The President has made it clear that one of his top
priorities of 2013 is immigration reform and some democrats also insist that there
will still be time left over for solving this issue even in the midst of gun
control policies being debated and that thing called a budget that politicians
in general have grown to despise. Now only time will tell which of these issues
will really get tackled since the president has floated the idea of using
executive privilege to temporarily ban assault weapons; that is until the court
slaps his wrist a year or so from now for over-stepping his legal powers. Rest
assured the President will tackle this issue and soon.
Like so many other issues that confront us as a country it
seems that both parties are stuck in their ideological mud puddle. Let's be
clear...If Republicans were to craft a bill tomorrow that had everything the
president wanted, he would still veto it in order to make sure they were not
the ones to get the credit for it. I fear the reverse of that is also true. If
the President were to craft an immigration plan that had everything the
republicans wanted, they would cry out against it as liberal and the next day
make one that contained basically the same ideas. Both parties have been
playing these types of games for years and in this case it is even more
important, all because the politics of this issue rests in the hands of the
fastest growing voter bloc in the country...the all-important Hispanic vote.
I am confident that enough republicans understand that too
hard of line on immigration reform will mean more years of democrat control in
the oval office. Continuing to alienate this large voting group does not seem
to be a very good path forward for them. However, any bill that has too much of
the president attached to it will mean they will still not get the credit.
To be honest, I have never agreed with what has been
considered the conservative stances on this issue. Borrowing a trillion or more
dollars from China in order to have the resources to round them all up, tax
payer and non-tax payer alike, and deport them. However, I also no longer buy
into the notion that somehow we can starve them all into self-deportation. I
have never understood the moral logistics of treating children and youth, that
are here on no fault of their own, the same as the parents.
I have also struggled with the lefts plan of handing them all
a green card, several thousand dollars of borrowed money, a voter id card with
the party affiliation spot reading democrat, and then a stern reprimand that
says..."You really should not have done this."
I think the solution must lie somewhere in between and for
what it’s worth I have actually agreed with some of the ideas that Obama has
put out there for discussion. I do think for some of those which are currently
here milking the system that they should be deported and ultimately the price
of doing so will be far less than the free health care and money they are
receiving. However, to those which are trying to benefit our economy through
hard work and ingenuity, then an imposed fine and path to citizenship should be
considered.
Regardless, of which way this debate goes, it ought to be
very interesting. I anticipate both sides saying basically the same thing, but
refusing to agree in order to avoid alienating their key supporters.
