Comprehensive Immigration Reform is dead. And we do not mourn its passing.
It died for a number of reasons, first and foremost because it was an ill defined amorphous "blue screen". A blue screen is used in movies to fake an environment. Like "Hope N'Change" it's a meaningless phrase that is used to allow people to create their own images. Like a move set, it's designed to fool people, to suspend their disbelief and motivate them into believing what they want to believe.
It's the way that the current health care bill was passed. Lots of people loved the idea of comprehensive health care reform. Who can be against better, cheaper, more caring medicine? So we were promised reform. The kind that allowed you to keep your doctor, keep your plan, save you $2500 and insure all the un-insured. That was the image that was sold. That's what people bought. Only it didn’t turn out to work out like that because it was all a lie. Many people lost their doctor. Many lost the insurance plan their liked. And most people saw their premiums rise, not go down because of all the mandates packed into ObamaCare. In fact millions who think they're insured may not be insured today, but don't know it. What it did do is upend the best health care in the world and gave the government a big voice about the kind of health care you will get. If you get it. All ruled by the same people who run the IRS. The same people who conveniently "lost" all the evidence they may have illegally obstructed the rights of the regime's opponents.
And remember that ObamaCare is supposed to be "the law of the land." Forget about the disastrous rollout of the ObamaCare website. No one can quite tell you what ObamaCare is because Team Obama treats it like a Chinese menu. They pick one from column A, one from column B, another from column C, depending on which constituency is getting served. It’s not the law, at least not the way we once understood law. It’s legal Silly Putty; a series of suggestions. The actual rules are made up as they go along. This part of the law inconveniences this Democrat constituency? Waiver! That part of the law denies medical care to someone suffering from cancer? Just call her a liar and move on.
Having that experience under our belts, only the media and denizens of Washington, like Eric Cantor, wanted to repeat the experience. This time for immigration policy. Fortunately Cantor's constituents decided that enough was enough. The others favoring it are uber-rich billionaires like Buffett, Gates and Adelson who really don’t care if the unemployed Black youth sees his chance for an entry level job fade even further and the middle class gets the shaft. Just as long as the stock market reaches new highs. To hear the Left tell it, the stock market is our new barometer of how people are doing. The market's up so people must be doing swell.
If you want to see what comprehensive immigration reform as implemented by Obama looks like, look at the Mexican border. That’s the Left’s idea of immigration reform.
You say you want secure borders? Obama has said that our borders are already secure. Would he lie to you? Argue with that, and Eric Holder will call you a racist.
You say you want to stop illegal immigrants at the border? Why sure, just deploy the Border Patrol 45 miles inland. Oh, and you hate kids and you’re a racist. You say you want illegal immigrants deported? You’re a racist. And Obama will do that right after they turn themselves in after they have been resettled in your community. Can you say “fat chance?” Shut up, racist.
We are in an unusual political situation in this country. For the first time in my lifetime a large, perhaps a majority, of people do not believe that the President will faithfully execute the laws as written. So “comprehensive” bills are out as long as we have an administration that blatantly picks and chooses what part of a law to enforce and which part to ignore.
You can only say "I have a pen and I have a phone" for so long before people conclude that you really don't care what the law says. People see that you don't care what Congress wants. The more speeches you give ridiculing congress, people will come to the conclusion that you are not constrained by its elected representatives. Talk and act like a dictator and people stop trusting the checks and balances built into our system of government.
So where does that leave us? Short of removing the current occupant from office before the next presidential election, congress has to re-think it's legislative role.
Bills that leave the executive any discretion shall not be passed. Bills shall be short. Bills shall address one thing at a time. Bills will not allow administrative departments to promulgate rules regarding implementation. If there are errors in the bill, it will be the responsibility of congress, not some bureaucrat, to make the changes. Bills shall have consequences for employees of the government who fail to implement them. Dismissal shall be the least penalty. Criminal charges are worth considering.
The next time I hear the term "comprehensive" I will beat it to death with a stick and mount its severed head on a pole.
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