Don't Stand with Rand!

Don’t Stand with Rand!

Commentary by Sanford D. Horn

March 19, 2013

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has proven himself a hypocrite by not supporting the rule of law or the Constitution in his support of granting citizenship to the 12 million-plus illegals who have invaded our borders.

A hypocrite, as I lauded Paul for his Mr. Smith Goes to Washington-style filibuster condemning the Obama administration’s use of drones to kill American citizens on American soil.

Other so-called GOP leaders to stand with Rand include, but sadly are not limited to: Gov. Chris Christie (NJ), Sen. Marco Rubio (FL), and Cong. Paul Ryan (WI). These Republicans are not leaders but capitulators willing to sell their souls to save the party and their own cushy-tushy jobs. And worse yet, all four are early leading contenders for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination.

The Paul support for citizenship varies somewhat from Rubio’s support for citizenship in some of the details, but let’s not get mired in the muck. Bottom line, granting 12 million illegals citizenship will never stem the tide of illegals swarming our borders, but instead encourage even more to invade the United States.

The plan by which Rubio has signed on as part of the Gang of Eight calls for increased border security and a strengthened E-Verify system for employers to confirm potential hires bona fides. Paul’s plan actually eliminates the E-Verify system as a part of his Libertarian belief system, making it an even weaker plan. Paul’s plan does include shoring up border security, but calls his plan “trust but verify,” which may have worked for President Ronald Reagan with the Russians, but hasn’t a snowball’s chance in Guam of working with illegals.

In fact, the Supreme Court will decide an Arizona voter law this spring that tightens the requirement for potential voters by having to prove American citizenship versus simply signing a form saying they are citizens.

Arizona Attorney General Thomas Horne referred to the current system as “essentially an honor system. It does not do the job.”

“People who want to vote illegally may think nothing of committing perjury by declaring themselves citizens on a piece of paper.” (“Justices Dubious of Arizona Voter Law,” USA Today, 03/19/13)

Regardless of how one slices it, de facto amnesty or official amnesty, 12 million invaders rewarded for illegal behavior is a slap in the face to those future Americans who have “stood in line” and followed the law to become legal residents and citizens the proper and legal way.

Sen. Paul said he believes his plan will be embraced by conservatives and his TEA Party followers and that only with conservatives on board could such a plan succeed. Paul is wrong to think that true conservatives – Constitutional conservatives – would ever support such a plan.

Short of deporting illegals, which even I recognize would be tremendously challenging, the only way to shrink those numbers is via self-deportation. The problem with self-deportation is that neither the Democrats nor the Republicans want to actually do their jobs and make this happen for fear of alienating voters and again, losing their cushy-tushy jobs.

Self-deportation can occur when federal and state governments shut off the spigot of “free stuff” for illegals – seats in public schools, medical care, food stamps, welfare, and drivers’ licenses. The flip side of government is the public sector – employers – who should be fined for every illegal they hire, the equivalent of a minimum wage salary for a year. The illegal worker should also be fined and deported.

For the GOP and RNC chief Reince Priebus to suggest that supporting a path to citizenship for 12 million illegals will move the party in the right direction is terribly disingenuous. If anything, it declares that the party of Lincoln, Coolidge, Eisenhower, and Reagan is on its knees begging for Democrat scraps at the voting polls.

It also runs counter to the $10 million Priebus announced the RNC will spend to conduct community outreach amongst blacks and Hispanics. Hispanic-American citizens should be insulted by the notion that 12 million illegals, a majority of whom are Hispanic, will be rewarded for their illegal behavior, when so many others became citizens by following the law.

Blacks, many of whom are at the lower end of the income ledger, should not applaud the legalization of the 12 million as competition for jobs will become even more challenging in an already fledgling economy.

If the GOP is to make inroads in the black and Hispanic communities, it needs to appeal to the conservative sides of those populations. Not that they are any more monolithic than any other community, but many blacks and Hispanics are pro-life, church attending folks who prefer that less money be sent overseas to countries that don’t like the United States and that illegals not be allowed to steal potential jobs form their constituencies.

Until Congress – from both sides of the aisle – is willing to do their job – create disincentives for illegals – even at the risk of losing their precious seats; and until employers are willing to put greed on the back burner, illegal immigration and invasion of our borders will remain a paramount issue.

We the people need to demand politicians not support amnesty or a path to citizenship for illegals and demand they seal the borders or they will find themselves unemployed come next Election Day. It’s our country. Let’s stop surrendering it before there is nothing left to surrender.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN.