Senator Lindsey Graham, ever the faithful follower of uber-RINO John McCain, scored three RINO initiatives in just one week.
Reminiscent of the "the band's getting back together" scenes from the movie "Blues Brothers", Graham and McCain reached back to the good old days of bipartisan shafting of conservative judicial nominees and offered the Democrats another "Gang of Fourteen"--this time to shaft the public with a bipartisan Obamacare bill.
The offer must have been tempting to the Democrats who remember how "bipartisan leadership" from Graham and McCain spiked conservative guns when the Republicans were in the majority in the Senate. But this time around, the action on Obamacare is in the House. Senate Dems said no -- maybe next time.
Graham tried again.With the House version of the "cap and trade" global warming tax frozen stiff in the Senate, Graham urged the GOP to stop demonizing climate change.
He told The New York Timescolumnist Thomas Friedman that calling climate change into question puts "at risk the party's future with younger people". Graham explained "I have been to enough college campuses to know if you are 30 or younger this climate issue is not a debate. It's a value." Graham called for bipartisan leadership to enact the climate change legislation.
Progressive bloggers seized on these remarks to try to unfreeze "cap and trade" in the Senate--or build support for Obama's alternative plan to have the EPA dictate a "cap and trade" regulation and tax scheme without Senate approval.
Meanwhile, Dem Senator Jay Rockefeller and other Democrats sought to block the EPA move to regulate carbon dioxide as a health hazard (on behalf of the 44% of American electricity generated in coal fired power plants.) Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer also asked Obama to stop stimulus grants for "green power" projects after learning that a wind farm in Texas was owned by a foreign firm and the stimulus money would stimulate jobs in China and Japan where the turbines were made.
So, no new "Gang of Fourteen" on "cap and trade." Graham tried again.
President Obama promised Latino activists a new illegal alien amnesty bill--last year. Mired in the health care "reform" debacle, neither the President nor his party wanted another partisan stand off. Senator Chuck Schumer had promised an immigration "reform" bill by last Thanksgiving but had produced nothing.
Lindsey Graham to the rescue.
Graham and Schumer have been meeting on a "new" bipartisan immigration bill. The President beamed his approval, and the new Gang of Two had a press conference to announce the breakthrough.
The "new" immigration bill includes a "path to citizenship" for illegals, border security, and biometric I.D. cards for every American to insure that only those here legally can get jobs.
Meet the new bill--same as the old bill. Since 1986, Americans have been promised some variation of the three legged stool--amnesty, border protection, employer sanctions. Every time a bill passes, the illegals get the amnesty, the border remains open, and millions more illegally enter the country.
In 2007, the McCain/Kennedy bipartisan Immigration "Reform" bill was supported by the leadership of both parties in Congress and by the President. It contained the same three components. It was defeated because the public "won't be fooled again."
The public was right to be skeptical. Following that bill's defeat, both Bush and Obama failed to control the border (the Boeing "virtual border" is an expensive flop) or verify employment eligibility (e-verify is said to have a 54% failure rate).
Graham says this time will be different. The "path to citizenship" will have to be earned by registering, paying a fine, paying any back taxes, and waiting in line.
Once again--we've had this debate. Many illegals do not want to become citizens. They just want to work and send home some money and go back home when they have enough. Many others are content with the current situation. As illegals, they can escape taxation, get welfare through their U.S. born kids, and still work here. Who needs "citizenship"?
Even worse, the "new" bill will still amnesty all illegals with a "temporary" visa while they are in line for citizenship. This visa removes any incentive to get in that line.
But there is something new and more dangerous in the Graham/Schumer bill.
To ensure that only people legally in the U.S. can work here, the bill will propose a biometric I.D. for EVERY AMERICAN before anybody can get a job.
Graham, apparently too desirous of playing a role in a in his own remake of "Inglorious Basterds", wants you to show him your Papers before you can work in your own country.
Opposition to this tyranny will come from all parts of our divided political spectrum. In a truly free country, the right to work cannot be granted (or withheld) by the government.
Graham wants to solve the problem of 11 million (or more) illegals working here by restricting the right to work of over 300 million who live in the "land of the free" legally. This is the TSA approach. We know who the terrorists are likely to be, but we will pat down and invade the privacy of all airline passengers to show how "fair" we are.
Worse, what does "biometric" mean ? Apparently, this I.D. debate is going on in many other countries as the technology allowing government to monitor our every move gets more feasible.
A biometric card allows government to include a lot of information about you on the card. How long before you must show the card to get health care ? Education ? Or to Vote ? Remember that the Social Security card morphed into an I.D. when proponents in the 1930s called such fears paranoid ?
Graham wants a SS card on steroids. He told the Wall Street Journal, "We've all got Social Security cards. They're just easily tampered with. Make them tamper proof. That's all I'm saying."
Practically speaking, there is no tamper proof card. The same technology that reassures Graham is available to others to tamper with the card and game the system.
This time, Graham's “bipartisanship” is a real threat to liberty.
Graham's RINO tactics will enable the President to turn illegal aliens into documented Democrats. And in the process, hand the Federal Government yet another way to monitor and control our lives.
The real solution is the same as it has always been. Congress must secure the border first, and enforce e-verify. Illegal immigration is a problem caused by Federal non-enforcement of existing law.
Liberal Lindsey Graham is -- like Rahm Emanuel -- trying to use a crisis to political advantage. But unlike the crises Emanuel peddles -- which are concocted -- the immigration crisis is real. And solving it need not be done by shredding the Constitution as Sen. Graham would do.
Why do the good people of South Carolina keep re-electing this guy? For that matter, what’s so wrong with Arizona that they keep inflicting John McCain on us?
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