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Fukuyama reveals the truth about the Bush amnesty
Francis Fukuyama writes in Opinion Journal about the unexpected (to him) difficulties of assimilating Moslems in Europe and Hispanics in America—a problem which the “End of History” man has always pooh-poohed in the past, and for which he now proposes no serious solutions except to soldier on. The piece is unnoteworthy except for a remarkable admission he lets slip about President Bush’s “temporary” workers’ program:
It is in this context that we should evaluate President Bush’s recent proposal to grant illegal aliens work permits. Many Americans dislike the policy because it rewards breaking the law. This is all true; we should indeed use our newly invigorated controls over foreign nationals to channel future immigrants into strictly legal channels. But since we are not about to expel the nearly seven million people potentially eligible for this program, we need to consider what policies would lead to their most rapid integration into mainstream American society. For the vast majority of illegal aliens, the law they broke on entering the country is likely to be the only important one they will ever violate, and the sooner they can normalize their status, the faster their children are likely to participate fully in American life.Got that? The aim of the “temporary” worker program is to integrate the “temporary” workers into America, i.e., to make them permanent residents and then citizens, with the result that their children will participate fully in America. But, of course, Bush and his “conservative” apologists have been telling us this is not an amnesty, that it’s just a temporary program. Does Fukuyama realize that he’s let the cat out of the bag? In any case, Fukuyama’s logic is unassailable, and it no doubt reflects the real thinking of the supporters of this plan. As he says, “[W]e are not about to expel the nearly seven million people potentially eligible for this program.” But that’s the stated premise of Bush’s proposal as well, isn’t it? As Bush himself has argued, it is cruel and un-American to keep these millions of marginalized illegal workers living in the shadows of America; and we can’t deport them; so we must legalize them—temporarily. But if it’s not possible (or so we’re told) to expel the illegals now, how in blazes could anyone expect that it will become possible at the end of a temporary work period? Nevertheless, that’s what our “conservative,” “patriotic,” “Christian” president George W. Bush would have us believe. I cannot think of any act or statement by a U.S. president in my lifetime that showed so much raw contempt for the intelligence of the American people as this proposal. Any Republican or conservative who defends it ought to have his head examined, or better, have his (political) head handed to him.
Thanks to Fukuyama for making the fraud explicit, whether that was his intention or not. Comments
Hardly anything to do with this topic raises my ire more than being told that deportation and/or enforcement of the law is not going to happen. Well, it will not happen if we sit on our hands and take counsel from those who, like Fukuyama, are spouting all those weasel words. Prosecuting employers of illegal aliens is a great, perfectly do-able, place to start; deportation of illegals (especially self-deportation) can then follow. (The left will go along with prosecuting employers because of their hatred of employers.) Posted by: Gracián on February 1, 2004 7:29 PMTo underscore the importance of Gracián’s comment, consider this article in last Monday’s Washington Times, “Illegal criminal aliens abound in U.S.” The beginning says enough: “About 80,000 illegal criminal aliens, including convicted murderers, rapists, drug dealers and child molesters who served prison time and were released, are loose on the streets of America, hiding from federal immigration authorities. What are to make of our government’s unwillingness to round up and deport even dangerous criminals who remain here illegally?!! Posted by: Joel LeFevre on February 1, 2004 9:43 PMAnother reminder that our rulers do not share our belief that America is the Americans’ country. Rather it is the Proposition Nation: the desire to be here (expressed by breaking in) is all the evidence needed that an alien subscribes to the proposition and is worthy to be a New American. Of course, the desire on the part of Old Americans to stay here and have the country stay roughly the same does not count. Perhaps one reason neo-conservatives seem so contemptuous of foreigners these days is that foreigners in foreign countries must be people too stupid or lazy to claim the proposition by breaking into the United States. There must be something wrong about anyone who doesn’t want to be an American. That might also help explain the antipathy to the French, who send very few immigrants our way and most of whom show not the slightest interest in becoming Americans. HRS Posted by: Howard Sutherland on February 2, 2004 12:17 PMI like the way we have the ability to control a country the size of TX half-way around the world, but we don’t have the ability to control a border from largely poor, uneducated, and unarmed immigrants. It’s simply a question of will. Posted by: roach on February 2, 2004 2:46 PMAbsolutely. See: http://www.amnation.com/vfr/archives/002108.html Posted by: Lawrence Auster on February 2, 2004 2:51 PM |