) Collins (R-ME) Conrad (D-ND) Craig (R-ID) Dayton (D-MN) DeWine (R-OH) Dodd (D-CT) Domenici (R-NM) Durbin (D-IL)	Feingold (D-WI) Feinstein (D-CA) Frist (R-TN) Graham (R-SC) Gregg (R-NH) Hagel (R-NE) Harkin (D-IA) Inouye (D-HI) Jeffords (I-VT) Johnson (D-SD) Kennedy (D-MA) Kerry (D-MA) Kohl (D-WI) Landrieu (D-LA) Lautenberg (D-NJ) Leahy (D-VT) Levin (D-MI) Lieberman (D-CT) Lincoln (D-AR) Lugar (R-IN) Martinez (R-FL)	McCain (R-AZ) McConnell (R-KY) Menendez (D-NJ) Mikulski (D-MD) Murkowski (R-AK) Murray (D-WA) Nelson (D-FL) Obama (D-IL) Pryor (D-AR) Reed (D-RI) Reid (D-NV) Sarbanes (D-MD) Schumer (D-NY) Smith (R-OR) Snowe (R-ME) Specter (R-PA) Stevens (R-AK) Voinovich (R-OH) Warner (R-VA) Wyden (D-OR)

NAYs ---36
Alexander (R-TN) Allard (R-CO) Allen (R-VA) Bond (R-MO) Bunning (R-KY) Burns (R-MT) Burr (R-NC) Byrd (D-WV) Chambliss (R-GA) Coburn (R-OK) Cochran (R-MS) Cornyn (R-TX)	Crapo (R-ID) DeMint (R-SC) Dole (R-NC) Dorgan (D-ND) Ensign (R-NV) Enzi (R-WY) Grassley (R-IA) Hatch (R-UT) Hutchison (R-TX) Inhofe (R-OK) Isakson (R-GA) Kyl (R-AZ)	Lott (R-MS) Nelson (D-NE) Roberts (R-KS) Santorum (R-PA) Sessions (R-AL) Shelby (R-AL) Stabenow (D-MI) Sununu (R-NH) Talent (R-MO) Thomas (R-WY) Thune (R-SD) Vitter (R-LA)

Not Voting - 2
Rockefeller (D-WV)	Salazar (D-CO)

And when you finish counting the votes, read this from Blackfive. It's the perspective of an Air Force Colonel on Marines.

It is NOT Amnesty. It is ...

... well, ... uh ... let me see now ... I'm pretty sure the President is against amnesty, so it must be ... something else.

 

President Bush outlined his bold new plan (Ken Mehlman's words) last night.  The plan? 

1.  Throw more money at it.

Tonight I'm calling on Congress to provide funding for dramatic improvements in manpower and technology at the border. By the end of 2008, we'll increase the number of Border Patrol officers by an additional 6,000. When these new agents are deployed, we'll have more than doubled the size of the Border Patrol during my presidency.

1a.  Throw more money at it

 So we'll increase federal funding for state and local authorities assisting the Border Patrol on targeted enforcement missions.

1b.  Build more facilities (sounds like throw more money at it)

We've expanded the number of beds in our detention facilities, and we will continue to add more.

2.  Create a new "guest worker" program in lieu of the current temporary VISA program.

Second, to secure our border, we must create a temporary worker program.
...
Therefore, I support a temporary worker program that would create a legal path for foreign workers to enter our country in an orderly way, for a limited period of time. This program would match willing foreign workers with willing American employers for jobs Americans are not doing. Every worker who applies for the program would be required to pass criminal background checks. And temporary workers must return to their home country at the conclusion of their stay.
...
A temporary worker program would meet the needs of our economy, and it would give honest immigrants a way to provide for their families while respecting the law. A temporary worker program would reduce the appeal of human smugglers, and make it less likely that people would risk their lives to cross the border. It would ease the financial burden on state and local governments, by replacing illegal workers with lawful taxpayers. And above all, a temporary worker program would add to our security by making certain we know who is in our country and why they are here.

3.  In spite of the fact that employer's now are supposed to verify the right to work, create a new program of identification.

It is against the law to hire someone who is in this country illegally. Yet businesses often cannot verify the legal status of their employees because of the widespread problem of document fraud. Therefore, comprehensive immigration reform must include a better system for verifying documents and work eligibility. A key part of that system should be a new identification card for every legal foreign worker. This card should use biometric technology, such as digital fingerprints, to make it tamper-proof. A tamper-proof card would help us enforce the law, and leave employers with no excuse for violating it. And by making it harder for illegal immigrants to find work in our country, we would discourage people from crossing the border illegally in the first place.

4.  Reward those who have violated the law the longest.

That middle ground recognizes there are differences between an illegal immigrant who crossed the border recently, and someone who has worked here for many years, and has a home, a family, and an otherwise clean record.
I believe that illegal immigrants who have roots in our country and want to stay should have to pay a meaningful penalty for breaking the law, to pay their taxes, to learn English, and to work in a job for a number of years. People who meet these conditions should be able to apply for citizenship, but approval would not be automatic, and they will have to wait in line behind those who played by the rules and followed the law.

5.  Let's all just assimilate.

Fifth, we must honor the great American tradition of the melting pot, which has made us one nation out of many peoples. The success of our country depends upon helping newcomers assimilate into our society, and embrace our common identity as Americans. Americans are bound together by our shared ideals, an appreciation of our history, respect for the flag we fly, and an ability to speak and write the English language. English is also the key to unlocking the opportunity of America. English allows newcomers to go from picking crops to opening a grocery, from cleaning offices to running offices, from a life of low-paying jobs to a diploma, a career, and a home of their own. When immigrants assimilate and advance in our society, they realize their dreams, they renew our spirit, and they add to the unity of America.

But always remember:

What I've just described is not amnesty, it is a way for those who have broken the law to pay their debt to society, and demonstrate the character that makes a good citizen.

Next up, some real eye-opening remarks by Assistant Secretary Julie Myers.  Hugh Hewitt updates that the White House seems serious about real fences.

We shall see.

Latino Conservative

As I was researching my post about immigration, I came across this site: Latino Issues.

Latino Issues is a conservative blog covering news items that relate to immigration, ethnicity, integration, language, culture, and moral values and how they relate to immigrants and citizens alike.

You will be especially interested in The Challenge of Being an Immigrant Talking About Illegal Immigration.

Gate Crasher Worker Program

Previously on Pat's Rick© Says. . .
I had posted about free speech. Does that include the "right" of illegal aliens to protest their illegality? Do the benefits of citizenship belong to anybody just because they are in the U.S. by whatever means? As Cal Thomas asks whose country is this?

A "guest worker" provision for those already here might work, but there should be restrictions on how long they can stay and a requirement that they return home before applying for legal admittance. Accompanied by much tighter control of our borders, such an approach would be in America's best interests. And could we please put this country's best interests first for a change?

Yesterday, I linked to a column by Thomas Sowell, but did not quote from it. I am correcting that now:

Immigration is yet another issue which we seem unable to discuss rationally -- in part because words have been twisted beyond recognition in political rhetoric.

We can't even call illegal immigrants "illegal immigrants." The politically correct evasion is "undocumented workers."

Do American citizens go around carrying documents with them when they work or apply for work? Most Americans are undocumented workers but they are not illegal immigrants. There is a difference.

The sequel is equally good.

What about all those illegal workers that we "need"? Many of the illegals are working in agriculture, producing crops that have been in chronic surplus for decades. These surplus crops are costing the American taxpayers billions of dollars in government storage costs and in the inflated prices created by deliberately keeping much of this agricultural output off the market.
...
In California, surplus crops grown and harvested by illegal immigrants are often also subsidized by federal water projects which charge the farmers in dry California valleys far less than the cost to the government of providing that water -- and a fraction of what people in Los Angeles or San Francisco pay for the same amount of water.
...
For too long, we have bought the argument that being unfortunate entitles you to break the law. The consequence has been disastrous, whether the people allowed to get away with breaking the law are Americans or foreigners.

An unfortunate side effect of our failed immigration policy has been the loss of a national identity. Once upon a time people made great sacrifices in order to become citizens of the United States of America. Now people protest for the right to remain in the U.S. illegally, reaping the benefits of the country with no desire to "become" a United States citizen. We have all manner of hyphenated Americans: Italian-American, Greek-American, African-American, Mexican-American, etc. Gone are the days when people struggled to reach America and carve out a new identity. Now they want to retain their old identity and cling to the old systems that they tried to leave.

Kathleen Parker and I do not always agree, but in this article, we do.

There's nothing like the sight of 500,000 protesters on U.S. turf, demanding rights in Spanish while waving Mexican flags, to stir Americans from their siestas.
In Los Angeles, the iconic phrase may be "Si se puede," but in Muncie, it's "What the ... ?"
Suddenly, in the flash of a newscast, polite political debate about guest worker programs visually morphed into what seemed like a full-blown invasion.

And again:

Let's just say that convincing others of one's desire to become an American citizen would be more effective if one were to do so in English - while waving an American flag. Just imagine how welcome 500,000 bubbas waving American flags and chanting, "Hell no, we won't go," would be in Mexico City.
...
I grew up in Florida with Cubans as my closest friends, and my stepfather is Mexican - a legal immigrant who came to this country at age 16 to attend medical school.

I am, in other words, an unapologetic Hispanophile.
...
Before I bleed to death or start writing poetry, let me balance this romantic view of the illegal immigrant with another nugget: About 27 percent of all inmates in the federal prison system are criminal aliens, according to government figures. Then again, millions of illegals who are otherwise law-abiding people have lived here for 10-20 years, buying houses, attending parent-teacher meetings and giving birth to native-born Americans.

Although there seems no simple solution to such a complex issue, two nagging thoughts persist: (1) The right to protest was a gift from America's Founding Fathers to the nation's citizens, ergo, non-citizens should protest in their own countries; and (2) the purpose of the legislative branch of government is to pass laws that serve the best interests of the nation's citizens.

I have written to both of my Senators and my Representative to do some serious looking at this issue. But, as Kathleen observed,

The question of what to do with some 11 million to 20 million illegal immigrants already living and working in this country may be too problematic for mere politicians.

What do you think?

Let's Talk About Immigration

Let's start with this:  We have an immigration problem because people WANT to come here.

 

For all the America-bashing by the left, the fact remains that this IS the land of opportunity.  If life here were not more attractive than life there, nobody would leave their home to come to America.  So it is good that life in America is desirable.  Great.  Wonderful. 

 

And it is good for America to have a legal flow of these immigrants because they will know better than those hot house inculcated liberals that life in America is WAY better than life anywhere else.  Our "poor" have a standard of living higher than most of the rest of the world.  We need the fresh blood to remind us of the benefits of our way of life.  Great.  Wonderful.

 

Here's the problem:  We have a system for people to legally become American citizens.  We have a system for people to legally visit the United States as a student or worker.  These are legal methods.  That is in contradistinction to illegal methods.  It is a violation of federal law to enter the U.S. without following the procedures.  Thomas Sowell has an excellent article about the difference between legal and illegal. 

 

Dictionary.com defines illegal thusly:

adj.
Prohibited by law.
Prohibited by official rules: an illegal pass in football.
Unacceptable to or not performable by a computer: an illegal operation.
n.
An illegal immigrant.

 

What is it about "illegal" that is so difficult to understand.  "Undocumented" does not mean "illegal".  "Guest worker" would imply that this is someone you have invited.  Again, look at dictionary.com's definition of "guest"(noun):

One who is a recipient of hospitality at the home or table of another.
One to whom entertainment or hospitality has been extended by another in the role of host or hostess, as at a party.
One who pays for meals or accommodations at a restaurant, hotel, or other establishment; a patron.
A distinguished visitor to whom the hospitality of an institution, city, or government is extended.
A visiting performer, speaker, or contestant, as on a radio or television program.
Zoology. A commensal organism, especially an insect that lives in the nest or burrow of another species.

 

Only the last comes anywhere near describing the illegal immigrant.

 

We need to address the issue of illegal immigration the same way we address the issue of illegal parking, illegal withdrawal of funds from a bank (aka "robbing"), illegal transporting of someone across state lines (aka "kidnapping"), and other illegal activities.  Or else we need to grant amnesty to these violations as well.
 
 I am all for immigration - just not illegal immigration.