I Don't Understand
I do understand why liberals, like me, are afraid of the precedent set by Arizona mandating the police to stop people whom they believe to be here illegally. In the 60s we liberals learned to distrust a government that lied to us about the cause of a war and infiltrated both civil rights and peace organizations. I also understand how people can feel overwhelmed by illegal immigrants and the costs and consequences of their presence. I understand how some immigrants, Hispanic and non-Hispanic alike, are uncomfortable with those who jumped the line and came here while others stood in lines, some lasting for years, to gain legal entrance.
However, I don't understand how some conservatives who fear government abuse of power, who feel that their freedoms are being eroded, can believe, at the same time, that the local government should be able to stop, question and detain people for looking, sounding, or somehow feeling foreign.
I literally don't understand this. Yes, I know that often "I don't understand" is a common rhetorical trope used when someone has an understanding and point of view. But I really mean it. I don't understand how liberals, conservatives and libertarians, all of whom hold governmental power under some justified suspicion, can think that it is a good idea to vacate some of the constitutional protections designed for us all. How could we all not foresee that, as history proves, governments accrue power and then abuse both their power and their discretion?
However clear and present a group may believe the danger of immigration or drugs or organized crime or even of terrorism, throwing out our safeguards seems like a bad idea. While we can clearly agree on the problem and the need to engage it, how we act counts. We should be able to agree, across the political spectrum that freedom and due process cannot be jettisoned whenever we feel threatened. We all can be pro-Constitutionalists.
©2010 Jonathan Dobrer
www.Dobrer.com
If someone breaks into my house and is hiding in the basement or even blatantly squatting in my living room, then yes I will trust the police or the govt to cause this individual to vacate my premises. By your logic, Dobrer, we, the USA, the State of Ariz , etc should just shrug our shoulders and say " There is nothing I can do." "Hard workers" from a foreign land can just invade, because they are "hard workers". craig Wilson
No, I am NOT saying that at all. You have every right to rid your house of an intruder and to involve the police. We have every right to secure our borders and restrict work and welfare by some form of qualification. The problems are indeed real. We do not have a right to pursue suspects based only on instinct. THat's why we have a constitution.
The problem is actually easily and legally addressed but we don't want to do anything that might be truly effective. If we had real employer sanctions, if we were willing to prosecute you, me and the agribusiness owners for employing undocumented workers, the jobs gone, many would go home and more not come at all. This has to apply equally to people from Canada, Europe and Asia.
As other nations do, we could demand legal status for welfare or, as Poizner is pandering, even for education. I'm not endorsing these solutions but they would be effective and constitutional.
This is what we have now on the border, and in Phoenix, and every border town like Juarez, El Paso etc: Evil doers who will kidnap your daughter into forced prostitution. Why ? To make money to continue their other evil deeds, like drug running, gun running, extortion, kidnapping for fun and money. No one is saying EVERY illegal alien is such an evil doer. I'd say 98 % of illegals are good people. But Ariz wants just one more tool in the tool box for police, border patrol etc to go after the evil doers. The Ariz State govt and lawmakers and the Gov have no desire to go after your illegal alien nanny, so chill. They do want to go after the above described evil doers. You and I differ on how to do this. My sister in Las Vegas suggests flame throwers, moats, alligators, pirhanas that eat flesh in the moats etc. But she is pretty extreme. If she were king of the world, there would be zero evil doers as described above. I am not an expert on police work. But I do know evil when I see it. I am not willing to sacrifice my daughter for political correctness. Are you? Craig W