MAY 1 PROTESTS
Sometimes, when I am up early compiling news stories, I really shake my head. Today is one of those days. On May 1st, there will be a huge day of rallies to, in essence, support illegal immigration into the United States. You can say anything else you want about it, but the bottom line is that advocates of this day of protest are actually protesting the rule of law. They are protesting the idea that there is actually such a thing as right and wrong. It is fair to engage in a dialogue with the people and with policy makers about the law, which states that there is a formal and necessary process that any potential immigrant to the United States must follow before immigrating to America. The reality is that there are now millions of residents in the United States who quite literally ignored that law, and came here anyways. Congress is in the midst of a debate about how to make sure that these immigration laws can be more effectively enforced at the points of entry to America, and they are debating what to do, in a very practical sense, about what is estimated to be well over ten million scofflaws who knowingly violated our country’s laws, and snuck/smuggled/coasted into the United States illegally. A lot of the proponents of the protest on May first feel that these millions of illegal immigrants literally did no wrong. That the laws of the land violate the "spirit of America being a nation of immigrants" — but there is no doubt that the very first action committed by each of these ersatz Americans was to disrespect the most important foundation of our democratic republic – observance of our laws. I believe in free speech rights, and clearly demonstrations about what Congress should and should not be doing is a fair debate. But, speaking for myself, I have a hard time getting past the basic fact that these rallies are really about granting amnesty for criminal activity, however benign some people think that criminal activity might be. As for myself, I think that I would be a whole lot less concerned with WHO was coming into America except for two things. The first is that there are people on planet earth who want to attack American — terrorists who oppose the very concepts of freedom and liberty that this country represents. The other is issue is that the United States is becoming more and more a welfare state each and every day. There are more and more programs being approved at the federal and state levels that are designed to tax one group of people and use that confiscated wealth to them subsidize other people. Because of this, and the fact that I believe that many who come to this country illegally are in a position to benefit from programs paid for by American tax dollars (such as this issue of a foreign national who sneaks into the country and into our state being able to get an ‘in-state resident’ tuition break). We should all be concerned about this. Anyways, there will be a lot of debate on this issue, but don’t miss the articles on the main page about the preparations for the May 1st "Day of Prostest" — and the featured Golden Pen piece by Assemblyman Chuck DeVore talking about the actions of the California State Senate yesterday, where on a partisan vote, Democrats cancelled scheduled floor session on… May 1st!
DEMOCRAT FOOD FIGHT
Today is the opening day of the California Democratic Party’s State Convention. Compared to the very mild State GOP convention back in February, this convention should be a full-on knock-down drag-out food fight between State Treasurer Phil Angelides and State Controller Steve Westly. Angelides wants the endorsement of the party he used to head up – and he very well might get it. Click here to read my crazy idea of how former Democratic Party Executive Director Susan Kennedy, currently Governor Schwarzenegger’s Chief of Staff, can stir up the food fight even more.
ERIC ROACH: THE GOP NEEDS HIM TO RUN IN THE 50TH
All eyes are still on conservative businessman Eric Roach down in the 50th Congressional District. The question is whether or not Roach, who was narrowly edged out by lobbyist and former Congressman Brian Bilbray, will challenge Bilbray in the closed GOP primary for the full two-year term. I recently traveled to DC with Roach as he gauged support from DC-based conservative groups for his potential candidacy. The trip to DC was illuminating for me for two reasons. The time spent with Roach really allowed me to get to know him better, and to realize even more what an outstanding and needed conservative influence he would be on the Grand ol’ Party in Congress. The other thing I found out, from talking to a lot of conservatives in Washington, was exactly how NOT conservative Bilbray actually was when he served in the House. For example, how do you actually garner and "F" rating from the NRA when you are part of a Republican majority (answer: stand up with President Clinton to show "Republican" support for Gun Control – twice!)? Anyways, for the very real importance of having a GOP vote for who will be the Speaker, Bilbray is a better pick than Democrat Francine Busby. But in terms of sending someone to Washington long-term in a conservative district (70% of the votes for GOP candidates in the special went to very conservative candidates in a 14-way donnybrook), we need Roach to run. Besides, I honestly believe that (now that I know how not-conservative Bilbray was in DC), Republicans will have a hard-time motivating to get to the polls without Roach on the ballot. We’ll see what Eric Roach decides — but I hope that he decides to run – both for the good of the party, and for the good of the conservative cause, which is already imperiled by too many Bilbray-clones in the House.
Have a great day!
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