The "Red Herring" of Immigration

 

 

What ever happened to "If it ain't broken, don't fix it?"

 

You have to hand it to the Democrats. They are good at their craft - not just a little good, I am talking VERY good. All of a sudden, our immigration system is "broken". Huh? Do you mean the immigration system that has served our country well for over a century? The mantra has now spread so not only are the Democrats talking about our broken system, but also some Republicans.

 

I hate to confuse a very good argument with the facts, but I feel I must do so.

 

FACT 1 - As been said many times before, we were founded as a nation of immigrants - LEGAL immigrants. I have never heard anybody, from either political party, say we should get rid of all immigration.

 

FACT 2 - As important as immigration is, (this is going to be tough) we can now live with it or without it. We have over 300 million people in this country. If for some reason, we could not take ANY immigrants for a period of time, the show would still go on - the nation would survive.

 

FACT 3 - If we are not a nation of open borders, we are close. Anyone who has fished in Northern Minnesota knows about the "invisible line" between Canada and the US. The southern border is the same way. Until the borders are more secure, the specter of illegal immigration will be with us always.

 

FACT 4 - Our immigration system, albeit not broken, needs to be "tweaked" from time to time. In particular our I9 Visa system. People who want to come here and can really add to our intellectual capital, should be encouraged to be a part of our national fabric.

 

FACT 5 - Many new immigrants today vote Democratic. That is why the Democrats fight for them harder than the Republicans do. If the shoe was on the other foot, the Republicans would the party fighting for "immigration reform", and the Democrats would be the boat anchors.

 

So here we sit, listening to the same arguments we heard in the past. Congress will act and "do something" (they always "do something", even if it is the wrong "something") and then we will be on to something else. I agree the politics on this has outgrown the substance. The "grand plan" might be for this to pass the Senate and then die and ugly death in the House. HUGE issue then for 2014, allowing Ms. Nancy to get the hammer back from the orange man.

 

My opinion is this - our immigration system is one the best and fairest in the world. Is it perfect? No. Is it broken? No. Does it need an oil change and tune up? Probably. Is it political? DUH! So we are going to spend the summer talking about this and throwing stones at each other. Meanwhile, our debt clock continues to spin, our U6 remains in the low to middle teens, the IRS is out of control, and the Middle East is ready to explode.

 

Stay tuned for more summer reruns...