Posted on 04/07/2006 5:27:44 AM PDT by 13Sisters76
Overrated By Tony Snow
Apr 7, 2006
NEW YORK CITY -- By Election Day, immigration will emerge as one of the most overrated issues of 2006.
That's because public controversies can't ascend to real prominence unless they feature a clear clash of ideologies and force partisans to adopt entirely different approaches to dealing with the matter.
Neither exists in the case of immigration because voters maintain a series of understandable, but inconsistent, views. Roughly 70 percent of those responding to various polls have agreed with (a) deporting illegal aliens, (b) granting them guest-worker status, (c) giving them a crack at "earned citizenship," (d) imposing major penalties on businesses that knowingly hire them and (e) assimilating them into the American culture by requiring them to know basic civics and to speak and write in passable English.
Even though more than 80 percent of respondents say the government does too little to protect the borders and more than 90 percent consider illegal immigration a serious problem, the issue does not rate among the top three concerns of Americans in any major poll.
This contradictory hash of views naturally produces a muddle when politicians start drafting legislation. The most recent rash of proposed laws pits Democrats versus Democrats, Republicans against Republicans, and both parties in opposition to each other.
Polling aside, immigration lacks traction as a great issue because it doesn't impose clearly quantifiable harms or confer clearly measurable benefits. It's certainly difficult to argue that illegals have wrecked the economy.
The most recent unemployment claims report shows that Americans are filing for unemployment at significantly low levels -- down 20,000 from last month. The economy has grown for 30 consecutive months, generating a net increase of 5 million jobs. It added 247,000 jobs in the most recent reporting month, and economists expect a growth rate of 4.7 percent in the year's first quarter.
Incomes have begun to grow briskly again, as have tax receipts. Manufacturing activity has jumped to 61.5 in the Institute for Supply Management index (anything above 50 indicates economic expansion) -- up from 54.8 in January.
The business-creation rate among Hispanic Americans has reached three times the national average, and is growing. While remittances to Mexico hit an estimated $20 billion last year (making American cash the second-largest source of Mexican income, behind oil), tax payments by illegal immigrants from Mexico to local, state and federal governments exceeded the $20 billion mark.
Since the immigration "reforms" of 1986, the number of jobs in the United States has risen a net total of 44 million. The standard of living in the nation has grown to the point that the average welfare recipient has more creature comforts (homes, computers, televisions, cars, air conditioners, etc.) than the average citizen of France.
The crime-wave argument doesn't fly, either: Nationwide crime rates have been trending downward for a decade. (Unfortunately, there are no good data to indicate whether illegal-immigrant crime has risen more rapidly than the average, but there is some sketchy evidence that overall crime rates are lower because illegals don't want to be discovered and thus risk deportation.)
As for the burden on federal resources, the issue poses a weird quandary. The most cogent fiscal argument against legalizing "undocumented" workers is that it would put an end to a scam that helps most Americans. Illegal immigrants contribute billions each year to Social Security and Medicare. If they were to become legal (and hence eligible for benefits), both programs would tumble into catastrophic bankruptcy far earlier than government accountants project.
"Supporters" of illegal immigrants have done their best to turn public opinion against illegals, but not even that has worked. The Mexican-flag-waving rallies have aroused disgust, but not xenophobia. At worst, they have created only a vague sense of menace. Whatever harm illegals may be wreaking, they are not doing it in a concerted or organized manner (with the notable exception of the MS-13 crime gang).
Despite partisans' seething passions on the issue, most of us feel baffled and torn. Immigration isn't a single issue, but a bundle that encompasses everything from border security, to welfare reform, to the necessity of supplying enough workers to keep the economy growing.
Immigration has always been a mixed blessing. It infuses the nation with industrious and idealistic new Americans, and burdens it with scoundrels, slackers and intriguers.
So don't count on any reform's working for long, if at all. The immigration issue will stalk us -- and frustrate us -- as long as we remain vibrant enough to attract the globe's big thinkers, and free enough to welcome those who want to add greater luster to the American dream.
Tony Snow is the host of The Tony Snow Show on Fox News Radio.
Copyright © 2006 Townhall.com
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Find this story at: http://townhall.com/opinion/columns/tonysnow/2006/04/07/192789.html
Huh? Millions of lettuce pickers, toilet washers, lawn mower pushers and joggers in the printing industry add "luster" to the American dream? These people are big thinkers? Tony gives them more credit than the average American.
Tony, frak off!!
Globalist ping
The first element?
Islam, a Religion of Peace®? ( links, blogs, quips, quotes, aggravating pictures ) is located here- click the Pic, and scroll backwards:
The other, somewhat interlocking element is this one:
"Thunder on the Border," click the picture:
The"Mexican Flag Superior, America in Distress" is in the upper left corner...
As near as I can tell, millions of illegals (crminals) gone from our shores will only make the nation happier and healthier.
People will take care of their children, will take care of their own yards, will stay home and have meals together rather than going out, plant their own gardens and finally, crooked employers would have to pay americans a fair wage or be driven out of business.
You're speaking my language--and it's ENGLISH.
by "GREEDY PIGS who want cheap labor" I presume you mean the scions of liberalism, the trial lawyers and enterainment industry divas who exploit people and then hypocritically donate the money they saved to the democrat party.
I think Snow actually did a good job of sumerizing the opinons of the average American on this.
The polls do seem to show that most Americans are generally opposed to illegal. They show that Americans want their border secured.
Most Americans also don't understand what these "guest worker" plans will do.
Most Americans don't understand how the current plan in the senate would reward those who came here illegally over those who are trying to come here legally, or over those who haven't broken our immigration laws.
I'm not opposed to a guest worker visa plan that allows limited legal immigration, as long as no one who in in the country illegally at the time is allowed to apply.
I think that the reason that the American people seem to lack direction on this issue is that the media has been doing a horrible job of explaining what the "guest worker" plan really is.
I suspect that now that the details of how this would grant permenant residency and eventual citizenship for the vast majority to illegal immigrants in the coutry are getting more attention in the press, the public will start paying closer attention, and it will become more clear that this is not what the American people want.
Tony is pretending to be an intellectual. All the blather in this article is designed to confuse and create a sense of awe at his ability to ratiocinate illegals into legals.
Perhaps he has changed his target audience from the average American to the elitists in both academia and business.
Mr. CFR shilling for the New World Order.
Small potatoes, but Tony forgot to mention what the impact of more than 20 million Spanish speaking illegals has done to the welfare/medical/educational infrastructure of this country. Or on voting patterns and rights(in NY they're already talking about granting illegals the vote. How long before California does the same?) Or on what their vast numbers are doing to our culture, language, mores, laws, Judeo/Christian heritage, Protestant work ethic, sovereignty. Most of them aren't called Mexicans for nothing. They've effectively moved Mexico's border north...with all that implies.
It isn't any quandary, Tony. Immigration supporters routinely selectively and incorrectly cite the National Research Council study on immigration, which actually estimates that the poorly educated immigrants such as illegals cost to the tune of $89,000 lifetime.
One third of illegals are on welfare. How's them apples.
It looks like our side of the aisle got smart for once and actually read the proposed legislation and found a few surprises:
Like that surprise hidden on page 302 - which would replace the country's entire bench of experienced immigration judges with pro-immigration advocates.
With a few exceptions, today's immigration judges (who serve for life) are dedicated to enforcing the law, and they do a difficult job well. This bill forces all immigration judges to step down after serving seven years - and restricts replacements to attorneys with at least five years' experience practicing immigration law.
Virtually the only lawyers who'll meet that requirement are attorneys who represent aliens in the immigration courts - who tend to be some of the nation's most liberal lawyers, and who are certainly unlikely as a class to be fond of enforcing immigration laws.
Just before the committee approved the bill on the evening of March 27, Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) offered the "DREAM Act" as an amendment. It passed on a voice vote.
The DREAM Act is a nightmare. It repeals a 1996 law that prohibits state universities from offering in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens. The principle, of course, is that no illegal alien should be entitled to receive a taxpayer-subsidized benefit that out-of-state U.S. citizens can't get. But the committee's bill allows illegals to be treated better than those U.S. citizens on tuition.
http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/62017.htm
One lame-brained, Liberal, NPR listener of my acquaintance actually whined, "But...aren't we a nation of immigrants? What's wrong with letting them all stay?" He also said, "We're bogged down in Iraq, and as a result, this adminstration can't do a thing about Iran. Hmmph!" (Evidently a Hillary administration would do wonders.)
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