Our Shameless Senate
By Paul E. Scates
I read today that backers of the compromise immigration bill see the resistance lessening, and believe it will pass this week. Although it’s over 300 pages, the desperate rush to ram through this legislation last week before any senator had the time to read it, let alone reflect on its provisions, was deemed necessary because the current immigration system is “too broken not to fix.”
But the Social Security system, hurtling towards bankruptcy, isn’t “too broken not to fix”? Or public education? Or the criminal justice system? Or the Internal Revenue Service? Or, in this age of terror, the port inspections of foreign shipments into the U.S.? Or our shameful and dangerous dependence on foreign oil? Or the murder of 40 million infants the past thirty-five years? Or the breakdown of our electoral system (at the hands of senators and representatives, mostly of the liberal persuasion)?
No, despite the many other catastrophically ineffective and downright destructive federal programs and bureaucracies that have contributed to our loss of liberty and the increasing malfunctioning of our society, the one thing that must be fixed, and right now, is the immigration system.
While our open southern border has long been the source of societal degradation (as measured by the disproportionate crime, burden on social services, refusal to assimilate into our culture and society, learn our language, et al), and now enables a more immediate danger (allowing the undetected infiltration of terrorists and their weapons into the U.S.), the problem with the proposed immigration legislation is that it is not reform, nor is it a “fix” for anything except the self-centered interests of politicians, all of whom covet either the Hispanic vote or the false image of resolute action. Throwing gasoline on a fire is “resolute action,” too, and the impact of this legislation will be of equal destructive force to our society.
First, let’s not forget that the immigration system is so “broken” precisely because these same politicians have refused to act on it for decades. Now, instead of an honest attempt at a sensible solution that is true to the rule of law (one of the pillars of our society) and fair to U.S. taxpayers (after all, shouldn’t we be the major concern of our supposed representatives, rather than illegal immigrants?), they trot out this self-serving, immoral, unconstitutional exercise in political featherbedding and call it a solution. Sound familiar?
Like the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform Act that only makes it easier for those in office to retain their power, and more difficult for Americans to determine just who is influencing those we elect, this so-called “reform” simply gives the appearance of effective action, while in fact making the problem immeasurably worse. Treason is not a word to be used loosely, but how else describe the blatant disregard for our economy, our culture and our continuation as a free republic that this cynical, incredibly destructive proposal represents? Why are our representatives more concerned with the welfare and interests of the people who have broken our laws, show contempt for our mores and traditions and have no intention of assimilating into our culture than with our interests?
Considering the crime, the burden on government services ($2.5 trillion by one responsible, informed source), the outflow of billions from our economy back to their home nations, et al, how can anyone claim with a straight face that this proposed amnesty bill is anything but a politically self-serving and criminal negligence of their responsibility to uphold the rule of law and their oaths to defend the Constitution? By all rights, everyone who votes for this travesty should be impeached, or better yet, recalled by their constituents! But they know that will not happen, no matter how much of a farce they make of their “service.”
In an act of arrogance and cynicism that is stunning in its contempt for the American electorate, and representative of the attitude by a majority of senators of both parties, GOP senator and presidential candidate John McCain, co-sponsor of the original immigration boondoggle (along with long-term illegal alien champion Ted Kennedy) had the unmitigated gall to send this message to his fellow Republicans: “Opposing an immigration bill for political gain will only worsen the problems of undocumented immigrants and an unsecured border.”
In a statement beyond characterization on the scale of smug, self-serving arrogance, McCain said, “I would hope they wouldn't play politics for their own interests if the cost of their ambition was to make this problem even harder to solve.” He also had the audacity to say, “I will never conduct my campaign in such a way that it makes our country's challenges harder to solve. I hope you will hold all candidates to that same most difficult standard. Pandering for votes on this issue, while offering no solution to the problem, amounts to doing nothing,” McCain said. “And doing nothing is silent amnesty.”
That McCain was to deliver those remarks to a largely Haitian and Hispanic audience in Miami should not, of course, be construed as “playing politics” on his part, or acting “for political gain” or “pandering for votes.” John McCain cautioning others against acting for political gain is like Hillary Clinton lecturing on honesty or integrity, or a skunk teaching others how not to stink. But he knows that most Americans will pay no attention to what he says, or to what he and his comrades in the Senate (and the House of Representatives) actually do about immigration. They all know they’re free to what benefits them, regardless of how much destructive impact their actions will have on this nation.
John McCain has been in the Senate since 1986. That’s the year of the last major immigration legislation, one that granted amnesty to illegal aliens living in the U.S. since 1982. The result? The 3 million illegal immigrants who took advantage of that amnesty have been replaced by at least 12 million (the figure is closer to 20 million, but naturally the government and politicians use the lower figure) illegal immigrants. At a four-to-one replacement ratio of the 1986 legislation, that means that this new amnesty (and whatever McCain, et al, call it, it is an amnesty) could result in 48 to 80 million more illegal immigrants in the next decade.
What’s clearly “too broken not to fix” is our Congress, especially that rat’s nest of smug, complacent, arrogant elitists in the Senate. I pray I’ll live long enough to see the American people awaken from their self-induced stupor and apathy and send every single member of that private club back home to live with the results of their staggeringly foolish and destructive legislation (on this and other issues), just as they expect you and I to do.
Formerly a liberal and an atheist, Paul E. Scates served as a Marine in Vietnam and is a lifelong student of American history, politics and culture. A former contributor to national website TooGoodReports.com, he writes his staunchly independent Conservative and informed Christian commentary for his fellow ordinary, working Americans, the “we, the people” who are ultimately responsible for preserving our Constitutional liberties. He welcomes your , pro or con.
