I am absolutely not afraid of peaceful and hardworking people. I also understand there are differing decrees of illegality which reflect the differing degrees of danger to society. John Henke raises a question. Immigration's 15 Minutes: "Why is this suddenly such a big issue right now?"
Observing the discussion about immigration grow into emotional and contentious debate these last several months has not convinced me there is a need to wall ourselves off from our neighbors or to alter our daily lives because of some widespread threat to the way we live our daily lives. There are legitimate concerns about terrorism and assimilation but at the core, this is one more political battle over the direction we want to take America.
The aspect of the problem that most concerns me is illustrated by how the U.S. Senate reacted to an amendment on the immigration bill proposed by Sen. John Ensign (R-NV). The official summary of intent is “To reduce document fraud, prevent identity theft, and preserve the integrity of the Social Security system, by ensuring that persons who receive an adjustment of status under this bill are not able to receive Social Security benefits as a result of unlawful activity.” Michelle Malkin collects links to blogger reaction.
In other words: Should ILLEGAL immigrants, once made legal by the McCain legislation, be entitled to receive the Social Security benefits they have paid into the system while ILLEGALLY using FRAUDULENT Social Security numbers STOLEN from actual, legal citizens of the United States of America.The Senate voted to kill this amendment and the votes by both Wisconsin Senator Feingold and Senator Kohl are illustrative of exactly how inconsequential they consider non-citizen access to taxpayer benefits. In the minds of the political elite, the population is comprised of individuals who pay taxes and deserve to benefit from the taxes they pay. This, I believe, is the essence of the question we as a country need to decide. Are we citizens with citizen rights or are we taxpayers with taxpayer entitlements?
A mature global economy has enveloped the world and wealth has influence in all governments including the United States. It is increasingly apparent the Senate and Administration have loyalties to big business, and that is good as it preserves our healthy economy, but it carries the potential for danger as more and more of our leaders come to believe what is good for the economy supersedes the rights of citizenship.
This country was founded on the idea that taxation entails a right to representation and this means the right to vote for political leadership. I fully expect the Democrats are counting on this basic American principal to justify voting rights for everyone present and paying taxes, so it is important the Republicans make the case that citizenship rights are only due to rightful citizens, and that means those who demonstrate allegiance to this country by obedience to immigration law.
