Well it seems like we are right back to square one with the illegal alien issue. There is a lot of posturing going on with both Democrats and Republicans and it seems that no one is happy. Here are some observations and then at the end I’ll share with you what I believe is the best solution.
1. Any time you pass a law that will rely on government bureaucracy to be part of the solution, you know that you are in trouble.
2. Any time you find yourself in agreement with Ted Kennedy, you had better rethink your position. Ted Kennedy was part of the last two immigration fixes, and we see where that got us. Besides, its Ted Kennedy for crying out loud!
3. Any legislation that allows someone here to remain under whatever circumstances you want to call them, it is a form of amnesty. If it is not amnesty, then those people who came here illegally would have the current laws that they broke, with the current punishments, enforced. If you change the rules after they have been broken and say, okay now we really mean it, then you are giving some form of amnesty. This leads me to my next point…
4. If this is the best the Congress and the White House can come up with because of political realities, then say so and admit that you are giving some form of amnesty. The majority of Americans do not want families split apart and do not believe that we can capture 12 million illegal aliens. Where conservatives become extremely angry is when you try to tell us that it isn’t amnesty when it clearly is. And no clever defintion from White House Press Secretary Tony Snow is going to change that! Mr. Snow said on the Rush Limbaugh Show during an interview conducted May 15, 2007: “The 1986 bill, Simpson-Mazzoli signed by President Reagan, did have amnesty. What’s amnesty? Amnesty is a way of saying, “We don’t care if you broke the law. We scrub your record clean. All is forgotten,” as opposed to what we’re talking about, which is you gotta admit you broke the law; you’ve gotta pay a fine. It is not a wrist slap. It’s a felony level punishment. You do not get an automatic path to citizenship. Instead, what you have to do is, after you’ve acknowledged you’ve broken the law, after you’ve paid a debt to society, then you go to the back of the line. If you break the law, you’re out of the line.” Again Mr. Snow, you’re changing the rules for those who have already violated the existing rules.
The proposal I want to set before you is the one presented by the Vernon K. Kreble Foundation and it is titled, Two Paths to Safety, and it is in my mind the best solution presented yet. It is a long read but it reads fast and you will find it fascinating. The strength of the proposal is in allowing the private sector run the guest worker program. I hope you will take the time to read it and then call your national legislators to have them at least investigate this proposal.
