Biting the Hand that Feeds Them

Talk about biting the hand that feeds you!

By Dan Whitcomb
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Pro-immigration activists say a national boycott and marches planned for May 1 will flood America's streets with millions of Latinos to demand amnesty for illegal immigrants and shake the ground under Congress as it debates reform.
Such a massive turnout could make for the largest protests since the civil rights era of the 1960s.
"There will be 2 to 3 million people hitting the streets in Los Angeles alone. We're going to close down Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Tucson, Phoenix, Fresno," said Jorge Rodriguez, a union official who helped organize earlier rallies credited with rattling Congress as it weighs the issue.

I’m just guessing here but Jorge should reconsider shutting down 6 major US cities to demand that we make legal that which is illegal. Extortion doesn’t have a great track record when it comes to getting what you want from nations (that excludes Spain which caved instantly when confronted with terrorism).

Not showing up for work, not showing up for school, impeding commerce, preventing people who want to earn a living from doing so, and distracting law enforcement from actual police work will not be viewed favorably by the citizens of the nation in which one squats.

What does it say about a people whose very first act in a new country is to break its laws? What does it say about a people who enter a country illegally and then precede to take advantage of the good will of it’s citizens by demanding food stamps, welfare, free medical care, discounted housing and education, and bilingual education among other entitlements? What does it say about a people who enter a country illegally, demand that the citizens of that country support them financially, and then indignantly refuse to adopt the language and customs of that country?
I can think of four things that define a country. I’m sure there are others but these are the important ones. They are defined borders, defined language, a common basic culture, and the rule of law recognized by everyone.

I have nothing personally against the Mexican people or country, but it seems to me that the US has no defined southern border; it allows massive populations to exist within its cities without ever learning English (dial uno for Espanol) or adopting any American customs; and while many illegal aliens observe the law once they’re here, they began as criminals the second they stepped foot in America.

In anticipation of this day-without-immigrants demonstration, my wife and others have asked, “In addition to declining to work or attend school, will these illegal immigrants also decline US citizen financed medical care, food stamps, housing, and all the other benefits that they extract from the American taxpayer?”

The answer is obviously NO.

How dare people who are criminals take to the streets to demand full citizenship! What right do they have to demand anything except their one phone call from the nearest INS deportation office?

· They fly the Mexican flag above the American flag,
· They threaten to create a Spanish speaking country out of our southwestern states,
· They tell Americans to get out of America…that this is their country,
· They refuse to learn English and demand they we educate their children in Spanish,
· They flood emergency rooms to the tune of 20million dollars annually, leading to bankruptcy resulting in scarce medical care for tax-paying Americans,
· They increase our Federal prison population by 25% (don’t tell me they’re just here for the jobs), and
· They dramatically depress wages far below what the market would otherwise bear.

Certainly I could go on all night but you get the point.

Why in the world would George Bush consider anything approaching an amnesty program? The reason is simple: George Bush is a politician and politicians always look to the next election cycle whether or not they are running. Bush and the Republican leadership see 12 million non-citizens as potential voters down the road and nobody wants to get on the bad side of that many block voters when elections in this country recently have been decided by a few idiots in Florida who can’t fill out a ballot.

Republicans and Democrats are having a goody-bag competition to see who can out-nice the other guys in order to buy the Latino vote. Bush and the Republican leadership are just a craven and disdainful of the American people as the Democrats have always been.
By every poll I’ve seen in the last year, nearly 70% of Americans, regardless of Party affiliation, are in favor of the following:

· An absolutely closed southern border
· A limited deportation program of some sort
· English as the primary language taught in schools
· Repeal of the citizenship-by-birth part of the Constitution
· A heavy tax on financial remittances sent from the US to Mexico
· Penalties for employers who hire illegals
· No free medical care except for emergencies
· No access to social programs intended for down-on-their-luck Americans
· An acceleration of the screening and admittance process for legal immigrants (you want to reward those who obey the law)
· Establishment of a guest-worker program (made of citizens of Mexico who are not already in the US) so that our industries will not suffer

If most Americans are in favor of these measures that would go a long way to solving the immigration problem, why won’t the two Parties consider them? I’m disappointed to have to say that few politicians are willing to anger a potential voting block that large. It’s as simple as that.

I’m so disappointed in Bush and the Republican leadership concerning this issue and others that I’ve almost decided to vote Libertarian in ’06 and ’08 on the national level and I don’t think I’m alone. The conservative base is very disappointed in Bush. He had so much potential and except for the tax cut, Alito and Roberts, and the war on terror, he squandered it all.

With the resident Mexican population demonstrating in the streets and disrupting commerce, the Republicans just might save themselves from disaster when the American people rise up with demands of their own. This is my prediction for the coming elections: Whatever party comes closest to satisfying the American people with regards to the immigration issue will win in ’06 and ’08.