By Ron Williams – citizen, contributor and patriot – 8-22-10
[Ron Williams is a retired attorney living in The Woodlands, TX and a welcome guest contributor to Social Mode]
There can be no question but that there are serious issues surrounding illegal immigration into the United States. The most pressing concern revolves around illegal immigration from Mexico. It is interesting to note however that most people, and most particularly right-wing Republican Tea Party, are reluctant to recognize that the real issue is that illegal immigration from Mexico, which means primarily Mexicans, which causes an uncertain relationship with American citizens with Hispanic heritage. It should not create a problem to talk about an immigration problem involving Mexicans. After all that is the border we share where most of the illegal immigrants are entering the United States. It is sort of like talking about a race problem in the United States and not admitting that the primary group impacted by this issue is African-Americans.
It is thus, a double whammy to watch Republicans dance around the issue of Mexican illegal immigration, when that is the very issue with which they are concerned. The first “whammy” involves a hypocritical failure to acknowledge that the primary target of their ire is directed at Mexicans. The second “whammy”, which I will address in a moment, is the right wing Republican constant claim of their defense of the quote “original” constitution and the claim that liberals want to change it.
Returning to the topic of illegal immigration, it is not illegal immigration from Canada that the right wing is concerned about. It is illegal immigration from Mexico. Arizona, for example, recently passed legislation allowing its police to stop anyone they believe is an illegal immigrant. Once stopped, that person must provide evidence that they are a legal immigrant or a US citizen. Arizona Republicans insist that this legislation is not deemed to target Hispanics. But just who can we imagine the police are going to be stopping, blue-eyed blondes who look like they have snuck in the country from Denmark? No, Hispanics.
It is hypocrisy of the right wing to assert otherwise.
Thus, I believe it is not hard to make the assertion that it is because the illegal immigrants are Mexicans that the issue has gained so much prominence. I believe that the issue of race or “racism” is at the heart of the illegal immigration controversy today. If we had Canadian citizens flooding into this country in numbers comparable to the current influx from Mexico, I really do not believe that there would be the same cries for fence building and citizenship-checking laws being made by the conservative right wing.
In fact, it is my position that the majority of Republicans know no bounds to their hypocrisy. Many of the Tea Party group are now pushing for an amendment to the 14th Amendment so that babies born presumably to illegal Mexican immigrants will no longer be granted automatic United States citizenship. As being proposed, the revised 14th Amendment would provide that in order to be deemed a US citizen; you must prove that you were born of parents who were US citizens. I don’t know about you, but I might have a hard time proving that my mother was a US citizen because I might have a hard time proving that her mother was a US citizen and so forth. How about how you?
In fact, what sort of documentation would you have to provide in order to prove that your parents were legal citizens at the time of your birth, or even their birth? Again, I note that this was not a problem when immigrants entered the country from England, Italy, Ireland, or even Cuba. It’s still not a problem for anyone sneaking in from Canada. It’s those pesky Mexicans who are creating the problem. But the Tea Party members are too hypocritical to say the truth. And it is also a very short step to say that racism is the driving force behind the conservative right wing Tea Parties move. They want to prevent those Mexicans from gaining US citizenship. The fewer Mexican heritage voters created the better.
This is even more disappointing when we have to constantly listen to Tea Party members talk about their belief in the Inviolate Constitution and their speaking with utter dismay about how liberals constantly want to reinterpret the Constitution. The right wing does not want to “reinterpret” the original document. They just want to change the Constitution’s actual written the language to fit whatever they believe ought to be the current end result. Again, this is the height of hypocrisy. For example, we can see very clearly that the “conservative” judges appointed by Republicans to the Supreme Court have been busy reinterpreting long-held legal principles in a new way to fit their Conservative views. One would have to call these judges “activists” despite Republican claims that they are just interpreting the Constitution in its “original” understanding. Republicans now have the nerve to claim that the two President Obama appointments to the current Supreme Court are activist judges. Hypocrisy in Its finest form.
I have a suggestion for my Right Wing Republican Tea Party counterparts. If we are going to open up the Constitution and revisit the 14th Amendment, let me suggest that we take another look at the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution regarding the right of the people to bear arms. There have been some questions as to whether this amendment applied to the state militia i.e. the National Guard, or to an individual’s right to keep a handgun or even an AK-47. If you are going to start to change the Constitution to address current issues, let’s address the question of whether we should allow individuals to own all sorts of weapons. After all, when the 2nd Amendment was drafted we didn’t have machine guns or 15-round hand guns or 50 caliber sniper weapons. When the Constitution was written and the amendments added, we didn’t have the large-scale drug problems or the gang wars associated with guns.
Maybe it’s time we revisit the 2nd Amendment to address these gun issues. Somehow I bet the strict construction right wing Republicans will not be so open to revisiting the 2nd Amendment with the idea of having individual gun use restricted. But, why not? If they believe it’s time to revisit one of the amendments, why not start to think about taking a look at revisiting some of the others. What about the 1st Amendment and right to free speech? See the problem? I’m sure that those of you reading this can think of one or two of the other amendments you believe it might make sense to revisit today.
I, for one, do not believe it is necessary to revisit any of the amendments to the Constitution. The Constitution is broad. It welcomes new interpretations that encompass new issues. What is so wise about the way so drafters wrote the Constitution and its amendments is that its guiding principles provide a roadmap for addressing modern problems. What I recommend is that my right wing Republican Tea Party friends take a deep breath and give careful consideration to what they’re really asking when they began to recommend re-writing the Constitution and its original 14 Amendments. I really believe we would be on any dangerous course should we begin to start rewriting this important and very wise document. We can undo the very nature of this country. And that would be a very sad thing to do.
Finally, we must come to the conclusion that the Tea Party conservatives in fact have little use for the “real” Constitution. They will quote its virtues to you when it suits their needs, but it will push to change its very language wind that would suit their purpose. I believe it is the height of hypocrisy. No more than that, I believe it shows their immorality. And such immorality is dangerous. Therefore, we must fight against the Tea Party conservatives because if they were to have their way, the very fabric of this country will be destroyed. And that is not something I would like to see happen.
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