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Obama reverses stance on immigration
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by CynicalPatriot | May 10, 2009 at 07:20 am
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This security-first stance is not unlike that of President George W. Bush, Bush Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, who said their immigration bill failed in 2007 because voters didn't trust the government to be serious about enforcement.
"If the American people don't feel like you can secure the borders," Mr. Obama said at his press conference last week, "then it's hard to strike a deal that would get people out of the shadows and on a pathway to citizenship who are already here, because the attitude of the average American is going to be, 'Well, you're just going to have hundreds of thousands of more coming in each year.' "
I am conflicted on how to cover this issue. I am a conservative. Conservatives want to exploit this as another example of an Obama broken Campaign Promise, aka Flip Flop. I, however, want to support the man for moving closer to a position on immigration I favor. But then, Obama has shown himself to be such a calculating politician, I do not know if his position change is just a stall to have more time to do some more political calculations.
At the same time, I am concerned about the Fertility Rate in America. I don't remember what it is, but the point of the article I read was that it was less than required to prevent population loss and therefore a decline in the influence of the Amercan Culture. Immigration could offset this, but now instead of the USA having a melting pot mentallity, it seems that immigrants are not melding into American Society but adhering to the cultures of their homelands. Further, rather than having policies to encourage integration in American Society, we are having policies which enable them to remain seperate like Government Forms printed in multilple languages.
I love America. I love the thought of Legal Immigrants coming to America in search of a better life. I recognize we need immigrants to offset our low fertility rates. I am afraid that if all of the immigration occurs without integration it will lead to the fragmenting and eventual break up of America by the divisions resulting from the pockets of immigrant culture that do not integrate into the overall American Culture.
These things were on my mind.
Can the Politicians please put aside their political agenda for a while and worry about the overall future and fate of America? Am I asking too much?
Thank you for your time.
The Cynical Patriot
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (2)
at 10:10 on May 10th, 2009
Obama is kidding himself if he thinks that he can get an immigration bill through congress with amnesty for tens of millions just because he got elected and he has a democrat majority.
Bush tried twice, with a republican and a democratic majority and he failed twice.
I still know how to send an email to senators and congressmen, and so do the millions of others.
And, I would like to point out that even my friends and acquaintances that were most anti-Bush, weed-smoking libs, were also against illegal immigration.
Once again, it is the Chamber of Commerce types of the democrats and republicans and the lib left that want this done, not the average American.
at 11:00 on May 10th, 2009
My thoughts on Roy's comments go to theses two thought threads:
1) The Need to hold politicians Accountable for Campaign Promises:
2) Adhering to Absolute as opposed Condition/Situational Morality and Truth
1) CANDIDATE ACCOUNTABILITY
We need to hold politicians Accountable. If you supported Obama for his Candidate position on immigration, your darn right -- you should hold him accountable.
But the Republicans voice should be supportive of if this is a reasoned change of policy, especially between Campaign Cycles. Yes, the can be a within the party buzz about the flip flop but there is no need to make it the central point when purportedly Obama has moved closer to the Conservative position. Those people for whom his Candidate immigration policy was a "deal-maker" position are already upset and will remember the betrayal all on their own. Just for Quid Pro Quo on Presidential Candidates breaking Campaign promises; George Bush 1, "Read my Lips, No new Taxes" That should balance the political Candidate accountability equation.
And, with the advent of the internet, how many times have we heard a Candidate state a position on an issue in front of one group, demographic or geographic location and offer a different position on the same issue in front of a different group, demographic or geographic location. Any reasonable person can deduce from this duplicity that the Candidate has no real interest in the issues but merely wants to manipulate voters to get power. Regardless of Political Affiliation, Why do you want to vote for such a person? They care more about power than they do your issues and will change their position as necessary to retain there power.
Fool me once, shame on you; Fool me Twice Shame on me.
2) ABSOLUTE VS CONDITIONAL/SITUATION MORALITY AND TRUTH
It is time for Americans to stop letting the 2 major Political parties frame the arguments on the issues. We need to start thinking for ourselves and start adhering to absolute morality and absolute truth instead situational or conditional morality and truth. In that vein, I have these two thought threads:
Whatever your issue is, decide your position and support any candidate, regardless of political affiliation who supports your position on that issue.
If Obama is sincere in limiting illegal immigration, regardless of party, support him for his move to the position you favor or don't support him for the his position if he betrayed your vote.
This same Absolute vs Conditional/Situational should also extend to how we view candidates legal, ethical and moral issues. If we believe, affairs are immoral, then we should all politicians and Bureaucrats to the same standard and consequence. If bribes are illegal, it should require the same amount of evidence to sway public opinion and/or convict regardless of the political affiliation of the accused.
In Short, our evaluation of our politicians should be done in Absolute terms rather than Conditional/Situation terms as the latter lends itself to the Political Parties being allowed to manipulate our votes.
We need to stop think Republican v Democrat, Conservative v Liberal, Rich v Poor and Middle Class and start thinking Average Voter v Corrupt Politician.
These were my thoughts on these matters.
Respectfully,
Your Fellow Sovereign Citizen (As Defined by our Founding Fathers not the Anarchists)
Don Mashak
The Cynical Patriot