Chasing Our Tails?

If we are to be consistent in what we advocate, and I think we’d agree that’s important, we need to stop allowing our knees to jerk on certain hot button topics and think through our position before committing to action. We need to set aside the emotion of the moment and consider how our core beliefs and values come into play with the issue at hand.

A good example is the current NCFire campaign to stop illegal aliens from securing drivers licenses. Many of us are immediately supportive of the campaign, but have we thought it through or do we just support it because it’s a position against the illegals? Let’s think critically, apply our core values and beliefs, and see if we still come to the same determination, shall we?

#1 Do we or do we not agree that a citizen has a common law right to travel the public way? Do we or do we not agree that the right to travel should not be infringed? If we agree that a citizen has that right and that it should not be infringed, then why should we be required to obtain a license to exercise it? As we know, requiring a license is asking government permission to do something that would be illegal without the license. So by securing said license haven’t we admitted that we no longer recognize the right of a citizen to freely travel the public way?

#2 Do we or do we not agree that the Federal Government has the right to dictate travel rules to the several states, or is that the purview of the states? If we agree that the Feds have no business dictating travel restrictions within the several states then why would we hold up an unconstitutional Federal Law as an argument against a state making such a determination within its own borders?

#3 Do we or do we not agree that undocumented (illegal) aliens should be identified? If we agree, what better way than by requiring them to get a drivers license? Would that not be the correct use of the license? To identify said illegals and require them to get government permission to do something (non-citizens driving on NC roads) that would otherwise be illegal?

#4 Wouldn’t the correct action for the State of NC to take be the abolition of licensing laws for citizens and the implementation of licensing laws for aliens? Wouldn’t that restore our Common Law right to travel and apply the ‘license’ within the scope of its intended purpose?

#5 Do we or do we not agree that the core issue is preventing illegal aliens from coming into our state and encouraging those already here to leave? If we agree, why waste time and resources on a tangential issue that has no effect on the core issue?

I believe we’d all agree that the core issue is the illegal presence of aliens in our state and country. When our focus is shifted from keeping them out (securing the border) and sending those home who are already here (removing the incentives – free education, free medical care, food stamps, citizenship for their children born here, etc.) to issues like the drivers license, it seems we have had our focus redirected from the core issue to a faulty one.

I have expressed this point of view to Grassfire and have not received a response. I assume that once we take a position on an issue it is very difficult to pull back and redirect our energies in a more appropriate direction. I would suggest that this is part of our problem with effectiveness. I would also not be surprised to find that the PTB use issues like the drivers license to divert us from the core issue and in so doing coax us into chasing our tails with arguments that are contradictory to our core values and beliefs.