Jeb Bush has said some incredible things about immigration, and it is fair to say, as this headline does, that they "shock conservatives." This may be the most astonishing remark of all:
Other comments included that Bush declared that "it's not possible in a free country to completely control the border without us losing our freedoms and liberties."
Of course that was a couple of years ago, and his people now say that certainly border security is a key component of immigration reform. But that's just a platitude, something a Republican candidate has to say to survive the primary. Since no other politician has meant it when promising border security, I'm sure not going to consider Bush's promise to be sincere.
I don't even know how to argue with that statement, since I can't even figure out what it means. Maybe someone can explain it to me. A free country controlling its border risks its freedoms and liberties? How so? Our freedoms and liberties are based on an implied contract between government and citizen. What has controlling who becomes a citizen and how they do it got to do with it?
We can respectfully disagree about all sorts of issues concerning immigration. But how can a nation even define itself if it has no control of its borders.
