Immigration and the Republic
THE REPUBLIC AND THE DANGERS OF UNBOUNDED IMMIGRATION
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Immigration and the Republic
When the actions taken by the government of our republic and the direction that the government of our republic is taking this country in becomes so removed from what can be considered as being for the common good of the people and when, we the people, are burdened with the imposition of laws, policies and regulations without the consent of the governed, it is evident that the government is no longer functioning in a way that is consistent with the constitution and while acting in an extra-constitutional fashion is ignoring what is necessary to provide for the national defense and the continuity of government that it serves.
No where is this so evident as in the topic of immigration. The burdensome effect that it has on the American unemployed and working/middle classes is unparalleled as is the debilitating affect it has on the U.S economy and the national debt; when the relation between illegal immigration and the drug cartels is also considered, along with the rapid emergence and growth of global terrorism and the porosity associated with our southern borders, an argument can easily be made that if this unbounded immigration isn’t brought in check and put under control, it poses a serious threat to economic and physical security of this country.
Perhaps no one has ever expressed the problem of unbounded immigration so eloquently and directly as Thomas Jefferson in the follow passage:
"[Is] rapid population [growth] by as great importations of foreigners as possible... founded in good policy?... They will bring with them the principles of the governments they leave, imbibed in their early youth; or, if able to throw them off, it will be in exchange for an unbounded licentiousness, passing, as is usual, from one extreme to another. It would be a miracle were they to stop precisely at the point of temperate liberty. These principles, with their language, they will transmit to their children. In proportion to their number, they will share with us the legislation. They will infuse into it their spirit, warp and bias its direction, and render it a heterogeneous, incoherent, distracted mass... If they come of themselves, they are entitled to all the rights of citizenship: but I doubt the expediency of inviting them by extraordinary encouragements." --Thomas Jefferson:
Notes on Virginia Q.VIII, 1782. ME 2:118as
Truly, unbounded immigration does negatively affect the unemployed and working/middle classes. It compromises our national security and is a drain on our national economy. However, as Jefferson states, unbounded immigration does something beyond even that – even beyond the unbounded licentiousness that can result from peoples who come to a country of unexperienced freedoms from a country or land ruled by despots. The fundamental underlying danger is that these peoples do not understand what this new country was founded on, do not comprehend the responsibilities that they have in supporting the institutions and processes that keep the American people free and, due to the circumstances that existed in their original homeland, may be perfectly fine through the electoral process electing a despot or dictator simply because that is the norm in their home country. They cannot be stewarts of a country they do not understand and have not assimilated into.
There are those who would say that growing numbers of Americans do not have any greater appreciation of the freedoms and liberties that are protected in this country. That may be true; however, ingrained in them is a heritage and set of ideals passed down to them by parents and/or generations that have assimilated and the light of freedom burns within them.
There are those who will insist that we need to allow unlimited immigration into this country or at least “fix” our immigration policies since the laws are broken and are not humane. They say that we need to be more compassionate to our fellow man. But for the most part, it is political organizations, politicians, corporatists and thinks tanks that are driving this message. The progressives in the Democratic Party are thinking of long term strategies and want the massive waves of immigrants to populate their voter registration roles to support their damaged party and change the demographics of this country forever, while corporatists in the Republican Party are seduced by the the allure of cheap labor and are willing to take the risks associated with illegal immigration for the short term gains that it undoubtedly represents.
The country is a free and generous country. If it continues, it will never ignore and or refuse to aid those in need. However, if we don’t heed Jefferson’s warning and control the immigration problem by setting limits that meet the needs of the country, there may be no republic to stand as a shining beacon and give aid to the afflicted and to feed the poor. If this problem is not brought under control, it could permanently damage this republic through the fundamental change that it would entail.
They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.
Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories. Thomas Jefferson
If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property ...
it is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world. Thomas Jefferson
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
