Politician Polka, The Good Ship Immigration, Boundaries And Limitations

Some things, once broken, cannot be fixed. Some genies, once let out of the bottle, cannot be put back.Our immigration policy falls into that category. There are no do overs- we will not have the opportunity to turn back the clock and rewrite and enforce immigration policy. That said, just because we can’t go back in time to correct our mistakes, does not mean we cannot craft a new immigration policy that addresses and deals with current realities.

Our primary obligation in devising a coherent and cogent immigration policy is not directed at the 12 to 20 million illegal immigrants that are already here. We are a sovereign nation and as such we are entitled to protect out borders and determine first and foremost, the immigration policies that best serve and address the needs and welfare of our nation. We are under no obligation to apologize for our immigration policies to anyone.

Any immigration policy that does not accept and acknowledge those realities are doomed to fail.

The president’s proposed immigration policy has highlighted a certain truth: There are elements in both parties that are resisting change. They will not acknowledge that when it comes to enforcing immigration policies, it is impossible to go back and start over. We have our own opinion as to how things got this way, but in the end, we are not able to go back in time to clean up our own messes.

Leaders on either side of the political divide are deliberately repressing these truths. They are more concerned with political advantage than fixing the problem. By screaming ‘the sky is falling!’ they are hoping that the voters will not demand they effect real an meaningful change- because real and meaningful change provides voters with a real yardstick to measure the effectiveness of their party and their representatives.

Irrespective of which political party you belong to, even the most cursory look at immigration policy highlights failure. Politicians also understand that in order to achieve immigration policy reform successes, they will have to acknowledge current and past immigration policy failures.

The success of any immigration policy reforms will not be measured by how popular those policies are in the illegal immigrant reform communities. The success any immigration policy reforms will be measured by how popular those policies will be with American citizens. That may not make the illegal aliens happy, but making illegal aliens happy is not the idealized objective of any immigration policies.

Politicians need to justify their stand on immigration reform- not to the community of illegal aliens, but rather, to tax paying citizens.

Illegal aliens need to understand that as a nation, we are a melting pot. That is a part of our American culture. We do not ask that immigrants reject any of their culture. We do ask that they assume the American cultural values that made this nation their choice.

No one has a right to come into this nation and take advantage of everything we have to offer and at the same time, reject us and demand we accommodate them. That is no different than an uninvited guest coming into your home and partaking of all you have to offer and then refusing to follow ‘house rules’ and demanding that you accommodate their needs over the needs of your family and community. Any illegal immigrant or illegal immigrant rights supporter that does not understand those basic principles, are irrelevant to the conversation. No amount of foot stomping, temper tantrums or other stupid manifestations of the ‘look at me!’ crowd will change that.

From Democracies Don’t Care:

…in a free society, we don’t care about your beliefs. We do care about your actions and behavior. You are free to integrate and to assimilate into our society in whole or in part. We really don’t care. Do not tell us we need to care about your beliefs and your concerns above all else and above our own beliefs. If you do try to make that assertion, you will soon be surprised at how easily you will be marginalized and resented…

Western democracies are just that- free societies and we do not operate under the ‘laws of the jungle…’ Your dissent is a right. But it is also a privilege, contained in the same way a painting is contained in a frame. You are free to paint the canvas as you please- as long as you stay within the borders of what is deemed acceptable behavior- that is, behavior that is non violent or destructive.

Just as clearly, we are free to ignore your protests or disagree with your expressions. That is our right- to ignore you- and there is nothing you can do to change that. Your protests are not a mandate for recognition or credibility.

The players now on the political stage are determined not to overhaul immigration policy and in the process, are escalating what are clearly unrealistic, if not altogether dysfunctional behaviors and ideas. The issue isn’t the proposed legislation itself- that can be thrashed out out- but rather, what is disturbing is the tenacious grip of some politicians have on that dysfunction and denial of reality.

The rhetoric has become exaggerated and that only serves to exaggerate and intensify the kinds politicking that was not long ago unthinkable. Dysfunctional political behaviors that were unknown or unheard before have become commonplace. Nancy Pelosi believes she is qualified to conduct foreign policy and half the Republicans believe that 12-20 million illegal aliens will line up and head for the buses to be deported like 12-20 million Fedex packages with a single paper filled out form.

These cycles of political dysfunction are not self perpetuating- the cycles are reinforced and escalate. Politics in this country are being Arabized, with even the most and absurd obtuse of ideas given serious status and presidential candidates pandering to the wildest of conspiracy theorists. Politicians begin to resemble not the mainstream voter, but rather, the periphery noisemaker that can attract the cameras. They are doing a kind of Polka on the good ship ‘Immigration Reform,’ and have come to love the applause.

Immigration reform activists talk of conspiracies to retard their absorption into American society, at the same time as they plan strategies to force American politicians and voters into not only amnesty, but to elevate them to citizens or grant them a status that will allow them to vote. Disagree with them and you are a racist. These illegal aliens and their supporters are demanding the right to abuse the laws, privileges and democratic values of this nation.

The Anchoress has written two excellent posts on immigration, Minutemen: Bush’s Instincts Better Than Some and Bush Betrayal & The Nation’s Soul. Both posts look at illegal immigration, not so much from a ‘nuts and bolts’ point of view, but more importantly, from the standpoint of someone who is reacting to the brouhaha that is surrounding the proposed legislation and what is motivating some of what is clearly nothing more than very dysfunctional knee jerk reaction- from both sides of the political spectrum.

What is even more remarkable are comments left by Anchoress readers (we noted some of those comments, here).

Anchoress reader Terrye (contributor to yargb) left the following comment in a series of very thoughtful remarks:

People act as if “securing the border” is something that can be done at the wave of a hand. As if George Bush is Jean Luc Picard standing on the deck of the Starship Enterprise saying “make it so!”..

Well folks if it was so easy and so important why didn’t Fred and his fellow conservatives make it a priority a decade ago? In fact Fred voted for measures that brought more foreign workers into the country and Fred worked with Diane Feinstein on an amendment to the McCain Feingold measure which he strongly supported. And we all know how conservatives feel about Republicans working with liberal Democrats. Hey, but that was then and then is now and Fred is a new man saying all the right things. You betcha.

That border has been open for more than 140 years and I don’t remember anyone demanding we close the whole damn thing back then. We have thousands of miles of border and thousands more miles of coastline as well. There is no way we can just close it, it is not a door. The environmental lawyers, just to mention a few, are lining up as we speak.

I don’t remember real true conservatives like Newt Gingrich making it a part of the Contract with America. It is as if these people woke up one morning, looked around and said “MY God, there are Mexicans in America!”.

Speaking of common sense and leadership where was it then?

Speaking of common sense, why is it I am not hearing any from the hardliners on this issue? Like it or not people, we need the labor. I am not saying it is ok to break the law but the idea that the government can just jerk 47% of the labor out of the ag market without repercussions is not common sense, it is a denial of reality. The idea that elves are going to come out at night and clean up that mess on the Gulf Coast if we send all the bad Mexicans packing is not very logical either. The idea that the restaurant sector in NYC is not dependent on this kind of labor is pure fantasy.

I don’t think anyone should get a jump on people who came here legally. If certain parts of the bill can not work, then try to get them changed when they go to conference. After all this is a long process.

But this complaining from some people that Bush betrayed them or lied to them because he failed to do their bidding, well that is just ridiculous. I have my priorities too and not all of them were met but I don’t think I should be able to cram that down everyone else’s throats. Too often these people forget the rest of us are even here.

As for Harriet Miers, I have to say when I heard some of the really vicious personal attacks against that women I lost a lot of respect for a lot of people making them. Their behavior was bizarre. And the same was true with the Dubai incident. Dubai is a very good company with a very good reputation and there was no evidence to support the hysteria that surrounded that. Once again the loud people pitched a fit with bloggers like Malkin leading the way. But considering the fact that Malkin believes that the government was right to round up and lock up Japanese Americans in WW2 I guess I should not be surprised at her fanaticism on certain issues.

So if the subject is leadership or common sense, maybe the detractors should be spend less time undermining the former and more time practicing the latter.

Terrye isn’t discussing the nuts and bolts, but rather, a look at how we need to look and consider the entire problem. This is a healthy way of doing business. Throwing a few coats of paint on a cracked foundation wall may make the wall pretty, but it won’t fix the problem.

By definition, any immigration reform needs to set boundaries and limitations. The restrictions cannot be too onerous- nor can they be too lax.

If in dealing with the current problems of illegal immigrants we make the restrictions too onerous, we will solve nothing. Illegals will have no incentive other than to remain illegal. No one will be deported willingly. That is a myth.

On the other hand, we are a nation of laws. We cannot and will not open our doors so that the citizens of this country will be abused and taken advantage of. If we do not draw sharp lines between right and wrong, we will pay the price- and that is unacceptable.

Societies have a right to demand certain behaviors, boundaries and limitations from the people who live in that society. That we are extending a hand to illegals is not obligatory upon us. Nor is immigration policy reform a right. It is a privilege. It is America, not illegal aliens that will make the determination of what that reform will look like and it is Americans and not illegal aliens that will have the final say in what immigration reform looks like. Those boundaries and limitations contribute to the definition of cultural and communal behavior.

There are no long lines to emigrate to Syria or Palestine because the rules that set the boundaries and limitations of those societies do not appeal to people more than than the rules, boundaries and limitations of American or western society.

The needs and wants of illegal aliens do not take precedence of the needs and stability of our society.

Politicians who obstruct what is best for the nation so as to further their own careers and agendas are morally bankrupt. To look into a camera and say, ‘I am a patriot,’ after appeasing a agendistas of any kind is particularly revolting. That kind of selfish and narcissistic behavior and attitude, more than anything else, eats away at the foundation pillars of the nation.

Politics provides a kind chameleon camouflage. By focusing on agendas and ideologies at the cost of all else sleight of hand, attention is drawn away from the real issues at hand. The matter of immigration isn’t just about borders. Failure to deal with immigration reform mirrors related economic, social, educational and societal failures.

Hospitals in California and elsewhere are drowning in the costs of treating illegal aliens that treat a hospital ER as family clinic. Schools are bursting at the seems and trailer classrooms can’t be built fast enough. Welfare payments to illegal aliens are busting budgets.

Then there is the other side of the coin. Illegal immigrants aren’t going away, notwithstanding proposed legislation.

The largest segment of the illegal aliens are unskilled workers. They have absolutely no incentive to seek legal status, because if they do, they will not be hired. It is in the best interest of the farmer or meat packer to keep the costs down. Lower costs means that products are more affordable. Employers will seek out those unskilled workers that have not sought legal status and thus will not burden them with higher costs and legal obligations. To do that would be to double the grocery store price of many agricultural and food products overnight.

No employer who wishes to remain competitive in the market will pay higher wages for unskilled labor.

For every semi skilled or unskilled illegal alien who attempts to ‘legalize’ him or herself, at least two more will cross the border, willing to stay in the shadows and work for lower wages. The implications of that are almost beyond comprehension. The added burden on health care, school systems, welfare and social services will be enormous. Add to that social tensions and the cultural demands that will pit minorities against each other- and against everyone else for a slice of ‘guvamint cheese,’ and the outcome will be nothing short of disastrous.

The politics of destruction, obfuscation and deceit is not the legacy we want to leave our children.

Immigration reform has to be dealt with. It is becoming clear that there are rejectionists on both sides of the aisle are willing to pass the problem on to the next generation- not unlike the politicians who refuse to deal with social security.

It is ironic that those politicians who refuse to deal with Social Security can afford not to- and more than likely, their children and grandchildren will be able to afford and pay the price for their inaction.

That is not necessarily going to be true for inaction on meaningful immigration reform policy.