In With The Illegals; Out With The Liberals
By Chuck Muth (03/09/05)
When once asked to talk about illegal immigration, the late Rep. Sonny Bono replied, “What’s to talk about? It’s illegal.” I miss Sonny.
But in Washington, where talking problems to death rather than fixing them is the rule, the matter of illegal immigration isn’t so simple. After all, the essence of President Bush’s amnesty program isn’t about legalities; it’s about jobs, right?
I know, I know. He says it’s not an “amnesty” program. Well, I’ll make the White House a deal: I’ll stop calling it an amnesty program when they stop calling it a “guest worker” program. A guest is someone you INVITE into your home; not someone who crashes the party, then hides in the closet and refuses to go home when it’s over.
In any event, the word “illegal” is the key to this argument; a distinction the White House and its supporters fail to acknowledge. Legal immigrants - unlike those who have butted in line - go through a lengthy process designed to make sure new immigrants gain an appreciation for and understanding of the unique liberties AND responsibilities which come with American citizenship.
And it starts with learning English.
But I guess it’s “racist” to suggest such a thing, isn’t it? Indeed, the knee-jerk charge of racism is often whipped out by many supporters of the president’s amnesty/guest worker program. Clearly, there ARE racists who are actively trying to keep all the “browns” out of the country. But not every opponent of illegal immigration is a racist - and it’s really bush-league politics to suggest otherwise.
One anti-immigration group which IS racist, however, is the National Alliance - a white supremacy organization which rented a billboard last July in a Las Vegas neighborhood “frequented by Latinos” which read: “Stop Immigration - - Join the National Alliance.” Pretty tame, really. That particular message, I mean. Not the morons behind it.
Anyway, after getting a little grief about the advertisement, the billboard company took it down. However, they had signed a one-year lease with National Alliance - and a judge recently ruled that the company had to honor its contract and put the billboard back up. Now, had the company initially denied the billboard from the get-go, I’d have supported their right to make such a decision. Congress may not infringe on free speech (except for McCain-Feingold), but what private parties do is another thing altogether. Nevertheless, once they inked a contract, they should be made to honor it - regardless of the moaning and groaning of a few illegal immigration activists.
And this is exactly why it is important for immigrants to be thoroughly indoctrinated into the rule-of-law “American way” before being allowed to legally live, work and shop here as citizens - or even as “guest workers.”
In this country, groups such as the National Alliance have the right to express their opinions - no matter how stupid or offensive those opinions might be. That’s one of the most important ideals which make America different from Mexico and the rest of the world. Yet the folks who oppose the National Alliance billboard don’t seem to understand that particular American trait.
What’s worse, it’s not just illegal immigrants who don’t “get it.” We have own home-grown ignoramuses here (thank you, public schools) who have no appreciation for the values of liberty secured by our Founders. For example, one of those objecting to the billboard is a professor at UNLV, a government-run university in Las Vegas (go figure). “The billboard was clearly designed to make people uncomfortable,” Greg Brown told the Las Vegas Sun.
So what? Where in the Constitution does it say people have a right to feel “comfortable” when reading an advertisement?
Then there’s Cynthia Luria of the Nevada Anti-Defamation League who objects to the billboard saying, “Anything that is offensive to one group is offensive to all.” Hello? Again, where in the Constitution does it say anyone has a “right” not to be offended?
Do you see what I’m getting at here? We have enough home-grown Americans who don’t understand, let alone appreciate, the benefits and responsibilities of freedom. We sure as heck don’t need to be illegally importing more.
So here’s my suggestion for resolving the current illegal immigrant problem: We give everyone who’s already in this country today a simple, basic test on America’s founding history and the Constitution...in English. You pass it, you stay. And for every illegal who passes the test, we deport two natural-born, bleeding-heart liberals who don’t. Starting with Michael Moore.
We’ll have this nation back on the right track in no time.
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