Immigration Reform

Obama has done good things for this country. He has supported equal rights for all. He has made great strides in mending the economy. He has created and implemented a healthcare system that insures millions more Americans than the previous one did. He ended the war in Iraq. Just to name a few of the big ones, and now he wants to reform immigration policy.

However, it won't be easy just like every other worthwhile thing he has done with his presidency so far.

When Obama put forward his plan to fix the economy with federal spending and economic controls conservatives fought him tooth and nail complaining that he would ruin the economy and the country. Now we stand at an unemployment rate of six percent and a stock market hitting record levels.

When Obama put forth his healthcare plan the GOP screamed bloody murder and threatened to impeach him. Now we have comprehensive medical insurance for millions of Americans that did not have access to it under the previous system.

When Obama struck down the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy, Republicans moaned that our armed forces would be compromised by the gays and our family values would be threatened by the unnatural heathens. Now we have the right to marry spreading like wildfire across the country and true equality being granted to some Americans for the first time bolstered by a presidential backing, the acceptance of loving folk, and the occasional circuit judge doing their duty to protect our civil rights.

Now Obama wants to put forward a solution for our broken immigration system, something congress has failed to do in the last two years, and out come the war cries in the form of bastardized Cicero quotes rambling about the loss of the republic.

Let me go over some history that some Republicans have forgotten. This country was built by immigrants with immigrants for immigrants. We are all immigrants. Unless you can trace your heritage to the few native tribes that survived the European genocide, you have no more claim to this land than George Washington did or the Mexican that just crossed the border with his green card does. We are all on equal footing in this country.

If you look closer at our history, America has a made a habit of having this sort of reaction every time there is a larger than usual influx of immigrants from new places. We marginalize and persecute them till they "earn" the right to sit at the American table. It happened to the Irish after the great potato famine. It happened to the Chinese during the age of the railroad. There are a plethora of other examples, and now we are doing it to the Latinos.

So, how are we attempting to learn from history and make the system better? The preliminary outline of the President's immigration plan will allow immigrants who have been here for five years or longer, are willing to submit to a background check, and pay taxes can have the right to live in the country for a three year period. In essence we violate their privacy, charge them rent, and reserve the right to evict them whenever we want.

Now, this is about seven times better than how the system works now, but can we all just take a moment to admire the shit sandwich we are forcing these people to eat just so they can have a chance to make a better life for themselves? While this system is better than outright deportation it is in fact a compromise to cater to all Americans.

While I understand that the methods Obama is using could create a dangerous precedent for lesser men or women who aspire to his chair in the future, I believe that at this point in his term and for this country as a whole it is the only way to get things done. The partisan rift in congress and in the populace as a whole will not allow our electoral system to function properly unless we have a visionary leader that can bring us to the solution.

So, Ted Cruz, who was born in Canada to a Cuban father and an Irish-Italian mother, you have no leg to stand on when you claim that illegal immigrants will ruin this country while giving them no way to come in legally. You are trying to close the door to this country that you yourself walked through for millions of hardworking men and women who just want a better life for their family. You are what is wrong with this country. Your hypocritical, misinformed views are what is holding this country back from true progress. If Al Franken hadn't already torn you a new one over net neutrality I'd do that too, but you don't need more ways to spew the asinine vomit that you call rhetoric into the ears of this country. You just want a platform to use to further your own goals by leveraging off the undeserved hatred of Obama that the rest of your uneducated flock cling to. 

The U.S. became the most powerful country in the world thanks to the hardworking cultural mixing pot that our ancestors created when they emigrated here. You don't get to take that chance away from others just because you are scared or greedy. That is not the American way. We are all entitled to the chance to better our standing by the sweat of our brows and the skills that we are born with. Give our newly immigrated brother and sisters the chance to work their way up the system just like your ancestors did.

The Sum of all Idiots

In case you were still on the fence about whether or not the Tea Party are a bunch of clowns here's a little blurb that will throw you right to left of center.

Ted Cruz has tweeted that "net neutrality is the Obamacare of the internet".

Now, if you don't know, net neutrality is the concept that the internet is a public good. Because of this idea Internet Service Providers (ISP) cannot charge websites based on their usage. Basically the more popular a website is, the more the owner would have to pay to keep internet speeds to that site at optimum speed. This would drive popular streaming sites and social media into the ground fiscally while snuffing out the life of small, privately owned sites. ISP's want to tax internet speeds so they can sit back and gather copious amounts of money for almost no effort on their part.

So really net neutrality is on par with assuring freedom of speech for the internet, arguably the most important communication platform of the 21st century.

And one of the pillars of the Tea Party and probably a 2016 presidential hopeful just likened it to his worst nightmare. That's right, the Tea Party, champions of American freedom, voted to put ISP corporate greed over the first amendment to the constitution.

That is the caliber of the candidates that we are dealing from the conservative end of the spectrum. Some issues that other conservative candidates have equally stupid views on: climate change, women's rights, voter laws, and healthcare reform. Kinda funny, all those things have a huge impact on our lives and well being.

Let the next two years of politics serve as an example of how to not run a government.

Original story