Sorry, Jeff, but, you have gone of the deep end of the Rio Grande on this one: Where conservatives have it all wrong
YOU’RE A sensible, principled conservative. You want America to be a land of boundless opportunity and freedom, where people are treated as individuals and judged on their merits. You reject the divisive identity politics of the left – what matters most about any of us, you would insist, is not race or class or ethnic origins: it is personal character and achievement. There are few things about contemporary politics you deplore more than the demonizing or scapegoating of entire groups (“white males,’’ “the rich,’’ “the Christian right,’’ “gun owners’’), as though every member of the group is interchangeable and indistinguishable, wholly defined by a single disparaging label.
But let someone mention “illegal immigrants,’’ and your principles fly out the window.
So when Governor Deval Patrick recommends allowing young illegal immigrants – residents of Massachusetts who have graduated from high school – to attend a public college and pay in-state tuition, you flip out. This is outrageous, you protest. It rewards people who broke the rules. It’s unfair to the taxpayers who subsidize public higher education. Why should an illegal immigrant get a valuable tuition break that Massachusetts wouldn’t give to a kid from Maine or New Hampshire?
You vigorously agree with Charlie Baker, a Republican candidate for governor. “If you’re illegally here, you’re illegally here,’’ Baker said last week. “The notion that we should treat illegal immigrants with the same benefits and opportunities that legal immigrants and legal citizens have doesn’t make any sense to me.’’
Jeff goes on in that vein for awhile, complaining about treatment of illegals who are just looking for a better life. Since it is bad form to excerpt an entire post/column/article, I would suggest clicking the link to read the whole thing before continuing.
Done? What Jeff is missing is that the people looking for a better life entered the country illegally. Why should we excuse that behavior? We shouldn’t embrace that behavior just so they can build the American dream. If they want to live the American dream, they should come to our country legally and apply for citizenship, just like so many others, not start their American Dream off by scoffing at and breaking our laws. It is a simple proposition. Not to mention that so many illegals end up not attempting to assimilate, but, instead, demand everyone accommodate them.
Soooo it’s okay to break the law if you’re trying to make a better life for yourself? AWESOME! Now I just need to decide which bank I want to “withdraw” from, so I’ll have enough money to make a better life for myself and my family! Or maybe I could start selling crack! Ooh! How about Assassin For Hire? I’m sure someone out there with gobs of money needs SOMEONE snuffed.
This is silly, of course. But that’s kind of the point. It’s plain old common sense that if the laws do not apply to EVERYONE equally, then they can not apply to ANYONE. Illegals are breaking the law…this is why they are called ILLEGAL. Whether they are breaking the law for a good reason doesn’t negate the fact that they ARE breaking the law. And it doesn’t stop there. They are here illegally, then hide that by using a stolen identity, which is also illegal. They aren’t paying income taxes, which is also illegal. Then there’s all the money they cost our taxpayers (those of us who ARE obeying the laws) like for health care, welfare, education, not to mention the rather disturbing amount of violent crimes being committed by some of these assholes.
This is why we need to erase the borders.
Erasing the borders and encouraging a mass exodus from Mexico into the US, while we’re in a massive recession, a war on two fronts, and double digit unemployment.
Effing BRILLIANT strategy there, John.
Hey, if you don’t like America, you are welcome to vamoose, John. Oh, wait, every other country has borders, too. How ’bout dat?
I’m always amazed, TFMo, when supposed Conservatives like Jacoby come up with their pity the illegals who are just making a better like for themselves silliness.