The Grand (Brain) Canyon
I hope John McCain leaves his brain to science. Maybe they can figure out how for years he promoted a sound immigration policy, but of late – since he’s been in a tough primary fight against a right-wing radio miscreant – the Arizona Senator has traded common sense and decency for mindless degeneracy.
He’s had company. The Arizona legislature passed a bill that makes brown skin probable cause for checking on a person’s citizenship or immigration status. The governor signed the measure. Maybe they all just don’t have any brains. Or more likely, just don’t use them.
The response to the Arizona scandal has been swift and near-unanimous. Even ardent anti-immigration types have slammed the legal, moral, intellectual and practical incontinence of the measure. Normal folks have launched counter-measures. There have been widespread calls to cancel conference plans in Arizona. San Francisco has banned work travel to the state. There is a new candidacy in the Senate race based on the bill. And a public referendum expected for the November ballot would revoke the legislation.
Of course immigration is a critical issue. It is also one that should be dealt with in Washington, and no doubt some of the rationale – and I don’t mean rational – behind the measure was that Congress wasn’t acting on the problem. Of course, everything inside the Beltway is politics, and so any hope for a real solution coming out of our nation’s capitol is a thin reed.
How ironic, since we spend $1.4 trillion a year on so-called national security when thousands of people pour over our borders every day.
There was ways to fix the immigration situation, but they will require quality leadership to implement. Regrettably instead, our nation is governed by compromisers who water every good idea down to the point of impotence.
No wonder the citizenry lacks faith in the federal government. And why, time after time, some states decide to go it alone, albeit in the wrong direction.
©2010 SetonnoteS
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