Love A Good Immigration Traffic Jam

Let me first take a moment to thank our wonderful city government under the helmsmanship of Democrat Mayor Bart Peterson for scheduling Indianapolis' version of the illegal immigrants protesting that they want to ignore the law right at Rush Hour. And no, it's not the campy Jackie Chan/Chris Tucker movie. It's my trip home, as well as many others', from working downtown. Honestly, what better time than Monday at 5:00 in the evening could there possibly be to have, at latest count, 15,000 people descend on downtown? And not just the section that the "march" was taking place on. We're also talking the myriad of streets (read every one in downtown) overrun with people trying to get to the "march". So thanks, Mayor. You and the city government are doing a helluva job.

Since I had 40 minutes in six blocks to listen to the various shows on the radio discussing the local and national rallies, I got to hear not only those who opposed illegal immigration, but also a choice few who were at the rallies in support of it. I think, perhaps, my favorite protestor was the one who began with the tired old mantra of "we are all immigrants". Well, frankly, I'm not nor are most Americans. Many of us are descended, three or more generations back from immigrants, but no, we ourselves are as native born as could be at this point. Then when asked if he supported people breaking the law to come here illegally getting breaks over those who work to get in legally, he stated something along the lines of "Well, some come through the front door and some come through the back door. It's no big deal". So, the general belief is, if they or he doesn't like the law, why follow it? So much for the "nation of laws" idea, eh? I guess it only counts if it's laws they don't like.

I've said it before and til I'm blue in the face that I fully support legal immigration. We let in ONE MILLION legal immigrants every year. That fact often gets buried in this debate. God bless every one of them. I understand this is a great country and why someone would want to live here. We ask so little in return for living here. We have the most lax immigration policy and easiest track to citizenship of any nation in the world, bar none. Despite all the Left's "ain't America suckin'" rhetoric, an awful lot of the world wants to live here.

Oh, and another favorite of mine. How could I forget this one. When a "man on the street" in the New York protest was asked if he supported people coming here illegally his response was, and I'm not taking too much liberty with the text, that the United States has so exploited the world economically, that most have no choice but to come here illegally and try to make a living compared to their U.S. desecrated wasteland of a home. I believe he had a little ANSWER pin and hammer and sickle on his lapel. The answer was textbook Marxist schlock, but I think gave an accurate accounting of what many who were there stood for.

Between the anti-American rhetoric at rallies of people demanding to be Americans (no irony there) and the absolute cornucopia of lawbreakers all in one place not being arrested by the police, I think we can with some certainty say they're eating snowcones in Hell today.

There's a fairly mixed story on the Indianapolis Star's web site about the event that sums it up well. I think perhaps the last line is the most interesting, though.

Mendez [a U.S. citizen] said many immigrants are being taken advantage of by unscrupulous employers.

Amazing, and the policies of the Left have allowed and continue to allow those people to be exploited, or if we give them amnesty like we did in '86, for their replacements to be exploited. The reason for this, simply, is that any attempt to strengthen border control is undermined by a variety of forces, from business to leftist groups to the government itself. It lends to creating a permanent underclass of slave labor who are exempt from all employment laws and who do not have to be paid anything near a decent wage, because the employer can just turn them into INS (a bit of a joke, but still a threat to some).

This is what the Left and our government supports, keeping these people separate, culturally isolated from the rest of America, and impoverished. But you won't see the traditional Leftist mantra of "living wage" or "fair employment for all" applied to them until they think it will translate to votes. Once there appears to be enough to matter to the electorate, those same people who ruthlessly exploited the illegals will clamber for them to be made legal through amnesty by any name they think they can con the American public into accepting. They also know they can do this without harm to their permanent underclass, because there's always more willing to come in.

This is what the illegals are marching for here in Indianapolis and across the country. They are sad, pathetic dupes in an election year political struggle. Whether you think they deserve to be citizens in advance of those who have been waiting legally or whether you think they should be put out on their ear or any happy medium between the two, you have to at least acknowledge the simple fact that this is just election politics. The party in power is weak, and so the party out of power tries to exploit really "hot button" issues like illegal immigration. They're even recruiting. Be sure to enjoy the picture of Mexico and Texas together.

And, of course, they aren't the only ones who are exploiting this debate. So if you were stuck in traffic today or if you just got the joy of watching the demonstrations on TV, I hope you can reflect a little on the how's and why's of these and remember it's not just about letting Juan and Consuela settle in Dayton. Like most modern issues, it is it's own little microcosm of political fun.