Reid, BO, & Most Of GOP Just PATHETIC On Immigration -Is Immigration The New Abortion?

Fred Weinberg / Western Journalism

Regular readers of this space know that I break with many “conservatives” on the subject of immigration.

As the child of first generation Americans, I have seen first hand the power of the American assimilation machine. And, I have a hard time buying the arguments of the anti-immigration people, most of whom have a variable definition of “illegal” depending on whether the immigrant in question comes from South of the border or from somewhere else.

I also have a hard time buying the argument that we cannot afford more immigration.

In point of fact, given a massive decline in the birth rate over the past 30 years, we need MORE immigration and have an enormous capacity to assimilate those immigrants.  The consequences of a declining population for social security and Medicare are dire.

All of that said, neither Barack Obama or Harry Reid, nor John Boehner or Mitch McConnell see immigration in general or Hispanics in particular as anything but a shiny political toy.  Do the “right” thing and reap future votes.

And if they really believe even that, they are dumber than even I gave them credit for.

Obama play acting with Reid last week in Las Vegas is one of the lamest exercises in political gamesmanship ever foisted on the American public.

And the outrage from McConnell and Boehner is just as lame.

Do you know why Reid flew in with Obama on Air Force One? Because Reid (D-Ritz Carlton Washington DC) doesn’t really live in Nevada and would have had to lower himself to fly commercial with real people.

Nobody—with the exception of people who simply do not want anyone new within our borders—can look you in the eye and tell you that our immigration system is any less broken than our healthcare system.

The truth is, just like our healthcare system, the immigration system was cobbled together to serve various interests.

The large agribusinesses (Cargill, Archer Daniels Midland, and others) needed cheap, seasonal labor.  There was a large need in states like California and Nevada for domestic and lodging workers.  The border was long; you could act like you were enforcing it without really enforcing it.  Wink, wink; and one day, the number of “illegals” is in the tens of millions.

On the other side of the argument are the people who, while taking advantage of the benefits of all that cheap labor, didn’t want to pay for it.  School boards, hospitals, and the like.

So, enter the politicians. Or, as we think of Harry Reid, send in the clowns.

As long as they are arguing, nothing is being done; but elections are being won. Immigration is the new abortion. Obama and Reid are as phony as a three dollar bill. The trouble is that so are Boehner and McConnell.

Read more at at Western Journalism:

http://www.westernjournalism.com/reid-obama-gop-just-pathetic-immigration/