Posted on 02/18/2005 3:08:33 PM PST by South40
I don't consider myself a "racist" or a "bigot." But Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee apparently does.
Because I happen to see the merit of a measure, proposed by two Arkansas state lawmakers, that would require anyone registering to vote in the Razorback State to prove citizenship and anyone applying for state services to prove legal residency.
To Huckabee's mind, anyone who supports such a law has succumbed to "race-baiting and demagoguery." That would include yours truly. It also would include a majority of my fellow California residents.
Indeed, in 1994, nearly 60 percent of voters in the Golden State approved a ballot measure that denied state benefits to illegal aliens. Proposition 187 even mustered a third of the state's Latino vote.
Meanwhile, Arizona voters approved a similar measure by a comparable margin of victory last November. And Proposition 200 won the support of roughly 40 percent of the Grand Canyon State's Mexican-American voters.
The passage of Propositions 187 and 200 doesn't mean that 60 percent of California and Arizona residents are racists or bigots or xenophobes, as critics of the measures disparage. It means that they believe in the rule of law.
They believe that taxpayer-funded benefits should be reserved for American citizens and for legal residents, and not for those who steal into the country, who thumb their noses at this nation's immigration laws.
The irony is that those, like Huckabee, who argue against denying benefits to illegals, are the same folks who argue that illegals come here simply to work, to earn a living here in the Land of Opportunity.
Well, if that is so, why do they need government benefits?
Indeed, it's bad enough that government officials, like Huckabee, knowingly and willingly countenance illegal immigration. It's worse that they also want to reward those who have stolen into the country.
They want to give them driver's licenses. They want to give them taxpayer-subsidized college tuition. Heck, in San Francisco, they want to give illegals the right to vote.
Illegal immigrant apologists argue that they are law-abiding folk but for violating this nation's borders, but for breaking this nation's immigration laws.
But that's not entirely the case, as Heather McDonald documented a year ago in an article published in City Journal.
In Los Angeles, she found, 95 percent of all outstanding murder warrants involved suspected illegal aliens. And up to two-thirds of all felony warrants were for undocumented illegals.
But illegals do the jobs "Americans won't do," claim their defenders, including Gov. Huckabee and President Bush, both of whom happen to be Republicans.
That's just a myth, as I've noted in previous writings.
The fact is, before the two great waves of illegal immigration in the 1980s and 1990s, there were more than enough Americans performing the low-skilled and semi-skilled work needed by farms and orchards, factories and construction sites, restaurants and hotels, car washes and dry cleaners.
And there still are many lower-skilled Americans available to work for such employers, including the 10 million native-born Americans lacking high school diplomas.
And if that's still not enough low-skilled labor to meet the needs of the nation's industries, they can recruit workers from the legal immigrant population. That includes the more than 5 million legal Mexican immigrants without high school diplomas.
Finally, defenders of illegal immigration say that illegals contribute more in taxes than they receive in benefits.
That's yet another myth.
A study by the Center for Immigration Studies, a public policy organization based in Washington, D.C., concluded that, when all taxes are paid and all costs are considered, illegal households cost the federal government a net $10 billion in 2002.
And when the federal outlay is combined with that of California, Arizona, Arkansas and other states, the total net cost of illegal immigration is more than $20 billion a year.
What really irritates in the debate over illegal immigration is the dishonesty of those who oppose measures like California's Proposition 187, Arizona's Proposition 200 and Arkansas' Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act.
They suggest that those who support such measures are anti-immigrant; that they simply do not like people who are brown-skinned (or black or yellow).
Well, I, for one, am not anti-immigrant. I say come one, come all. Just come legally.
BTTT to watch the thread.
And some FREEPERS are touting Huckabee as a viable candidate for POTUS in '08. He has decided, in his lame-duck wisdom, to ignore the will of the people, and will proceed to lead us down the politically-correct path for as long as his term lasts.
He has lost his mind, recently implying himself a better Christian than the sponsor of the state senate legislation; Senator Jim Holt.
Red flag...!!!
Huckabee is dead wrong.
Ping-a-ling to ya.
LOL......like those 'racist' HISPANICS in AZ ???.......47% voted FOR prop 200.
Joseph Perkins is but the latest person to find out that he's a racist, by some people's opinion. Don't lose too much sleep over it Joe, I've seen a number of their opinions, and let's just say they're a little fuzzy.
I don't know Arkansas politics but I do know that Huck brought into his inner circle two of Tysons people when 1st elected. I knew then that this guy was not for real no matter how the rest spun it.
More and more blacks are starting to oppose open borders immigration, which leaves the left in a quandry. How can they call blacks racist? I know, call blacks who disagree with them race traitors for not hating da white man.
Hi BG...long time no see. :-)
Yeah, I saw that thread and I thought it was a joke.
If Huckabee's the best we have to offer we're in some serious trouble come '08.
They blow that off as those Hispanics having gotten their piece of the American dream and not wanting or even helping other, less fortunate Hispanics to get theirs.
My skin's pretty dark; I suppose I'm a racist too?
Just curious what you think of this.
Hi backatcha!
Simpleton nonsense. Very few working class families pay their proportionate share of taxes. (90% of taxes are paid by the wealthy and corporations. Hispanics should not be held to a different standard than any other group.
Nor does the CIS study take into account the taxes paid by the companies that employ the immigrant laborers that would otherwise have to relocate to find enough workers or close down. (Why do you think no city wants immigration laws enforced in their city?)
Neither does the CIS study take into account the contribution to GNP and balance of trade that laborers working inside the U.S. as opposed to outside the U.S.
And then finally there is the multiplier effect of both the contributions of immigrants and the expenditures on their behalf.
For Example:
The federal government mandates only that emergency rooms stabilize people without regard to ability to pay. It is state and local laws and policies that mandate further medical expenditures. Why do state and local government want to spend more? Because the money (from taxpayers) goes directly to local doctors, nurses, hospitals, pharmacies, ambulance companies, medical suppliers, etc... The doctors et al use the money to buy new sports cars, yachts, homes, big screen TV, etc....
The same applies to education expenditures. Who gets the money? Local teachers, principals, staff, cafeteria employees, counselors, construction companies, material suppliers, band instrument suppliers, parking lot pavers, glass window companies, insurance agencies, food suppliers, vending companies etc...
It isn't the immigrants lobbying your state and local governments to spend more money on them, it's your next door neighbors who end up with the money in their pockets.
Outstanding post.
The legal immigrants already have jobs. Is this author genuine or an apprentice try-out?
Racism knows no color.
"Outstanding warrants" is a meaningless category. Ask instead in how many solved murder cases was the actor an illegal immigrant.
How many suspects were legal when the act was committed, ran to Mexico, their visa revoked and thus are now classified as illegal.
How many years are outstanding warrants considered active? We could be talking about murders committed a hundred years ago that continue to mount up.
A meaningful statistic would be how many murders last year were committed by people who were illegal at the time.
He's a well-established columinst and has been for many years. And you are what...besides an ILLEGAL alien/ law-breaker sympathyzer?
His point, one that apparently flew well over your head, was that one can be opposed to ILLEGAL immigration and not be a racist, hence the referrence to the 40% of Arizonans who voted in favor of Proposition 200.
Buy a clue.
Please explain why 40% of Arizonans voted for Prop 200. Are they racist too?
My but you are desperate.
No amount of desperation or sycophantic rambling on your part can or will excuse the lawlessness that pervades ILLEGAL immigration.
But it is fun watching you try! ;-)
You're assuming that I think anyone who voted for Prop 200 is a racist. I don't. I'm surprised more didn't vote for it. I was shocked to learn that in Chocise County, the front line of the illegal war, that 2% more people voted for President Bush than prop 200.
Compared to the 97%+ yes vote for an English First resolution I was responsible for getting placed on the primary ballot of my state twenty years ago, prop 200 was not impressive at all.
Absolutely true. I'm opposed to illegal immigration and I'm not a racist. (Well I try not to be).
But the opposite is also true. One can be opposed to illegal immigration because one is a racist. Evidence all of the racist organizations such as StormFront that are in the forefront of the anti (illegal) immigrant movement.
People who say such things as "they are ruining our neighborhoods, destroying our culture, threatening our sovereignty, etc..." are highly suspect in my opinion.
Tin foil hat time?
'Pandering' politicians better start paying attention to what American VOTERS want....All colors, and BOTH parties.
BTT
Well, I am a novice Freepie; haven't even figured out the lingo or acronyms yet. But the magic unfolds before my eyes. While I was wondering why you two would waste your time and logic on the refutable claims made by "bayourod," it dawned on me that I am the true beneficiary of your statements. WooHoo! It works!
Well, bayourod *knows all*...... put up an *official* link to illegal immigrant crime stats in TX. (or any other state)
Yes you can learn a lot on FR, & you will many knowledgeable posters. (and of course a 'few' who think they know everything)
Welcome to FR..........;o)
Dear TEX - Thank you for the welcome. What a great world to come into. Have noticed your postings on different subjects, and enjoy them all. And, will continue to look for you. Especially enjoy your quick-witted retorts to other posters, as I guess from the time span on the postings.
Are you really from Texas, and do you really remember Carol Doda? hee hee. Thanks again!
Can you prove this ? Or is it that anyone who disagrees with your immigration vies "has lost their mind".
I say Huckabee is friends with Jim Robinson and all the dcchapter. And you are substituting name calling for rational discourse.
Maybe yes, maybe no.
But Huckabee would almost certainly say the same regarding your views on this issue.
I will say that a few people, and definitely not all people are anti immigrant, do in fact simply do not like people who are brown-skinned (or black or yellow).
Anyone who says that not a single person who is anti immigrant is racist in thinking is wrong. Also, anyone who says 100% is racist is wrong also.
But some freepers on the anti immigrant side love to play the victim. They like to say, the bad moderates are race baiting again. Your efforts to "play the victim" just are not very becoming. Just make your arguments, forget the "the race baiters are calling me names again" stuff. People who read this forum are smart. I would not underestimate their intelligence.
More playing the victim stuff. Victimhood did not work for the left. It will not work on the right either.
By the time Ol' Huckster is finished, he'll likely have more friends in the DC chapter than he does here at home.
I'm truly sorry if my characterization of him offended your risibilities, but I am here to tell you Mike Huckabee could not be elected Dog Catcher, in Arkansas. Suggesting he would be a prospect for the nomination in '08 is simply ludicrous.
If he wants a venue for his brand of Christianity, he should abandon the governor's office and take up the pulpit where he could do far less damage to the people of Arkansas. I'd suggest a nice, Hispanic Baptist Church.
That's got to be the most asinine statement I've read on FR in some time.
"Racism knows no color."
Wise you are. If a black leader said this in public, I may vote for him or her. The problem is that if the legislator said it, non white skinned racists and leftists would burn him/her in effigy.
I actively campaigned for Mike when he was running for Lt.Gov. and was relatively an unknown. I'm sorry that I did.
People on this forum are living in la-la land if they think the good people of Arkansas are not upset with Mike's pandering to the ILLEGAL alien fast growing population in our State. He should hear what the average Arkansan is saying about him. Whew!
Jobs no one wants? Ha. The Hispanic men can be seen on the roof-tops, brick laying and pouring concrete of newly constructed homes etc. They will work for LESS, thus displacing the guys who used to make a decent living in construction work. That's a FACT.
Thanks Mike, now please just go away.
Nice reply. Tell him thanks. I'm sure he realizes how heated this topic can become, here. Unfortunate.
The fact is he is encouraging all illegal pregnant women to seek free prenatal care, without the fear of being deported. He justifies it by saying these babies should be born "healthy" and therefor it would be less of a strain on the State Budget taking care of premature or sick babies. Of course, after the child is born, he or she becomes and American Citizen and is now eligible for our State and Federal programs. Arkansas Kids First comes to mind. Why do so many pregnant illegals rush to our state in the last trimester? They are called "anchor babies" and whether anyone wants to admitt it or not, the Illegals know this, and take full advantage of our generosity.
I have advocated that the CHILDREN of immigrants (regardless of status) who were already educated in our public schools should be allowed to access colleges in our state in the same manner as other graduates of Arkansas public schools, including the opportunity to compete for academic scholarships. Despite allegations to the contrary, no one has suggested that children of illegal immigrants should be given free college tuition--only that those who met the requirements of a scholarship (which includes rigid academic achievement in an Arkansas school) be allowed to apply.
Regardless of status? No person who resides as an ILLEGAL in our state should even THINK of applying for a College scholarship. NO child of an Arkansan should EVER have to compete against an ILLEGAL for any academic money or in State Tuition...
Mike is a nice guy, but he is not listening to the people of Arkansas and they are very angry with him. What a pity.
sw
My "efforts to play the victim" ???? Do you have trouble reading, or comprehending ???
This line.... "They suggest that those who support such measures are anti-immigrant; that they simply do not like people who are brown-skinned (or black or yellow)". Came from the article
My reply was, in fact, SUPPORT for the 47% hispanic vote, that SUPPORTED & helped pass prop 200..........most likely some of the same 'hispanic voters' that SUPPORTED & helped GWB win in AZ.
btw......it's anti ILLEGAL immigrants.
Huckabee blew it when he said it is "un-Christian", "un-American", and "anti-life".
He hasn't a clue.
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