Common Sense 2010

In the 1700s, patriot Thomas Paine wrote a pamphlet called "Common Sense" which made the case against King George III's tyranny and for the independence of the colonies. Apparently, at some point, the British people recognized the merit of his arguments and honored him with a statue in the city of his birth, Thetford, Norfolk, Great Britain.

One of his memorable quotes is , “A long habit of not thinking a thing right gives it the superficial appearance of being wrong." This reminds me of our misguided friends who favor illegal aliens over their fellow citizens. Their long habit of thinking secure borders and the rule of law are not very important, tends to give these issues a superficial appearance of being wrong.

It is the irresistible nature of truth, that all it asks, and all it wants is the liberty of appearing. Consistent with that idea, our objectives have been to (1) allow the truth to appear about immigration's unarmed invasion and its deadly consequences, and (2) to give precedence to the national interest and the rule of law over illegal aliens or even prospective legal immigrants.

The anti-America,pro-illegals rebel against reason. They blithely ignore the long-term consequences of the support they provide for the illegal aliens in America. Few have even given those consequences a second thought and those who have, gloat about the future when minorities will be the majority and Hispanics will control the political processes of our country. They nod with approval knowing that comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) as a code term for amnesty, will mean 12-30 million instant citizens, leaving any thoughts about border security a mere façade. CIR clearly has come to mean "amnesty." They clothe their support of foreign interests in ethnocentric, quasi-humanitarianism, disregarding the broader national interest and yet, facetiously, claim to be loyal Americans. They object to any effective technique or procedure for identifying and sorting out illegal aliens. When they say they are worried about some imposition on or profiling of Hispanic citizens, they are just indulging in an artifice or "red herring." Their real objective is to prevent any meaningful effort to apprehend and repatriate a significant numbers of illegals, after they have served six months working on border infrastructure.

We believe in the equality of man; and we believe that religious and secular duties consist of doing justice, extending mercy, and endeavoring to live in harmony with our fellow-citizens. Some believe that when you look in a man's eyes you will see a divine spark that proves he is a man not a horse to be treated as a beast of burden. Others question that idea and ask, "Where have you seen this divine spark in operation? Where have you noted this magnificent equality?" No two things on earth are equal or have an equal chance, not a leaf or a tree. Many work all their lives exercising their right to prove that they are better than others through their achievements, the jobs they have held, or the esteem in which they are held by their bosses and their peers. They may not think of it in that way. They may see it only as striving for success.

What really matters is equality of opportunity and justice for our citizens. Justice is generally defined in terms of the laws which govern all civilized societies, that justice is the legal system, or the act of applying or upholding the law. Justice can also be thought of as fairness or reasonableness, especially in the way people are treated or decisions are made. In this regard, the fairness or reasonableness with which people are treated is measured against the objective standard of the law, equally and evenly applied. Thus, he that would make his own justice secure, must guard even illegal aliens from a miscarriage of justice; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach himself. But the concept of justice has already been breached in the case of illegal aliens who have violated our borders and are present in our country illegally. If we do not use the objective standard of the law, the rule of law becomes meaningless and we are thrown into anarchy.

It is the business of a little mind to shrink from his or her duty and from the loyalty to their country expected of citizens. In their search for some rationale for their dereliction of duty and disloyal behavior, they are unable to obscure that they value common blood over all else without regard to its ultimate cost to the country they profess to know and love. It is an affront to treat this ethnocentric behavior and false humanitarianism with complaisance. It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry into the motivation and rationale of these latter day apologists for illegal aliens. Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving, it consists in professing to believe what one does not believe.

How can anyone believe that allowing our population to increase without bounds will be a good thing? How can anyone believe that reducing the diversity of immigrants entering our country will increase its diversity? How can anyone believe that finite natural resources can somehow be stretched to serve twice as many people without any impact on the quality of life? These are infidelities that characterize those who favor illegal aliens, open borders, and more legal immigrants over the national interest.

It is not a few hardworking illegal aliens that we are worried about; we are defending a country, an idea, a national culture, a national character, a national language, the national interest, the national sovereignty, and the quality of life. As many as 30 million illegal aliens and their progeny may be waiting for the Congress to betray our country for their own shortsighted, selfish interests. If Congress yields to that temptation, there will be no turning back. If amnesty is passed, the 30 million will use the outrageous "family reunification provision" to bring in their large extended families, swelling the immigrant ranks to as many as 150 million, many of whom will line up immediately to begin collecting welfare, Aid to Dependent Children, Earned Income Credits, free education, Medicaid, Medicare and even the Social Security one presidential candidate promised them in 2008. Within a year, they will have been organized by the radical Hispanic lobby groups and prepared to use the ballot box to take over our country. Already, we see on the blogs, "Voto Latino". Wouldn’t a loyal American simply ask everyone to “Vote!”. The result might be the same but at least it wouldn't be so flagrantly disloyal.

When our politicians wake up to discover what their greed and stupidity have done, it will be too late to do anything. They will be turned out of office and our country will no longer be under the control of the American people. It is this concern that motivates the opponents of amnesty and open borders, not the nativism, bigotry, xenophobia, racism or the persecution of minorities and immigrants of which they are often falsely accused in ad hominem attacks. Those are not the features of the mainstream opposition to illegal aliens and excessive legal immigration. They may play some role in the fringe organizations on the extreme left and extreme right. Some would argue that they are features of MALDEF, MEChA, La Raza and at least some of the 800 hate groups identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center (based on undisclosed criteria).

The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is reason. In the case of immigration's unarmed invasion, the anti-American,pro-illegals often inadvertently provide the facts that permit us to reason about the future of our country. For example, they gloat about the expected minority majority. They point out the population and demographic trends that show Hispanics to be the fastest growing ethnic group in America. It has been shown that Mexicans and their progeny alone account for as many new immigrants as the next ten countries combined. How does that add to the diversity of our nation? Obviously, it has just the opposite effect.

What they studiously avoid is any analysis that would show what this means in terms of our country's future. Victor Hansen has given us a glimpse of that future in his book, "Mexifornia: A State of Becoming". Having lived among Mexicans, taught them, intermarried with them, and observed them first hand, Hansen is in a excellent position to draw the obvious conclusions about where we are headed. These are the conclusions the legal immigration and illegal alien proponents seem incapable of discerning. It is both the direction and the magnitude which are to be taken into consideration not the individual hard working alien. Our country is clearly headed in the wrong direction on immigration and the magnitude of that problem boggles the mind. We can only reason from what is; we can only reason on actualities, not on shortsighted and unwarranted expectations without basis or a certain complacency about America's future. Bankrupt California is the harbinger of America's future.

In Arizona, citizens frustrated by the failure of the federal government to enforce our immigration laws have done the only thing left for them to do. They have fashioned a new state law that closely follows the federal statutes in a final attempt to get control of its borders by making some acts violations of state law as well as the federal law. This is an excellent law that will enable local authorities to do what the Administration has refused to do, get a handle on the illegal alien problem. Some say this will divert the police and sheriffs from their primary duties to serve and protect. On the contrary, activities under the new law will be incidental to their primary duties. The law will reinforce the ability of authorities to serve and protect.

However, the illegal alien problem cannot be solved by the border patrol or ICE agents alone. They need the full support of local government and local authorities. New laws are needed to deny illegals sanctuary in the cities and in the rural areas.

The anti-America, anti-rule of law, pro-illegals among Arizona citizens have tried, out of desperation, to associate the new law with racial profiling which is illegal or other violations of human rights. When confronted with the question of where best to look for illegal aliens particularly those from Mexico, they stutter and stammer, because they know the answer is within the Hispanic community and at the locations typically populated by illegals. They are not really concerned about racial profiling. Their real concern relates to the fact that this law might actually turn the corner on illegal aliens and begin their repatriation.

There are many ways to reduce the extent to which the new law would represent an imposition on Hispanic citizens. But some citizens prefer to remain a part of the problem rather than become a part of the solution. One of most obvious ways is to issue a new comprehensive, counterfeit-proof, machine-readable, biometric ID to all who wish to avoid any imposition. Embedded on such an ID could be all of information found on other conventional IDs like Social Security cards, library cards, parking permits, drivers licenses, green cards, proofs of auto and health insurance, thumb prints, photos and other physical descriptors, perhaps even a coded DNA sample, and a record of honorable military service. This single universal ID would then serve many purposes from checking out a book, cashing a check,to proving a license to drive and one's immigration or workstatus. Showing this single card would be no more burdensome than showing a drivers license. The new ID could be issued by trustworthy employees at designated state and local government offices based on a thorough verification of the documents presented by the citizen, permanent resident, or other applicant. The E-verify system could be expanded to include all of the relevant information so that the bona fides of any applicant could be quickly checked. Police cruisers could also have devices for reading the biometric card. Problem solved.

The only missing ingredient is the cooperation of Hispanic citizens to help their country solve this pressing problem. Their willingness or unwillingness to provide this cooperation is a measure of their loyalty and how valid their concerns about racial profiling really are. If the police knew that most if not all Hispanic citizens in the state had such a validated ID, there would be little incentive to willy-nilly accost every Hispanic they came across. After all there must two or three million Hispanic citizens in Arizona versus perhaps only 500,000 illegals. If every Hispanic was stopped, there would be less than a 20% chance that each stop would uncover an illegal. This would not be a very wise use of the officers' time. So the police would mostly likely focus their efforts on routine traffic stops or on the use of checkpoints like those employed to catch those not wearing their seatbelts (click it or ticket) or DUIs. Neither of these approaches is remotely related to racial profiling and yet both would be very effective in identifying illegals and a beginning of a solution to the problem.

When men and women yield up the privilege of thinking and reasoning, the last shadow of liberty and the uniquely American experiment quits the horizon. When we fail to recognize the most elementary facts about our present situation and fail to draw the obvious conclusions, we have abandoned reason in favor of demagoguery. When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary. When we plan for posterity, we need to remove our rose-colored glasses and objectively assess what that future nation will be like for our children and our children's children. If there must be trouble regarding immigration and illegal aliens, let it be in our day, that our children may have peace and prosperity and the same quality of life as we have enjoyed. That which we obtain too easily, we esteem too lightly. That which we value so little, we will quickly lose.

Again paraphrasing Thomas Paine: these are the times that try the souls of men and women alike. The summer citizen and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from opposing excessive legal immigration and the flood of illegal aliens; but he or she who stands now for the national interest and the rule of law, deserves the love and thanks of all. Those who expect to reap the blessings of America must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it. Perhaps in this case time will make more converts than reason but by then it will be too late. The America we know and love will be gone. If we do not hang together, we shall surely hang separately.