Smoke and Mirrors

By William L. Garvin

Unemployment continues to hover just below 10% with no indication that the Stimulus Bill has even a remote chance of working. Another 131,000 jobs were lost last month (revisions will soon show it was more) and private sector employers aren’t going to hire with tax hikes coming their way in January. Who knows what turmoil will be coming from the financial reform regulations that have yet to be written and which Congress can’t explain. Don’t forget all the rules and regulations to be promulgated by the 183 boards and commissions established by health care “reform.”

Speaking of health care, the voters in Missouri turned out in enormous numbers (for a midterm election) and an overwhelming 71% said they do not want ObamaCare! Many did not even vote in their Congressional primaries; they just wanted to reject the President’s “signature” achievement. “Show Me” definitely showed “The One”! Making matters worse, a district judge in Virginia noted the unprecedented expansion of the welfare clause and gave the Commonwealth the go ahead in their lawsuit against the Administration and rejected all four of the Administration’s claims. It looks like another thirty states are likely to also sue the Administration.

In addition, the economic “Summer of Recovery” tour has failed. Facts are such stubborn things. In January 2007, when Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid took control of Congress, the unemployment rate was 4.6% and the national debt was $8.6 trillion. Today, unemployment is 9.5% and the national debt is $13 trillion. Given this record of failure, the Administration needs “smoke and mirrors” in the worst possible way. That’s exactly what they are getting with the ethics charges against Democrat House members Charlie Rangel and Maxine Waters. Speaker Pelosi has yet to live up to her lofty proclamations…the swamp is not drained and the culture of corruption is now headed by a braying, hypocritical donkey. What’s that about glass houses and throwing stones?

Regular as clockwork, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are back for yet more bailouts. Isn’t it interesting that Barney Frank and Chris Dodd failed to address their inadequacies in the Financial Reform Bill? Only a cynic would say it was because they had oversight of those institutions and any meaningful investigation would expose their dereliction of duty and significant contributions to the financial fiasco by creating a huge amount of “toxic assets.”

Since those aren’t working, let’s try more “smoke and mirrors” by castigating interest in immigration reform and the inappropriately named “anchor babies.” Reexamining birthright citizenship for illegal aliens isn’t exactly repealing the 14th Amendment but accuracy has never been the hallmark of the Democrat propaganda machine.

For perspective, only 33 of 196 nations have a national policy of birthright citizenship. The majority of those who do are Caribbean and Latin American countries with populations of less than fifty million. The United States is the only nation of more than 200 million that currently employs the concept. No European nation has birthright citizenship for illegal immigrants.

The United States government currently recognizes any person born on American soil as a "natural born" citizen and ignores the Constitutional requirement that one must also be "subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States in order to automatically gain citizenship. The U.S. Supreme Court has never ruled on whether or not children born to illegal alien parents, or to parents visiting the United States with temporary visas, are entitled to birthright citizenship.

As a result, the scope of our problem is staggering. In 2003, 70 percent of the 2,300 babies born in San Joaquin General Hospital in Stockton were children of illegal immigrants. In 2008, an article cited Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas as the “second busiest maternity ward in the United States.” Again, 70 percent of the women giving birth were illegal aliens. Los Angeles County Supervisor Michal Antonovich received much criticism just for releasing the numbers for June, 2009. According to Department of Social Services, LA County spent $26 million in food stamps and $22 million in welfare in that single month just for children of illegal aliens. That amounts to nearly $600 million each year in one county in California. It is not sustainable.

Any immigration reform should closely examine birthright citizenship and its impact on our country without the usual demagoguery. But first things first…President Obama should stop blowing smoke. Let private sector employers fix the economy and he should secure the border.