Spartanburg County Council has correctly taken no action on refugees

Despite the foot stomping and fist waving and defaming of good, conservative, patriotic county council members by the angry mob, no amount of twisted, strained logic can be presented so create a situation where a vote by Council members will stop the resettlement mess in Spartanburg.

In fact, according to the proviso currently in place governing the use of funds “No state funds shall be expended to assist in the United States Refugee Resettlement Program unless the county council of the county where the resettlement is to occur approves the relocation.”

No action = no funds. Simple as.

The SHJ editorial on this topic further clarifies …

It is unreasonable to expect the Spartanburg County Council to resolve the question of whether international refugees should be allowed to resettle in this community, and lawmakers should not have put that burden on the county.

The questions surrounding the refugee resettlement are state and federal in nature. Residents want to know whether the State Department is screening the refugees well enough to exclude criminals and terrorists. They want to know what additional costs refugees will put on state and federal social programs. Even the local questions are concerns outside the jurisdiction of the county, including what kind of expense non-English-speaking refugee children will impose on the schools.

These are not the kind of questions the Spartanburg County Council is equipped to answer. Yet opponents of the resettlement are pinning their hopes to stop the program on the council…

Washington coordinates its efforts with the state, and federal officials claim all that is necessary for the program to move forward is the approval of Gov. Nikki Haley, who has endorsed the program.

The county doesn’t control any of the factors that affect the refugee resettlement program. It cannot provide the answers concerned residents are requesting, and it shouldn’t be in a position of having to decide on an international, federal and state issue.

And there it is. Only Nikki Haley can, at this point, stop this situation. And she’s on board with the resettlement program.

Senator Shane Martin spoke out early and says to Haley “Governor, you have the ability to stop this program right now.”

Senator Martin also says: “Governor Haley is the only one in SC with the power to actually put a stop this.”

Lee Bright also notes that Nikki Haley has the power here, not council…” “As we’ve seen from other relocation programs, terrorists are able to take advantage of the ‘refugee’ status and pose a threat to the host community. This is not a risk that should be taken lightly, and I call on Governor Haley to allow open hearings so that this risk can be carefully examined.”

Yes the angry cries “for Council to DO SOMETHING!!!!” continue. And this is why conservatives lose on these issues. Let’s examine for a minute the possible implications of Council moving beyond their current CORRECT responsibilities of doing nothing and bring this issue up for a vote … would a “no” vote do more than the current decision to not bring resettlement up for a vote?

We’ve seen what the left does in situations like this. The slightest crack in the door and they descend and Conservatives just have not figure out how to fight the PR battle – reference the flag coming down – we don’t stand up, we get overwhelmed by political correctness, combined with the Dept of Justice and the media. So is it better to just not take this up and have the same result as actually taking it up and voting? We do not fare well as conservatives in those situations, especially with a complicit governor. So IF the goal is just to keep the refugees out, and by taking no action we accomplish that goal WHY would we want to open the door to the onslaught of the left, the media, the DOJ by taking a show vote, a spectacle vote that is meaningless? Do we not learn ANYTHING?

Apparently not, watching the actions of the Angry Mob.

Right now our Council are doing okay. Bring media scrutiny, the La Raza folks come into town, Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) shows up, Obama’s Justice Department descends on our county and begins making noise … maybe the local situation changes. Do people who are making all the “Council has to DO SOMETHING!!! noise” think through things like that? No. They just want everyone to be as angry as they are and screw the pragmatism of getting what we want accomplished by methods other than the grandiose schemes they have.

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