[IMMIGRATION] Immigration: accentuating the positives
Title: Immigration: accentuating the positives
Author: David Harsanyi
Publisher: Denver Post
Date Published: March 23, 2006
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Immigration: accentuating the positives
by David Harsanyi
In the very near future, I'll be opening an e-mail that asks me a rather straightforward question:
"What part of ILLEGAL immigration do you not understand, $*%#@&*?"
To research my answer, I attended the Independence Institute's "Invitation or Invasion: A Discussion on the Conservative Response to Illegal Immigration" at the Colorado Historical Society.
Here, Jon Caldara had invited, among others, respected free-market conservatives Stephen Moore of the The Wall Street Journal and Daniel Griswold of the Cato Institute, both supporters of liberalizing immigration laws.
On the other side of the issue were Congressman Tom Tancredo and the Claremont Institute's John Andrews.
Panelists could agree on two basic ideas concerning immigration.
One: Borders need to be controlled.
Two: Mass immigration and a growing welfare state are not compatible. We need people to come here; we don't need more people sponging off Uncle Sam.
And that was about it.
On a personal level, I gained a new insight into the definition of ILLEGAL. Namely, too many so-called conservatives want all immigration to fall under this category. And as a son of immigrants, I found it disheartening that so many attendees would clap vigorously at the idea of sealing off American society, criminalizing hard work and ignoring our long, great tradition of immigration.
Wasn't it Ronald Reagan who spoke of immigrants who "possessed a determination that with hard work and freedom, they would live a better life and their children even more so"?
Wasn't it Reagan who gave amnesty to 2.8 million undocumented workers?
Alex Cranberg, chairman of Aspect Energy, perhaps gave the most intriguing speech of the day, pointing out that Germans, Italians, Irish, Jews and everyone in between have heard the same condemnation about their place in society.
Too many. Too soon. Too lazy.
Too different.
Tancredo also claimed he was opposed to ILLEGAL immigration and not immigration. Until, that is, a couple of minutes later when he called for a moratorium on all immigration.
Too many. Too soon.
The congressman, who can attract an impressive crowd even during a Monday snowstorm, is a folk hero to many. And whatever his critics may say, Tancredo's populist rhetoric is free of rancor.
The problem, however, is that Tancredo attracts too many nativists and extremists.
Two of the speakers - neither, incidentally, conservative by any definition (Caldara, what were you thinking?) - illustrate this point.
The first, Frosty Wooldridge, who at one point referred to himself as the Tom Paine of the 21st century, is a Colorado activist who, unlike Paine, argues fervently against freedom.
Wooldridge is, bluntly put, a modern- day Chicken Little who buys into the widely discredited idea of a population bomb.
Yet, incredibly enough, the most contemptible talk came from the mouth of a recent immigrant.
Yeh Ling-Ling is executive director of a group called Diversity Alliance for a Sustainable America.
Earlier in the day, Ling-Ling challenged a panelist by pointing approvingly to communist China's policy on population control. Which, of course, means infanticide and forced abortions - if anyone is confused.
This is conservative?
Though it was difficult to understand many parts of Ling-Ling's speech, it was more than apparent that she believed Yeh Ling-Ling should be the last person allowed into the U.S. with an accent.
Now, it's not exactly Tancredo's fault that many of the folks arguing his side of the issue are, um, a tad bit wacky.
Shouldn't this type of ideology be anathema to Colorado conservatives?
And shouldn't anti-ILLEGAL immigration advocates be the first ones to distance themselves from people who peddle ideas of intolerance?
For credibility's sake, at least?
David Harsanyi's column appears Monday and Thursday. He can be reached at 303-820-1255 or [email protected].
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Submitted by juang. Thanks.
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