Posted on 02/02/2005 11:06:49 PM PST by DoughtyOne
There is a fine line that one should walk these days, when discussing the Presidency of George W. Bush. I say this because I firmly believe that the President is a good man. I believe that he is truly a Christian. Unlike a recent occupant of the White House, he does love and honor not only his wife, but his children, his parents, his extended family, his supporters and his God.
President Bush was handed a difficult task, in September of 2001. He has met that task head on, and in a number of ways, has provided an excellent response. His directives concerning Afghanistan and Iraq have been masterful. I am so glad that he had the foresight to appoint Donald Rumsfeld his Secretary of Defense, and Condoliza Rice his National Security Advisor. Both these individuals are sharp as tacks, and have obviously contributed towards the goals the President set for the nation, and seems to be achieving. Threading a fine line between being too receptive to those who wanted him to hold off some military moves, and taking a harder line suggested by the other end of the spectrum, President Bush seems well on his way to liberating for generations to come, the inhabitants of two nations in the middle-east.
There have been times when I wondered if the President were doing the right thing at certain points. This last Sunday, I along with others were pleasantly surprised at how well things have come together. The Iraqi people went to the polls in great numbers. Even those who had wished the President well in his efforts in Iraq, were relieved that the elections were so successful, I among them.
When it comes to the war in Iraq, when it comes to standing up against the leaders of Europe, when it comes to defining the path that we will take to repair Social Security, the President has my full support. I am very glad to have someone in the White House who advances policies on these issues, the way he does. His talk on these and a number of other issues is like sweet music to my ears. How sad I am that I must now talk about the fingernails on the chalkboard issue of our time, illegal immigration.
The President for all his power, for all his positives and all his good intentions, is still a man. He is a man that has many fine qualities. He is also a man that can and sometimes does make a mistake. I consider his desires to change certain aspects of our immigration policies, to be a colossal misjudgment. Unlike Iraq where I felt very uneasy, but avoided for the most part challenging the President's actions early on at Fallujah, and a few other places, I can see no room for compromise concerning the ongoing invasion of the United States.
This evening the President once again addressed the issue of immigration. Once again the meaning was crystal clear to those of us who disagree with him on that subject. Before I continue I want to be clear about something. I address this issue, because this is the issue where I find fault with the President. I don't do this because I am happy to have one issue to disagree with him on. I am very unhappy that I have to address this issue. I shouldn't have to at all, but this issue is important enough that I am going to address it continuously until the issue is resolved, the policies I cannot endorse are changed to protect this nation. That should be our overriding concern here. It is mine.
Here is what President Bush said this evening. This is the way I see the issues he raised.
America's immigration system is also outdated - unsuited to the needs of our economy and to the values of our country.
There are three issues in this charged sentence. I do believe that there are areas for improvement regarding the guidelines and procedures that govern Visas and short term visitors to the United States. I have no problem with the President trying to get a handle on who is entering our nation, how long they stay and whether they actually go home or not. This is not just an issue with Mexico. It's an issue that confronts us across the board with all who enter this nation. In this, I can support the President. I believe he is wise to address this component of the immigration issue.
Where the President and I part ways, is when he implies that our economy can't meet it's needs without poor, uneducated, unable to be financialy responsible for themselves, men and women from foreign countries. If the President were addressing the problems of the world's poor, I might be more inclined to listen to his proposals, but he isn't. This isn't about the world's poor. It's about one nation's poor. Yes, illegal immigration has an multi-national component to it, but it is primarily one nation that is flooding ours with it's citizens. I can't help but address this fact. It's true and so this one nation is addressed more than any other, for it's sordid practices.
When it comes to the issue of values, it is clear the United States is second to none when it comes to philanthropy. Our citizens give medical, educational, housing and other forms of help to the citizens of Mexico in Mexico. Physicians, nurses, teachers, aid workers, volunteers have been conducting mission work in Mexico for as long as I can remember. This represents our values. We are a good-hearted people who wish the best for the Mexican people. We gain no pleasure from seeing their national leaders abuse them, and I am firmly convinced this is the true condition of Mexico.
Values are not one-dimensional, and they don't exist in a vacuum. Extending a helping hand to millions of new Mexican poor each year is an admirable goal. The question is, how do you achieve that? Do you allow them to pour across your frontier in an endless stream that creates instant slums where ever they go? Do you allow them to swamp your communities, health care and education resources? Do you allow them to soak up tens of billions of dollars of funding that citizens have every right to expect to be spent on their local community and state needs? The answers to these question are a resounding no.
If I want to help someone out, I dig in my pocket and donate the appropriate amount based on what I can afford, what the actual need is. If you were to do that with my money it wouldn't be right. When the government does it, it's not right either. In fact, it would show a complete avoidance of reasoned values to do such a thing. Please don't talk to me about this nations values, while suggesting that I and hundreds of millions of other U.S. Citizens will have to hand over our hospitals, schools, infrastructure, and even a portion of our futures, so this can be facilitated.
We should not be content with laws that punish hardworking people who want only to provide for their families, and deny businesses willing workers, and invite chaos at our border.
These sentences are some of the most charged sentences I've ever seen. At once they are complex, a misdirecting slight of hand, and dishonest.
Mr. President, your fellow citizens are hard working people who are trying to provide for their families. What about folks like us? Why do you seek to punish us so that others can get services for free that we cannot? Why should non-citizens get free health care while we have to pay through the ying-yang to get it? Does it really seem like good values to you, to allow businesses to pay sub-scale so that illegals can work, when I and my fellow citizens have to pay so much for their health care, education, and other assorted freebies? Why should we subsidize these businesses this way? Does it seem like a good idea to flood this nation with people who have only a 4th to 8th grade education? How will they put a roof over their head on minimum wage? Who will feed clothe and house them? Who will pay for the deliveries of their children? What community can thrive with tens of thousands of these poor people in their midst? We are talking about instant slums across this nation. Some localities will be besieged in greater numbers than others. Where is your compassion for them?
Mr. President, there is only one group causing chaos at our border. It is the illegal alien who has shown themselves unwilling to respect the laws of our nation. When you frame the debate the way you have, you simply side with them. And I might add, you side with them against us. Why? What did we do to deserve this?
It is time for an immigration policy that permits temporary guest workers to fill jobs Americans will not take, that rejects amnesty, that tells us who is entering and leaving our country, and that closes the border to drug dealers and terrorists.
Mr. President, I'll make a deal with you. If you respect me, I'll respect you. Please do not insult my intelligence by claiming these will be guest workers. At this very minute, you are loathe to send anyone back to their nation of origin. How can you expect me to believe that in six years, you'll be sending anyone back to the nation of their origin then? You know as well as I do that these guest workers will bring families that we, not they, will pay for. They will develop homes here. They will invest years of their lives here. Who are you trying to kid? You're not going to send even one of these people home. Instead you will be asking to up the quota.
Here's another question for you Mr. President. Is it fair to the other citizens of the world to have millions of Mexican citizens enter our nation through expanded immigration quotas, while they have to go through all the same procedures they always have? Would it be a good idea to open up our guest worker program to all the world's poor? Should we allow millions from every poor nation around the world, to enter our nation each year? If not, then how do we justify it for one nation?
Here's a problem you haven't seemed to consider. If we allow two million worker permits per year, do you think that will end illegal immigration? It won't. Those who can't get in under any quota you set, will continue to come over the border as they always have. You'll immediately have a worker entry program, the continued illegal immigration on top of that, and the folks who were here when it all started. We're looking at thirty million people within five years. We have ten to fifteen now. We'll let another million or two in each year legally. We'll still have illegal immigration. And while all this goes on, we'll still have hospitals and schools inundated at a rate double what it has been.
Where is the solution in this Mr. President? What will it resolve? We'll have infrastructure crumbling faster than before, health care and education already on the ropes, placed on life support.
Illegal immigration will still see millions of undocumenteds coming across. Gang and terrorist group members among them.
You see Mr. President, you would have to close the borders to illegal immigrants for this plan to work. Unfortunately, you have refused to do that. In light of that your plan will never work. This nation will just be torn apart one neighborhood at a time at an even faster rate than it has been, until someone finally turns out the lights.
I sure wish I didn't have to address this issue. This plan doesn't make sense on any level. With that last comment, I'll just concede that folks in Washington won't be able to resist it. What a sad day for America it will be, when this plan hits the ground running.
Applause!!! Well said. If only the President did get this one issue.(sigh)
"It's an interesting dynamic, and a program I wish I could participate in."
Me too, doughty. I can't afford to take the time off, but it's one place I'd like to be. I believe in what they're doing.
The folks at wakeupamericafoundation.com are doing some exciting things. Again, I'm limited because of work and my husbands health or I'd be in there with everything I've got.
But they're planning an Illegal Invasion Summit in Vegas for May, also a March on Washington for later on. All members across the nation will be toting cameras to snap photos of those picking up day laborers and will be exposing them nationally and locally. Plans to turn their licenses and logos into the IRS, etc. We hope to expose them on a local basis as well...pictures of their residences, well out of the problems they impose on the rest of us.
We have to go after the employers or nothing will be done.
Some will be headed to the schools to film the absence of students for Cinco de Mayo Day. If Americans see how many students they're forced to pay for, they'll get an idea how bad the situation really is.
In the words of President Bush himself,
"This is not a question of authority.
It is a question of will."
Very well said. Thanks for the effort. I hope that "Dubya"'s not going to sell us out south of border but it doesn't look good.
placemark for later reading
Sounds like a great idea to me but then you get the same (supposedly) Christian crowd (with words and deeds that sound more like a Pharisee) complaining that our jobs are being moved offshore.
The sad truth is that while illegal immigrants do use up some of our federal resources, many Americans are much more the drain on these resources and in far greater scope than the illegal immigrant could ever be.
Excellent points, especially this one! And the president want more people like this who identify themselves to our government so that they may become guest workers.
But I guess it's only "love your neighbor" only so long as he has the same pigmented skin as you do and he truly lives next door.
Anyone notice that the entire Congress, except Tancredo, gave the President a standing ovation on the guest worker program? We are truly headed there.
Oh good, another race baiter. You and the fraud are going to get along great. Blackbird.
There's no other way to put it! The president is proposing that we find out who the immigrants are, collect information on them, and then make allow them to become guest workers if they choose...if they choose not to, then presumably we deport them. Many of you FReepers on this very thread complain that immigrants (not just the illegal ones) drive down our wages and take our jobs but then you simultaneously bitch when business OWNERS take their capital and move it into another country, creating jobs there. It appears on the surface that the outcry against this is motivated by selfishness, anger, and a whole lot of xenophobia - none of which are feelings that a Christian in a state of grace should have. Yet, many of you who express these things are the most vocal about your Christianity. My suggestion is that you should pray more for the intangible things such as wisdom and less for the tangible things (emphasis should be placed on giving thanks to Him for what you do have too).
I suppose now that I'll be accused of faith baiting next?!
Click here and read Governor Huckelbee's RINO-like comments
I believe that there is plenty of blame to go around though I think President Bush sets the tone on this subject but at least he never said the things that the present Governor of Arkansas said.
If a Zell Miller type of Democrat would run for governor of Arkansas against the Huckelee, I believe he'd win and deservedly so.
BTW, Bayourod. Any input on what Huckleberry said about this bill to cut off state aid to illegals?
BTTT
I believe it is time that Americans call the President on this despicable slander against the character and integrity of the American people. I am really tired of hearing him accuse us of lacking sufficient integrity and self-respect to work to support ourselves and our families. Why do we allow him to get away with these outrageous statements without paying a political price? If he really feels this way about American citizens then he can't beleive we deserve or are capable of self-government. Perhaps he should go to Mexico and enter politics there since he thinks so highly of the Mexicans' work ethic! With this attitude he really should resign the Presidency and let someone else who really believes in the American people and our project of self-government be our leader in these dangerous times. If I could speak directly to President Bush about his comment and his entire immigration policy this is what I would say.
There you go again. Mr. President, denigrating all the middle and working class citizens of your own country who are unfortunate enough to have to compete with millions of illegal workers that you are enabling to come here against our wishes and in violation of our democratically enacted laws. Exactly which Americans are you referring to as too lazy and too deficient in moral character to take a job to feed their family? Stop hiding behind the broad accusation of jobs "Americans" won't do. Who are these Americans who won't work? These are the same people you are sending to die in Iraq to win "democracy" for Iraquis for heaven's sake. If you feel this way about your own fellow citizens then how in the world do think we are capable of self-government? I guess you don't and that is why you believe you have the right to ignore what the majority of Americans have repeatedly expressed as their demands on this issue for decades -- enforce our immigration laws! If the Iraquis deserve democracy why don't we?
And while we are talking about "jobs American's won't do" how about the job you promised us you would do? How about doing your job of enforcing our immigration laws? By your refusal to obey your oath of office to faithfully execute the laws you are putting this country and every individual citizen at tremendous risk of terrorist attack as well as undercutting the ability of millions of Americans to earn a living and become self-reliant. We have already seen the results. Our prisons are full of illegal immigrants who have victimized American citizens and we are finding it harder and harder to achieve and sustain a middle class lifestyle because of the competition of illegal third world labor.
What do you say, Mr. President, to the families of the people killed by the Washington DC sniper? This man was an illegal immigrant who was caught by federal officials before his killing spree but who was released because of your administration's policy of non-enforcement of our immigration laws. You and your family have secret service protection, payed for by us lazy taxpayers, but the rest of us peasants have to fend for ourselves. The audacity of demanding that we put up with the rising crime rate from illegal immigrants and the risk of terrorism while you and the other political elites surround yourselves with layers of protection at our expese and all the while repeatedly accusing us of being too lazy and deficient in moral character to work is astounding.
Yes and they all learned English and did not expect companies and schools to teach Spanish to accommodate them the Illegals are not here to become citizens such as those who came before them they come here to get as much as they can to support their families in Mexico.
Do you really believe that someone who breaks are laws to get here is not?
it is primarily one nation that is flooding ours with it's citizens
and that nation is wholly owned by a corrupt government. Proud to be a xenophobe and bigot by opposing Mexicorruption's "Mexican diaspora" (nation beyond borders) and their sponge mob.
Thanks for your thoughts, Doughty.
I agree with you all the way.
APD, your analysis is the only thing which really makes sense. I can see no other explanation.
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