We Need More Pragmatism
I am so tired of the constant claims of "I'm more conservative tham you" currently infecting the Republican campaign I could puke. Positions or imagined positions on SCOTUS nominations, gun control, immigration, taxes, fees, the Surge, and national security really don't matter much if a candidate gets elected and can't deliver on his/her promises. Look at what happened when the Democrats won the 2006 elections on the promise they would immediately end the war. They are currently enjoying the lowest approval ratings in history.
I consider myself to be very conservative but I also consider myself to be realistic. None of the candidates of either party is going to get anything through congress without some degree of compromise. It just ain't going to happen.
Take the issue of illegal immigrants. There is no way in hell that a law is going to pass requiring the roundup and deportation of 12 + million people. If such a law were passed, it is not feasible to enforce it. The best we can hope for is getting a law passed that requires the deportation of criminals and that border security be made air tight so they can't return. But it isn't just the southern border. The northern border as well as all ports of entry need to be air tight.
We need to tighten up on the issusnce of visas and other permissions that allow people from nations in other hemispheres to come here. That requires a major change in the State Department. They are the ones who hand out those passes nilly willy to just about anyone. The State Department sees itself as an entity unto itself answerable to no one, That has got to change.
I had hoped Condie Rice would whip the State Department into shape but instead she has pulled her over to her side. What is needed is a bloodletting at State where many of the top people are given their walking papers. Recently a Mexican delegation came to complain about too many of their citizens returning to Mexico. We need people in the State Department who would look them in the eye and tell them to go piss up a rope.
Chuck
I consider myself to be very conservative but I also consider myself to be realistic. None of the candidates of either party is going to get anything through congress without some degree of compromise. It just ain't going to happen.
Take the issue of illegal immigrants. There is no way in hell that a law is going to pass requiring the roundup and deportation of 12 + million people. If such a law were passed, it is not feasible to enforce it. The best we can hope for is getting a law passed that requires the deportation of criminals and that border security be made air tight so they can't return. But it isn't just the southern border. The northern border as well as all ports of entry need to be air tight.
We need to tighten up on the issusnce of visas and other permissions that allow people from nations in other hemispheres to come here. That requires a major change in the State Department. They are the ones who hand out those passes nilly willy to just about anyone. The State Department sees itself as an entity unto itself answerable to no one, That has got to change.
I had hoped Condie Rice would whip the State Department into shape but instead she has pulled her over to her side. What is needed is a bloodletting at State where many of the top people are given their walking papers. Recently a Mexican delegation came to complain about too many of their citizens returning to Mexico. We need people in the State Department who would look them in the eye and tell them to go piss up a rope.
Chuck
posted by Chuck at 12:46 PM
2 Comments:
Chuck,
You hit the nail on the head with this one. A couple of points I would make here are:
- compromise is nearly always required. Realism is in short supply - must be an election year! What I don't want is compromise that gives away the essence of what you are trying to get. That's called losing. (I am a sales guy and have learned the fine art of negotiation...and that requires giving some but not sacrificing the goal).
- immigration. Rounding up 12+M illegial aliens and deporting them WOULD be a huge undertaking and probably not feasible. I don't think it's impossible, but I'm not for it. What I am for is identifying them, and sealing the border to prevent more from arriving. I discuss this in more depth at http://thedirtymartini.blogspot.com/2007_12_01_archive.html
I wonder if we'll ever be able to change Washington.
Any political endorsements? Jeff Jacoby at the Boston Globe likes McCain, who's not perfect:
"Yet there is no candidate in either party who so thoroughly embodies the conservatism of American honor and tradition as McCain, nor any with greater moral authority to invoke it. For all his transgressions and backsliding, McCain radiates integrity and steadfastness, and if his heterodox stands have at times been infuriating, they also attest to his resolve. Time and again he has taken an unpopular stand and stuck with it, putting his career on the line when it would have been easier to go along with the crowd.
A perfect conservative he isn't. But he is courageous and steady, a man of character and high standards, a genuine hero."
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