President Barack Obama’s greatest crime against our flag and
the
republic for which it stands isn’t his administration’s
health-care
theft bill. That’s mere shoplifting compared to what’s coming
next.
Obama and the left wing of the Democratic Party intend to turn
ten to
eleven (more like 40-50) million illegal immigrants into voters as expeditiously
as
possible, giving them a permanent national electoral majority
based upon
a beholden Lumpen proletariat. If they succeed, our
country will face mob rule.
No individual who broke the law to enter this country should
ever be
allowed to decide who becomes our president, governor,
senatorundefinedor town
council member. If there is one message patriotic Americans
must
act upon during the remainder of Obama’s reign, it’s this: No
voting
rights for illegals.
No other issue of our time matters remotely as much. Undefined, not our
lukewarm
struggle with Islamist terror or even our metastasizing
deficits.
This isn’t about tax increases or where to hold terror trials.
It’s about preserving our democratic institutions for
law-abiding
citizens.
Inevitably, objections to handing immigration criminals the
vote will
be denounced as racist, anti-immigrant, inhumane and so on.
Unable
to argue on logical grounds, the left will resort to savage
name-calling. And, of course, illegal immigrants will be
compared
to the legal immigrants of yesteryear, as if our laws
are just
burdensome annoyances that insist on silly distinctions.
As for the left’s all-purpose charge of racism, any illegal
immigrantundefinedIrish, Guatemalan or Nigerianundefinedmust never be granted
the right
to vote in a US election. “Illegal” means “not legal.” It
means “criminal.” This is not a matter of nuance, and it isn’t
color-coded.
(The single exception I would make would be to grant full
citizenship
to illegal immigrants who serve honorably in our military for a
minimum
of five yearsundefinedbut the left would hate that, too.)
As for being anti-immigrant, that’s nonsense, too.
Legal immigration remains a great strength of our
country (I’ve
argued for years for more visas and a path to
citizenship for
hi-tech wonks and other highly skilled workers). Any immigrant
who
plays by the rules to enter this country, adjusts to our public
values
and obeys our laws should be allowed to earn the full rights of
citizenship on schedule. But no phony waiting periods, or token
fines, or pay-your-back-taxes scams can be allowed to buy voting
rights
for those who broke our laws to steal into our homeland.
And the “inhumane” charge is sheer hypocrisy. If the
Democratic
leadership and its organized protest mobs (such as the
hate-group La
Raza) genuinely cared about the plight of illegal immigrants,
they’d
argue only for a form of residency. Illegals themselves aren’t
the
ones demanding the vote. They’d be delighted just to be able to
stay here. It’s political activists who claim to speak for them
who make voting rights “a test of our nation’s sense of
justice.”
Playing the pity card, they pretend that legalization is all
about
keeping families together. It’s not. It’s about eleven
million bought-and-paid-for votes. Anyway, millions of illegal
immigrants weren’t worried about the unity of their families
when they
abandoned their homes for the USA.
But reason won’t matter. Anyone who challenges the free gift
of
voting rights to illegal immigrants is going to be charged as a
bigot by
the left. It’s an accusation that those who love our country
will
just have to shrug off.
Conservatives and independents are going to have to decide
with
precision what they’re going to fight for in this struggle.
That
means starting out by recognizing that we’re not going to line
up eleven
million illegals in a column of fours and march them back across
the
border. They’re here. Most are going to stay.
The crucial fight ahead is over those voting rights. Every
other question arising from this issue is trivial in
comparison.
Those who love this country must focus on that single mantra,
repeating
it until the votes-for-illegals snake is dead: No voting
rights for illegals, no voting rights for illegals, no voting
rights for
illegals.
The importance of this iron focus can’t be over-stressed,
because
left-wing activists in the administration and in Congress will
try to
lure our elected representatives into arguments over secondary
issues,
pretending to compromise on minor matters. There’ll be
discussions
over the deportation of criminal aliens, back taxes, waiting
periods,
health-care liability, fines and fees, and any other
distractions that
can be tossed into the mix. We must not let ourselves be drawn
into debating such details as if the overall legalization
process is a
forgone conclusion.
What’s the right answer to the illegal-immigration crisis our
government’s neglect has allowed to grow to such destructive
proportions? Congress needs to create a new class of US
residency
for those illegals with no further criminal records and who can
document
a history of employment. That residency would provide basic
social and economic rights. It would not give illegal
immigrants
the vote.
There is no reason, constitutional or moral, why Congress
can’t do
this. There are already multiple classes of non-citizen
residents,
from temporary workers to refugees. Of course, the Democratic
leadership will howl and claim that anything short of full
citizenship
is an unacceptable injustice. But what would be unjust about
allowing eleven million criminals (and yes, they are criminals,
every
one, by virtue of breaking the law to enter our home) to remain
on our
soil, with all of the daily privileges and protections accorded
full
citizens–except the right to choose those who govern the rest of
us? Families (except of those who broke additional laws) would
remain united. Workers could work openly (and pay taxes
honestly). Children could go to school and apply for
scholarships. They just couldn’t force their political
prejudices
on usundefinedalthough their American-born children would acquire full
voting
rights, when of age.
This is a practical, ethical, patriotic and sensible
approach.
It will be attacked savagely by those who care more about blocks
of
votes than about the quality of human lives.
Born in 1952, I’ve lived through many national crisesundefinedmore
than a few
of them exaggerated in their proclaimed importance at the time.
But I view the question of voting rights for illegal immigrants
as the
most critical issue of my lifetime, as regards the protection of
our
republic. We had the American Revolution, not the French
Revolution. We never have been, and never should be, ruled by
mobs. But mob rule is the goal of today’s corrupt Democratic
Party
leadership. They view power as an end in itself. And they
will do virtually anything to sustain, deepen and guarantee that
power.
After a recent interview on security issues with talk-show
host Laura
Ingraham, we discussed this issue off-mike. When I said, “No
votes
for illegal immigrants,” Laura gave me that piercing look of
hers and
completed the line for me: “No votes for illegal
immigrantsundefinedever.”
This is the crucial battle of the Obama era. Independents,
Republicans and Democrats of conscience must set aside all
personal
hobby horses and secondary issues, and avoid seductive
compromises. To preserve the United States we love and revere,
we
must concentrate ferociously on one clear goal as the left
attempts to
subvert our future elections through the gift of votes to eleven
million
illegal immigrants: No vote for illegalsundefinedever!
Ralph Peters is the author of the new book Endless
War:
Middle-Eastern Islam vs. Western Civilization.