Hi Gang:
This article references a FAIR (the Federation for American Immigration Reform) press release that can be found at http://www.cnbc.com/id/32569230.
This is an important press release because it deals with two extremely important issues and demonstrates the nexus between immigration and health care. As I have often noted, immigration is not a single issue but is, in fact, a major factor in many of the most serious challenges confronting our nation today. Our nation's continuing failure to secure its borders and create an immigration system that possesses real integrity hammers national security, criminal justice, the economy, the environment and education as well as health care.
The proponents of the health care legislation insist that the legislation would not provide health care for millions of illegal aliens. However several true leaders in the United States Congress such as Representative Lamar Smith, the ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee have made it clear that the legislation would, indeed, enable illegal aliens to receive free health care.
The press release I have attached below reports on the findings of the Congressional Research Service (CRS). CRS is a nonpartisan government agency that does the research for members of Congress in conjunction with the various measures that the representatives and their staffers are engaged in on a day to day basis. Their findings are often essential to the workings of our government and I had the privilege of meeting several researchers of CRS. I for one, am more than willing to accept the findings of the CRS.
The idea that members of Congress are lying about the issue of illegal aliens and the health care that the proposed legislation would provide is yet another example of the illusory nature of “leadership” by all too many of our politicians. Those “representatives” who have misrepresented the truth about this issue can only explain this in one of two ways. Either their were lying or they were too dumb to know the truth. Either way, those who misrepresented the truth should be made to pay for their statements in the voting booth at the next election!
We the People must insist that our representatives really and truly represent us!
It has gotten so bad that I have recommended that the name of the House of Representatives be changed to the “House of Corporate Interests!”
While I can not prove it, it is my belief that the rancorous town hall meetings represent the overall frustration that all too many Americans feel in dealing with the government that is supposed to represent them and their families.
I believe that while just about every American is greatly concerned about health care, I also believe that most Americans have been alienated by many of their elected “representatives” who are failing to represent them. When I was a college student, more years ago than I care to remember, I recall a professor in a political science class talk about “political legitimacy.” He stated that in order for a government to continue to govern, it must enjoy the legitimacy of the majority of the citizens of the country it governed. Without legitimacy a country would quickly find itself in a crisis.
People have always been cynical about politicians, but I cannot recall a time when the term “politician” has ever been as reviled as is the case today. The problem is that there is a real disconnect between Washington and the average American. The lack of trust of many Americans where their government is concerned is very troubling. The concerns about health care represent a manifestation of that mistrust by all too many Americans who have come to the conclusion that they can not trust their representatives to do what is in their best interests. Health care is certainly a critically important issue- it involves literally life and death, but it is not the only issue where Americans have come to the conclusion that the government is not to be trusted.
Immigration related issues offer, in my judgement, a additional examples of this disconnect between the citizens of our nation and our government.
There is no way that a country can do well when its average citizens are not doing well. The economic crisis that has resulted in so many Americans losing their jobs and their homes can, in many instances, be traced back to the issue of immigration. Banks that lent money through mortgages and credit cards to illegal aliens who had no reliable means of proving their true identities represented a huge lapse in judgement. The acceptance of the Matricula cards that no less an authority than Robert Mueller, the Director of the FBI had testified at a number of Hearings about the threat posed to national security by the acceptance of these documents. Mr. Mueller and other officials all made it clear that Matricula cards should never be accepted as a reliable identity document.
Incredibly the refusal of banks (and others) to follow that sage advice, offered by the Director of the FBI was staggering!
And as a consequence of the failure to follow that advice, the government is now bailing out those very same banks at a humongous cost to the citizens of our nation!
The employment of foreign workers, both legally and illegally present in our country undermined the average American worker in menial jobs as well as in high tech industries. The employment of foreign workers also results in tens of billions of dollars in wages that were not earned by Americans or even lawful immigrants being sent out of the United States to countries all over the world. Many countries found that the remittances of their citizens working in the United States became one of the single greatest sources of income for the economy of those countries. This is money that was not spent in the United States or invested in the United States.
Meanwhile the United States is running up a deficit
measured in trillions of dollars in an effort to “stimulate” the economy- by pumping money into the economy. Meanwhile foreign workers are almost as quickly removing money from our economy through remittances and other methods of sending money back home.
As I have noted in several of my appearances on radio programs and elsewhere, employing foreign workers in the United States at a time when we are mortgaging our children's and their children's futures makes as much sense as turning on the water in your bathtub and leaving the drain open. No matter how much water goes into the tub, the open drain will insure that their will never be enough water to take a bath. Huge numbers of foreign workers, displacing American workers and wiring money out of our country, to the tune of tens of billions of dollars each and every year, are the equivalent of that open drain.
Additionally, the presence of millions of illegal aliens in our country also results in other costly issues that weigh heavily on our nation from and economic perspective and in other ways as well including the disproportionate involvement of illegal aliens in committing crimes including identity theft, the fastest growing white collar crime in the United States, impacting millions of our citizens.
As I have often noted, according to DHS some 230 American cities across our nation are now infested by members of the pernicious Mexican drug cartels with additional cities similarly infested by other violent gangs from countries all over the world.
Our nation's immigration laws are designed to prevent the entry of aliens whose presence in our country would be detrimental to the well being of our nation and our citizens. In fact, Title 8 of the United States Code, Section 1324 deems it a crime for anyone to induce or encourage aliens to enter our country in violation of law or remain thereafter illegally.
It is my humble opinion that the current health care bill would provide a huge inducement for aliens to enter our nation in violation of law in order to qualify for health care that would not be available to them in their home countries. Indeed, I am greatly concerned that this flawed health care legislation would act as a “magnet” drawing aliens to the United States in violation of law who have dangerous communicable diseases or serious disabilities and who are not being treated by the hospitals in their respective homelands.
As a further thought, the news has been reporting that incidents of people infected by the Swine Flu is increasing. There are not enough doses of vaccines to go around and anti viral medications are in short supply. This could further exacerbate the limited resources currently available to treat American citizens and lawful immigrants right now. How would the entry of still more illegal aliens into our country, drawn across the borders of our nation by the promise of amnesty and health care further impact our nation's faltering health care system?
Who would pay for the care of millions of illegal aliens whose simple presence in our country represents a violation of our nation's laws?
To those politicians who have decried the arrest of illegal aliens calling such law enforcement efforts “Un-American” I have a simple question- is it not more “Un-American” to ignore the plight of all too many citizens of our nation who are losing their jobs.
It is also illegally to provide inducements and encouragement for aliens to enter our country in violation of our nation's immigration laws and to remain thereafter.
Our nation must not only secure its borders against the illegal entry of illegal aliens, but must create an immigration system that has meaningful integrity if our nation is to effectively address the many challenges confronting our country and our citizens.
It is essential that clear distinctions be drawn between illegal immigration and lawful immigration. The difference between an immigrant and an illegal alien is the equivalent of the difference between a houseguest and a burglar.
In less than two years each and every member of the House of Representatives is up for reelection. In less than two years more than one third of the members of the United States Senate will have to face their constituents. They need to be reminded that they work for us, We the People!
The large scale apathy demonstrated by citizens of this nation has emboldened elected representatives to all but ignore the needs of the average American citizen in a quest for massive campaign funds and the promises of votes to be ostensibly delivered by special interest groups. There is much that we cannot do but there is one thing that We the People absolutely must do- we must stop sitting on the sidelines!
The collective failure of We the People to get involved in make our concerns known to our politicians have nearly made the concerns of the great majority of the citizens of this nation all but irrelevant to the politicians.
I implore you to get involved!
If this situation concerns you or especially if it angers you, I ask you to call your Senators and Congressional “Representative. This is not only your right- it is your obligation! You need to politely but pointedly, demand to know what they are doing to protect our nation. You need to ask them how they are protecting you and your families. You can also forward this commentary to them.
All I ask is that you make it clear to our politicians that we are not as dumb as they hope we are!
We live in a perilous world and in a perilous era. The survival of our nation and the lives of our citizens hang in the balance
This is neither a Conservative issue, nor is it a Liberal issue- simply stated, this is most certainly an AMERICAN issue!
You are either part of the solution or you are a part of the problem!
Democracy is not a spectator sport!
Lead, follow or get out of the way!
-michael cutler-