← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Sertorius
Thread ID: 12327 | Posts: 3 | Started: 2004-02-14
2004-02-14 14:53 | User Profile
A Conservative Statement of Principles on Immigration
For Immediate Release February 6, 2004 In his farewell address to the nation, President Ronald Reagan said: "I've spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, windswept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace, a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and heart to get here. That's how I saw it and see it still." And that is how we see it, too.
America is a nation of immigrants. Except for Native American Indians, everyone in this country came to America or is here due to the good fortune that a parent, grandparent, or other relation came before them. Keeping a door open to those with the ââ¬Åwill and heart to get hereââ¬Â is vital to our economy, our culture, our role in the world, and our historic tradition as a land of freedom and opportunity.
Conservatives believe in legal immigration. We believe that America grows stronger by welcoming those who seek to better their families, work in our industries, and find liberty and refuge from oppression.
Conservatives oppose illegal immigration. We believe there is a right way and a wrong way to immigrate to the United States. However, as conservatives we believe that our laws must reflect reality and common sense, and be both fiscally responsible and avoid the loss of innocent life. Our current immigration laws do not pass this test.
Between 1990 and 2000, the United States increased the number of U.S. Border Patrol Agents from 3,600 to 10,000. During that same period illegal immigration rose by 5.5. million. Moreover, over the past 8 years, more than 2,000 men, women, and children have died attempting to cross into America and seek the opportunity to work and achieve a better life. The status quo is unacceptable and clinging to the status quo ââ¬â or tougher versions of it ââ¬â is neither conservative, nor principled. It has become clear that the only viable approach to reform is combining enforcement with additional legal avenues for those who wish to work in our economy, while also addressing the situation of those already here in the United States.
President George W. Bush has proposed a new legal path to work in the United States through a temporary worker program that will match willing workers with willing employers. We applaud the President and believe his approach holds great promise to reduce illegal immigration and establish a humane, orderly, and economically sensible approach to migration that will aid homeland security and free up border security assets to focus on genuine threats. The President has shown courage by calling on Congress to place reality over rhetoric and recognize that those already working here outside the law are unlikely to leave. Congress can fulfill its role by establishing sufficient increases in legal immigration and paths to permanent residence to enable more workers to stay, assimilate, and become part of America.
We believe strongly in assimilation and oppose efforts to weaken the historical process that has led to epluribus unum ââ¬â out of many, one. While immigrants by and large reject entreaties by those who favor multiculturalism, the best defense is a good offense: making the teaching of English and U.S. civics a priority in our schools, community colleges, and adult education programs.
Immigrants are crucial to Americaââ¬â¢s competitiveness and future labor and economic growth, as well as our military strength. Our countryââ¬â¢s welcoming attitude to immigrants will permit the United States to grow and prosper, as the populations of many other nations stagnate and decline.
In riding the wings of destiny, each generation of Americans must connect our nationââ¬â¢s past to its future. We believe that Americaââ¬â¢s tradition as a nation of immigrants must remain our future.
Stuart Anderson Executive Director National Foundation for American Policy
Jeff Bell Principal Capital City Partners
Linda Chavez President Center for Equal Opportunity
Larry Cirignano President Catholic Alliance/CatholicVote.org
Cesar V. Conda Former Assistant for Domestic Policy to Vice President Cheney and Board Member of Empower America
Francis Fukuyama Dean of Faculty The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies
Richard Gilder
Hon. Newt Gingrich Former Speaker of the House of Representatives
Ed Goeas President and Chief Executive Officer The Tarrance Group
Tamar Jacoby Senior Fellow Manhattan Institute
Hon. Jack Kemp 1996 Republican Vice Presidential nominee, former Representative from New York, and Co-director of Empower America
Steve Moore Senior Fellow Cato Institute
Grover Norquist President Americans for Tax Reform
Richard W. Rahn Senior Fellow Discovery Institute
Hon. Malcolm Wallop Former U.S. Senator from Wyoming and Chairman of Frontiers of Freedom
*Affiliations listed for identification purposes only.
Copyright é 2003-2004 Frontiers of Freedom. All Rights Reserved.
I'm impressed with the signatories listed here. Note the number of C.F.R. members, Jews, and other associated greed heads like Stephen Moore. The writer of this crap (Newt Gingrich?) employs every silly cliche' imaginable.
Immigrants are crucial to Americaââ¬â¢s competitiveness and future labor and economic growth, as well as our military strength. Our countryââ¬â¢s welcoming attitude to immigrants will permit the United States to grow and prosper, as the populations of many other nations stagnate and decline.
Right. I bet those campesinos can't wait to grab a rifle to fight for the Zio-plutocracy. If Newt did write this bull:dung: he deserves to have his butt kicked for being such a shameless court historian. He knows damn well what happen to the Romans when they allowed the barbarians to stay and unlike the germanic mercenaries commanded by warriors like Stilicho, (german himself) or Flavius Aetius, the would be future cannon fodder for sofa samurais like the above aren't going to stick their necks out, despite the claims of the signers above pointing out the half dozen or less who are over in Iraq.
Maybe Wintermute is right and we should find another name for ourselves. These traitors have done to the word "conservative" what the homosexuals have done to the word "gay."
2004-02-14 19:37 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Sertorius] Maybe Wintermute is right and we should find another name for ourselves. These traitors have done to the word "conservative" what the homosexuals have done to the word "gay."[/QUOTE]
Absolutely. The "Conservative Statement" on wide-open borders is far more radical and ahistorical than anything world communism said at the height of its powers. Brezhnev, last of the really powerful Red Czars, called Russia's borders "sacred".
People who out-do Marx and Lenin's heirs cannot be conservative.
2004-02-15 01:07 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Sertorius]Maybe Wintermute is right and we should find another name for ourselves. These traitors have done to the word "conservative" what the homosexuals have done to the word "gay."[/QUOTE]That analogy is dead-on accurate. And although I wasn't aware that Wintermute had suggested (genuine) conservatives like those on this board find another term of self-description, it sounds like a very good idea.
What do people here think would be a good label that would encompass all of those with whom we are in substantial agreement? Any ideas?