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Bush applies “universal democracy” argument to illegal aliens
The universal democratist line, that all people want the same basic things in life and so are ready for democracy, is much to be criticized. So is President Bush’s notorious immigration initiative, announced last January 7, in which he urged amnesty for all illegals in America and open borders for every person on the planet able to underbid an American for a job. But I’m not sure than anyone has noticed the philosophical connection between the two. In his January 7 speech, Bush spoke of illegal aliens crossing the border “[whose] search for a better life is one of the most basic desires of human beings…” In this description of illegal aliens, Bush uses the same rhetoric that he has used about universal democracy. All people in the world, including Muslims, have “basic desires”—to “see their kids grow up, to have some comforts, not to hear a knock on the door,” blah blah blah, and therefore they not only “deserve” but are ready for democracy, which we have to deliver to them, or at least “empower” them to achieve. Illegal aliens also have “basic desires” for a better life, which they seek to satisfy by illegally crossing the border into America, and we should encourage them to do so, by legalizing their status and making them feel at home here. According to Bush, the purpose of American politics is the fulfillment of the basic desires of all humans everywhere.
So, after 228 years, that’s where the Declaration of Independence has finally ended up. Jefferson said in the days of old that God, in creating man’s basic nature, endowed him with basic human rights. But we say that man’s basic desires, being universal to all men, are the basis of a global politics aimed at meeting those desires. Jefferson said that our nature gives us rights appropriate to our nature; we say that our desires give us the right to have our desires satisfied. Email entry |