How Far is Going to Far to Pass a Political Agenda
59
In Politics, How Far Is Too Far?
Written by Ran Crosby
Arizona fired the first shot by passing immigration legislation aimed at stemming the influx of illegal immigrants that cross into their state on a daily basis. Their immigration efforts would have ignored constitutional rights and provided local and state law enforcement blanket authorization to racially profile individuals whom they felt where in Arizona illegally. Luckily the courts stepped in and overturned two important aspects of this provision rendering the law dead. Now leading Congressional Republicans are attempting to re-write the Constitution of the United States.
Section 1 of the 14th amendment of the Constitution reads:
All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
If leading Congressional Republicans have their way this amendment will read differently. It will be altered to deny children who are born on American soil the right to automatic citizenship if their birth parents are illegal immigrants. Simply amazing…I guess the thought process is if the courts will not accept the agenda, let’s modify one of the most significant pieces of our political structure. Question, I thought we chastised less organized governments for doing the exact same thing? By bending the rules so a certain groups’ agenda can be passed, wouldn’t that teeter the line of a dictatorship and not a democracy? Ponder that for a moment.
The United States is still a democracy and before everyone yells and screams, I am not saying the Republican Party is similar to a dictatorship. I am merely stating that if they are successful in modifying the 14th amendment, the civil liberties of all could come into question if a party chooses to modify the Constitution to forward their own agenda. I guess our congressional body forgot that during the late 1800s to mid 1900s the reason for the surge in our population was due to immigration. Imagine if this amendment was passed then…millions would have been put back on a boat and pushed out to sea. Talk about a lost era of great inventions that lead to our emergence as a Superpower.
Is there an issue with illegal immigration? Yes there are an estimated 12 million undocumented immigrates in the United States. Does this create a potential security risk? Possibly, but I would probably say that 99% of these individuals just want to live the American Dream. I understand that the growth in undocumented immigrants has caused a strain on my State civil budgets, but we have to figure out a way to make the system work. Modifying the Constitution or implementing State provisions denying civil liberties only reveals that we have reached a point of desperation allowing for illogical thinking to supersede intelligent governing. We figured out a way to navigate that period before and we are smarter now due to hindsight. Where there is a will there is a way and we can find a way to allow for the new immigrants to become productive members of our society. There will be no easy solution, but if we rely on our intelligence, history and integrity I’m almost positive we can create an acceptable solution. The 14th Amendment extended rights to many who didn’t have a prior path citizenship. Let’s not further regress as a nation by supporting this modification.
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