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Rep. Scott DesJarlais, R-Tenn- Immigration Zero

November 3, 2013 by 1 Comment

Rep. Scott DesJarlais, a Republican from Tennessee has shown his support for the Conservative Republican platform. He values the enforcement of dysfunctional laws over compassionate reform.

During a town hall meeting the congressman was asked by an 11 year old girl if we should allow her father to be able to stay in the US. His answer was not very compassionate, but he garnered cheers from some in the audience, and he was pretty happy with that. Keeping families together is apparently not a big priority for the Republican party, which is contradictory to it’s stated “Christian family values” platform. Someone needs to tell this guy what the value of an American family should be, and then ask him, “what would Jesus do? He obviously is just along for the ride on the Republican “Tea Party”  train, which puts punishment before reform. See the interaction HERE.

Filed Under: Republicans

Steve King Advocate for no change

October 4, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Steve KingSteve King has promised to vote no on any immigration bill that comes to the House of Representatives. He says he is also bringing a bunch of other Republicans with him.

Didn’t he learn anything from Mitt Romney’s defeat?

He says he has organized a small but growing number of conservatives who are committed to voting against any House immigration bill—no matter what it says—because they fear that the Senate will inevitably find a way to add “amnesty” to the equation.

King doesn’t tell us how many members he’s got on board. Some insiders say it’s somewhere between 20 and 70 members. Even at the low end of that range, it’s enough to prevent any Republican-led immigration bill from passing.

It is thinking like this that has perpetuated a dysfunctional immigration system for over fifty years.

This is one politician we don’t need next term.

Filed Under: Immigration Debate, Politicians, Republicans

John Boehner- Leader of Dysfunction

October 4, 2013 by 1 Comment

john boehnerAs Speaker of the House no one has more responsibility for the performance of this institution, and it has been noted that this has been the most impotent government in our history.

He has lead us to the brink of the “fiscal cliff” last year, and into a Government shut down this year because of his party’s desire to defund the Affordable Care act. We didn’t ask them to do that, they came up with that all on their own. Somebody needs to tell them we didn’t elect them to be dictators. This congress has not only been ineffectual, but downright harmful.

As far as immigration goes, for months he has said he will not bring the bill that passed through the Senate to the floor of the House of Representatives, stalling something that has been long in the making and heavily watered down by his own party. His refusal to participate in something that our country desperately needs is shameful.

Should he be allowed to do this all over again next term?

Filed Under: Politicians, Republicans

US Immigration Reform PLAN A Conclusion

October 3, 2013 by 2 Comments

Before we finish there needs to be something addressed here that is not in the US Immigration Reform PLAN A ideology.

Some of the conservatives in the audience will notice there is no mention of border security in this bill. There are two very sound reasons for this:

1)   The border is more secure now than at any time in our history. More resources, money and manpower have been shifted to the border than during any other time in our history. As a result of our extensive efforts to stop people at the border, we are apprehending a record low level of  people not seen since 1971.  People crying about securing the border before working on any new immigration bill are really just stalling. No border in the history of the world has ever been 100% secure, and our border with Mexico has never been more secure than it is right now.

2)   When you focus on compliance and making it easy and financially accessible and ultimately highly beneficial for everyone to participate, the need for prevention will be greatly reduced. As compliance passes 80% the need for our current border forces will also be reduced, and the remaining force’s day to day activities will shift to rounding up drug runners and criminals, as all those who have nothing to hide will rather do things the easy, inexpensive, legal way. Catching fewer people should be easier than trying to stem the tide of a million immigrants a year, so our border security should even increase, while we reduce our expenses and shift our resources where they will be needed most.

If we begin here, we can begin to create a program that is good for the both the US, and the immigrant, is weighted more towards benefiting us, can be easily (relatively speaking) setup and maintained, won’t cost us anything, and quite possibly help us monetize and protect a resource of income, spending, and taxes, as well as protect and nourish a great part of our communities and culture.  With the emerging markets producing vastly more competition around the world, we could use all the help we can get. Immigrants of all kinds are needed to keep us leading the world in engineering, innovation, economy, and quality of life.

     Lastly,

The only thing I loathe more than censorship is hateful comments that contribute nothing to the conversation. The only comments that will be removed are the hateful, non-helpful ones, (trolls) and people who love to post the same comment over and over and over and over and over. . .

Please remember, any jerk can complain, and most usually do, but only those who genuinely care about helping, will offer suggestions as to how to make something better.

We need to hurry. Congress could surprise us and come up with something sooner than later. If that happens, the compromises that inevitably will find their way into the bill will likely cripple it, and hinder any future progress we might otherwise enjoy.

So tell me, do you have confidence in our government to put forth a well thought out, truly beneficial and successful bill that will propel our country forward for years to come?

Join the conversation now, before we have to suffer through what congress manages to cobble together, for the next thirty years.

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Filed Under: Immigration Debate, Immigration reform, Laws, New Post, Plan A, Republicans

Step #4 of the GOP grieving process: depression

March 29, 2013 by Leave a Comment

The Republicans have officially entered the depression stage of the grieving process and are feeling the dark loneliness that often accopmanies depression. According to a recent pole, 25% of Republicans don’t even like their own party. This admission, coupled with the rumblings of possible change to a more “modern” political ideology, as well as a few early admissions of outdated views by the party from some of it’s more liberal members, and it is clear that a cloud of despair hangs grimly over GOP members, when thinking about their future.

 

Recently, the GOP tried to tell us they are fundamentally conservative, but they should also consider other viewpoints in order to stay intact. This is exactly the kind of backpedalling that is signaling a huge identity crisis within the party. Older party leaders who still view this country with an eye towards the past vs the younger party members who look to the future. This could be the perfect time to realign the GOP platform’s ideology with the rest of America. I know it’s sometimes difficult to admit when you’re wrong, but if you really listen to an argument, if it makes more sense than your own, it could be time to consider changing your position on the subject, not just agree to disagree.

 

One example of the GOP being wrong is on it’s attitude towards Gays and their actively advocating second-class status for a group of Americans because they don’t agree with their lifestyle. It’s okay not to want to be gay, but it’s not okay to treat people with less respect and offer them less in regards to human rights, than currently offered to the heterosexual citizens they do agree with.

 

Bringing this same view to immigration, as the GOP continue to postpone progress towards new legislation that will give our de facto citizens real legitimacy and therefore access to basic human rights, they will keep these workers and neighbors under protected, under represented and over exposed to abuse. If  these same GOP members were to view this type of behavior in another nation, they would call it discrimination. If they didn’t like that nation, they may even call it oppression. They might even call for it’s immediate end, and possibly call for sanctions to be imposed until it did.

 

Our country has been evolving into a much more democratic society for over two hundred years now. Our progress on human rights has been a slow, gradual process, and the Republicans, by no means, have been the only ones at fault. We have enjoyed fits and spurts of human rights progress, coupled with major setbacks, such as: the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, and it’s subsequent Chinese Exclusion Repeal Act of 1943; the Braceros program in 1949, and it’s subsequent “operation wetback in 1954.” We have been working towards achieving the high standards of human rights we set before ourselves, and push for our earthly neighbors to achieve, for a long time now. Surely we understand the difficulty in surmounting the many obstacles that have kept us from reaching our own lofty ideals thus far.

Standing in the middle of the road and shouting down progress will not give much life to anyone’s political future.  This is what happens when you do the majority of the talking and relatively little listening. This is sometimes called: drinking too much of your own Kool-Aid. Every once in a while, even the most successful politicians need to sit at someone else’s table and see what they are drinking.

 

As my mother used to tell me, “Try it, you just may like it.”

 

And if, for some reason, you do find that the opposing views make more sense than your own, changing sides does not have to mean failure. It could just mean that you are now on the side of the winning. It’s hard to be depressed when you’re winning.

Filed Under: Five stages of Grief, Politics, Republicans, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , ,

Republican Party Defeat stage #3 Bargaining

January 14, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Continuing with the 5 stages of grief the Republicans will go through, we find ourselves right in the middle of stage 3– Bargaining.

The old Republican guard has been negotiating their way back to power through the Fiscal Cliff issue. Refusal to cooperate was their only card, and they plaid it for all it’s worth, waiting until the last minute to get the smallest deal they could in order to save face and make it look like they are still the people in power in Washington.

Is it me, or does John Boehner look like he’s trying to be co-president?

Ever since McConnel’s remark about making sure Obama was a one-term president, he’s been acting like he lives in the White House. (or wants to)

Unfortunately, with all the hubris the Republican party has been showing this past two years: acting like spoiled children; refusing to play nice with anyone (even themselves); insisting on keeping tax breaks for the richest Americans at all costs; telling women that getting pregnant after being raped is a decision they have control over. (i’m not sure how that one works)  I think their arrogance will cost them more than they know. The America they long for, two cars in every garage, Jobs for life, white majority neighborhoods, schools and workplaces. . . This may have been a Norman Rockwell snapshot of  “the good ol’ days” but times, they are a changin’ and we need to keep up with them, or we risk holding ourselves back and watching emerging countries become the king of the heap while our way of life gets more backward every year.

We don’t want politicians who care more for their party and financial supporters than they do the people who put them there and rely in them to take care of our countries business for the sake of the people.

If the people are not the #1 job they wake up to each and every day, then I think we can surely find better.

Let’s hope the freshman that were elected this November remember why they are there. It’s obvious many of the senior members of the House and Senate have forgotten.

It will be too much to ask freshman coming into a new job, in an unfamiliar environment to break out and lead those whose guidance they are surely now seeking.  But let’s hope that their Bulls#!t radar is functioning properly so they can at least distinguish between those who work for the good of the country and those who work for the good of each other.

Filed Under: Five stages of Grief, Politics, Republicans Tagged With: , , ,

A letter to Newt Gingrich

May 10, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Hey Newt,

 

I hear you are starting to lag in the polls now. Apparently standing on principal worked better than standing on popular belief. You broke from the herd when you declared there  needs to be a more humane way to deal with the immigrants in this country. Ratings skyrocketed. You had no competition. Then, as pressure mounted, and you knew it would, you caved. You back tracked on your stance, without really negating what you previously had said, which only a seasoned politician can do, but it fooled no one.

 

Now that you are towing the party line, you look like all the other Republican candidates and you are losing your distinction as a man who believes in something, and will fight for it; which is after all is said and done, is what we are really looking for. We need someone to lead this country out of the funk it is in, not to follow popular yet inefficient philosophies like everybody else.

 

Mr. Gingrich you are either a man who stands for something because you believe it to be right, or you are a man who stands for whatever everyone else stands for– irregardless of right or wrong. It is very easy to tell the difference. The moment anyone opens their mouth, it is immediately obvious which.

 

Well, good luck with that.

Filed Under: Politicians, Politics, Republicans

The United States Immigration Debacle, Part 3: The Politicians

May 10, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Now there has been a rumbling of discontent around the issue of our United States immigration debacle. Some talk has been made by a few vocal minorities about sending all the undocumented immigrants home so they can stand in line like the rest and do things right. I don’t know who or when or how some of us Americans decided that the arrangement we had going all these years wasn’t quite working out for them any more, but this is where we are today.

 

New State laws and political stumping are ample evidence that the government is pretending to get involved again. This kind of elevated rhetoric usually only happens at election time. What is painfully obvious is the amount of effort that government has put into avoiding this issue. Why? Don’t the politicians want to be hero’s and have the respect and admiration (and votes) of a grateful nation?

 

Of course they do. And I think they are getting it. Here’s what I mean:

 

If the politicians really wanted to fix this situation, they could have done so at any time along the last fifty years or more years. They are the ones that have been chosen to make the laws after all are they not?

 

And what motivates politicians to take action? Money and public opinion. Let’s take a look at each of these and explore what would happen, beginning with public opinion.

 

There are three possible scenarios that public opinion can be categorized in our situation: A majority anti-immigrant sentiment; a majority pro-immigrant sentiment; or an equally distributed public sentiment.

 

Scenario #1 If the majority of the people are anti-immigrant:

All the politicians would have to do is write up a bill condemning undocumented workers, punish the employers, expel the immigrants and let them know if they are caught in our borders again, they will go to prison for a long time. The specifics can vary, but anything along these lines would satisfy the majority of the public, and their approval rating and chances for re-election are greatly improved.

 

Scenario #2  The majority of the people are pro-immigrant:

All they would have to do is pass a bill and give them amnesty, open up the borders and the majority will have been satisfied. Again, the specifics can vary, but the outcome will be the same. Improved public opinion and an increased chance for re-election.

 

Scenario #3  The nation is equally split among the two different opinions:

No problem here either once you stand back and look at this objectively and keep your eyes on a positive outcome. Propose a bill giving those that can prove employment and residency for the past five years can stay, keeping the productive people here, and everyone else, must leave or face deportation and banishment for ten years. You can argue other possibilities as well, but no matter the specifics, if you give both sides something, then everyone is equally pacified and perturbed, but having half of something is better than nothing.

 

Any of these scenarios could have taken place and the outcomes would have been appreciated by the country. Scenario 3 granted is the most difficult, but give them both something to be happy about, and get on with it. If our country is heavily in one camp or the other, (just look at the data from one of the thousands of opinion polls they take each year) it is that much easier. Give the people what they want and be the hero. Done. Public opinion can be addressed, and should be, by the politicians wanting to keep their jobs another year. Do nothing and now you have a lot of work come election time trying to persuade the voters you did a great job last term and will continue to do a great job next term. So why have we just ignored this situation all these years?

 

If you believe government understands those two basic things, Money and opinion (They take more opinion polls than any company in the world.) then any time you want to understand the government, just follow public opinion or money. Since we just looked at the three possible public opinion scenarios and we can’t explain their inaction, we should therefore follow the money.

 

I think politicians know that businesses really don’t want to elevate the undocumented workers to a legal status because it would cost many businesses more. Lots more. If businesses can pay much less to undocumented workers and get away with it because they are undocumented and unlikely to stand up for their rights, they will. If immigrants become legal, they will get minimum wage, regular breaks and benefits like vacation days, personal time off and overtime, medical and dental insurance, and maybe even 401k retirement plans, as well as understand their rights as workers much more and are more liable to file employment grievances with the EEOC. Prices are going to go up to compensate for the rising costs and their ability to compete with companies from other countries will diminish considerably, threatening their very existence.

 

And us? Some of us think we pay way too much for social and health services for the undocumented now, but wait until they become legal and the products we buy steadily rise in price until acceptable profit margins are made to sustain the companies livelihood. This will put them at risk for being undersold by outside companies whose labor prices are much much cheaper, and I believe the demand for undocumented workers will be on the rise once again.

 

Politicians really are a lot smarter than we give them credit for. They may act like clowns during election years, and some of them have been known to be full-time comics the rest of the year too, but they all know that as much as we like to blow off steam and beat our chests about how much more moral we are than the criminal undocumented worker, we really don’t want anything to change. Neither does business.

 

But we still have one more group of people involved in this situation to be discussed: the immigrant. Having a national debate about what to do about undocumented immigrants without even bringing them into discussion would be quite impossible. Even today we discuss their needs, desires, customs and personal habits to a great extent. Next week we’ll take a look at the immigrant, and where they fit into all of this.

 

Do you have an opinion about this article? Your feedback is welcome, but please let’s be civil. When we lose our composure, we lose the ability to influence others as well.

 

Filed Under: Immigration's effects on citizens, Laws, Politicians, Politics, Republicans, The US Immigration Debacle
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