The Issues Part III

Immigration

This argument has gone back and forth for years but I’m going to touch on it again. According to thefreedictionary.com the definition of immigration is to enter and settle in a country or region to which one is not native. The definition of naturalization by thefreedictionary.com is to grant full citizenship to one of foreign birth. Article I Section 8 of the Constitution states that Congress has the power “to establish a uniform rule of naturalization”. There are no words about immigration. Article IV Section 4 of the Constitution on the other hand states “the United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against invasion”. If you take the Constitution at its word, without trying to interpret or twist the words around, there is no where that states that a State can not create its own laws of immigration. On the other hand a State can not make laws concerning the naturalization of an immigrant into the United States.

The Federal Government was in violation of the Constitution when they went after the State of Arizona for SB 1070, not the other way around. If Arizona had passed a bill concerning the process to become a citizen of the United States then they would have been in violation of the Constitution. In fact, in the case of Arizona, Texas and California the Federal Government is in violation of Article IV Section 4 by not preventing the wholesale illegal border crossings. This is probably also true for all coastal States and all the Northern Border States.

Immigration is not a problem in the United States, illegal immigration is. Whether we are spending tax dollars on supporting and taking care of illegal immigrants or not, they have violated the law; the United States is supposed to be a Nation of Laws. We welcome immigrants, as long as they enter legally. There are reasons for not having open borders. Many illegal immigrants are coming into America for criminal reasons, not all, but enough. At one time during the 1700’s Britain sent convicts to the Colonies to help ease their financial responsibility and put the burden on the Colonies. Is that not what is happening with our Southern border? Our Northern border is not a whole lot better, only the problem with that border is the influxes of Nationalities that do not have the best intentions for America. The point has been argued, and rightfully so, that protecting our borders is both a matter of national security and economic common sense.

The issue of protecting the borders is not nearly as difficult as our politicians want to make it. Because of our increased involvement in overseas affairs we have taxed our military to the point that we are sending our National Guard overseas to reinforce the regular military. If we were not so heavily involved the National Guard in the Border States could be used to reinforce our Customs and Border Patrol Officers, in fact they could be used to replace them. There is also an argument that could be made to have our Military protecting our borders. Our laws only state that the Military can not be used to enforce laws against United States citizens, illegal immigrants are not United States citizens.

Government Programs

Whenever the issue of the budget, deficit and debt come up the Politicians start bringing up the programs they are going to have to shut down. Oh course the first ones that are always brought up are the ones that have to do with fire protection, police protection, teachers, National Parks and Monuments and our seniors. Whenever someone does suggest cutbacks to things like say, earmarks, the response is always that it’s just a drop in the bucket, nothing worth fighting over so they just leave them in the budget. Truth is that enough drops in the bucket will eventually fill the bucket. Truth is that Politicians do not care about reducing the deficit spending or the debt; they care about saying all the right things to get re-elected. They will keep the programs going that produce the biggest kickbacks from lobbyist, Unions and Corporate hacks. Voters, regular citizens, do not have the money to entice party politicians.

Politicians do not care about whether a program is actually accomplishing what it was established to accomplish. Just look at welfare, it was established to help people get back on their feet during the depression; well the depression is over and instead of getting back on their feet we have created whole generations of welfare families. The Department of Education was created to improve the quality of the Nations Schools and to improve the education of our children. Once again, neither objective was accomplished yet we continue to pour money into the Department of Education. The Department of Energy was created to reduce or eliminate our dependence on foreign oil, need I say more?

Every Government program should have a sunset clause built into them when they are first created. This clause should be such that after a reasonable amount of time the effectiveness of the program will be evaluated by a non-partisan panel that will determine whether the program should be continued or not. Of course this is only if the Government is allowed to establish a program. Any program recommended by the Congress should be evaluated against the Constitution before they even start writing the bills for it. Off the top of my head I can not think of any Government program that would pass the test of being authorized by the Constitution. Any program or Department currently being run by the Federal Government should be transferred to the States, not mandated to them, transferred to them. If a State wants to run a program they will, if not then they won’t.

The Government is now trying to get not only into our Supermarkets, but also in our backyards and our kitchens. Through the FDA the Federal Government is trying to control everything that you are allowed to eat or drink. Humans have been surviving for a very long time eating whatever did not eat them first. It’s kind of interesting that you never hear of people getting sick from items bought at their local Farmers Markets. Once again, it’s just another issue of control, not protection.

Taxes and Job Creation

These two issues are tied together. Almost every candidate that runs for office in the Federal Government will have job creation as one plank of their platform. The Federal Government does not create jobs, the Federal Government can only put into place programs that will entice the creation of jobs. In reality we are at a point where the only thing that will entice the creation of jobs will be the repeal of many Government programs such as the Healthcare Act. If the Government was truly interested in job creation they would completely repeal the current tax code and make a simplified tax code that could be understood. Liberals like to condemn those that have been successful in the business world for being the filthy rich. It’s the filthy rich that have the capital to create jobs, that’s what they do, that’s what they are good at, and that’s why they are rich. The only jobs the Government has created have been in the public sector, these are jobs that taxes pay for which in turn means taxes need to go up to pay for them. I heard a report the other day that for every public job created by the Government two private sector jobs go away. This is due to the increase in regulations and taxes required to either support or to justify that new public sector job.