You know the old saying -- he who walks in middle of the road is in danger of getting hit by cars going in both directions. Indiana Rep. Mike Pence is trying to walk that very fine line on immigration and, surprise, surprise, is getting frustrated at having to dodge all the traffic:
Under the Pence plan, the first priority would be securing the border. Then comes a guest- worker program that would require illegal immigrants in the United States to return to their home countries to register at privately run centers. The immigrants would get work visas that could be renewed every two years for up to 12 years, provided they were learning English. For the next five years, they'd be given a more permanent visa. After 17 years, participants could apply for U.S. citizenship.
Pence's attempt to broker a deal on this issue is as puzzling as anything I've ever seen come out of Washington. One of the things that makes Pence so admirable is his absolute devotion to basic principles. Unlike some other conservatives -- such as Mark Souder, who has decided he likes the earmark concept -- Pence sticks to his guns; pork is pork, and let's get rid of it.
The immigration issue is one of the clearest examples of the bright dividing line between conservatives and liberals -- it's hard to conceive of a middle ground both sides would accept. In trying to define one, Pence will naturally get the most grief from his own side. The guy who wrote the column, who is clearly on the other side, makes this obvious by praising Pence for daring to break away from those reactionary jerks on the dark side and join the force in all its purity.
Comments
Very well said.
I am sick and tired of pandering politiians. Mike Pence has been a strong conservative (Like it or not) for a long time and he has been consistent, until now.
Mark Souder is a great example of a pandering politician.
We need politicians who talk straight and then vote that way when they are elected.
We have few of those today... Very few.
Mike
Mark Souder is a conservative??? How do you define that?
If one were to equate politicians to TREES (that, in and of itself should invoke many a snicker or grin)...then I would contend that in today's world, we have far too few OAKS among the far too many WILLOWS...
;)
B.G.
Actually, this is the same mindset that got us legal fireworks, truck traffic on Ardmore, trucks & vans in left lanes all over the county, persistent calls to legalize drugs, ad infinitum.
The illogic seems to be that if enough lawbreakers become used to getting away with some noxious behavior, don't crack down, just abandon the law.
You can wear a bomb suit around the 4th of July, move your kids away from residential neighborhoods truckers use as short cuts, drive blinded by tailgates too high to see further down the road through windshields, and live in a community where otherwise good people tell themselves drug abuse is no bigger deal than lying about one's age to sneak into Brokeback Mountain.
By this method, it would be very easy to cancel any part of the Constitution or Bill of Rights that enough folks (not even a majority) find distasteful. And we know plenty of people who would blissfully to do that to some piece of it at the first opportunity.
It sounds like Mike doesn't want to take a real stand on immigration. He wants to say he's for it and against it so he can play both sides of the fence. Like that other guy who has been for the Iraq war all this time but now that the elections are 75 days away, he is against it now. All Souder cares about is how many places he can stick Ronald Reagan in our face.