Easy. In both cases the Far Right Republicans -- I’ll call them “FARuplicans” (pronounced: far-up’-li-cans) since they are not level-headed mainstream Republicans -- are distorting reality to suit a narrow-minded and morally corrupt political agenda largely divorced from common sense.
These are same cast of ideological misfits who, despite their stated pre-election pronouncements to “find jobs” for Americans, immediately embarked on a “far right social engineering agenda” (using Newt Gingrich’s words) that violates seniors, gays, unions and the middle class, and attempts to solve made up problems with, for example, anti-Sharia law initiatives. Most of these pointless and/or destructive FARuplican measures seem designed to exploit our differences during a recession. But driving wedges between groups is almost always an effective ploy used to manipulate people (electorally or otherwise), especially with the backing of a news network owned by Rupert Murdoch.
But just when we thought the GOP could sink no lower than with their plan to dismantle our relatively efficient Medicare system and hand it over to the money-chugging, campaign contributing middle men of the Insuro-Medical complex, we now have the unbelievable spectacle of these same FARuplicans behaving like henchmen holding America financially hostage with their “our-way or the highway” pseudo-negotiations on the budget deficit.
The foundation of this taxation lunacy can be traced to an unelected Tea Party True-Believer named Grover Norquist, a kind of reverse Robin Hood, whose Congressional signatories to his pledge not to increase taxes of any kind for any reason equates to a sort of Ring of Darkness that binds them to legislative thuggery on the debt limit. This might be understood better if the American people supported it, but at least a 20% - 35% majority, depending on the specific poll (including Fox News’ own poll) want shared sacrifice, not more subsidies for large corporations and millionaires. So who do these Republican representatives really represent?
This brings us to the FARuplican’s continued opposition to comprehensive immigration reform. By opposing the DREAM Act, FARuplicans will be on the wrong side of history and common sense, just like conservatives were when they opposed the Civil Rights Act and the Social Security Act.
But first, a quick review: the Development, Relief, and Education for Minors (DREAM Act) offers permanent legal status to illegal immigrants, up to age 35, who arrived in the United States before age 16, provided they complete two years of college or serve two years in the military.
The DREAM Act should be the “no-brainer” piece of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR) puzzle. Although many progressives have already resigned ourselves to the fact that full CIR is unlikely, we can instead chip away at the most obvious piecemeal fixes like the DREAM Act since it helps everyone – the economy, the poor, the military, and business.
According to the Pew Hispanic Institute, there are about 11-million human beings living illegally in the U.S. Of these, about 1 Million may eventually qualify for citizenship under the DREAM Act.
Although Governor Susana Martinez was not fully informed on the DREAM Act in a Latina Magazine interview last year, she seemed to express at least lukewarm support for the measure. However, her current focus is validating the residency of those who registered for New Mexico driver’s licenses. Although the official “national security” interest is ludicrous, there is nothing seriously wrong with making sure that undocumented aliens that were issued licenses in NM actually live here.
In our next article we will examine conservative objections to the latest DREAM Act proposal and how it may impact both the State of New Mexico and national interests, should we get a second chance to pass it.
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