What Republican Leadership?

Have you ever sat in a chair and leaned back just a bit too far, just to the point where you were about to fall over backward? Do you remember that sudden feeling of panic just before you thrust out your legs to regain your balance? It’s a very scary feeling, the same scary feeling I get every time I think about Republican leadership in Congress and at the White House. 

Observing the 109th Congress and the Bush Administration from outside the Beltway, we can only lament what a marvelous opportunity has been missed. Millions of Americans have dedicated their lives to the goal of a Republican president with Republican majorities in both houses of Congress, but now there is an outside chance that all of it will be thrown away for no better reason than sheer incompetence.     

Consider just two critical issues, both of which represent a serious threat to our sovereignty and to our representative form of government, and either of which could make Republicans hugely popular, not only with conservatives, but with millions of fair-minded Democrats and independents, as well. 

First, immigration reform. There is no doubt that we are in the midst of a massive invasion by foreign forces who have no respect whatsoever for our sovereignty or for our laws. In poll after poll, by large majorities, the American people tell us that:  

1. They have great empathy for the poverty of the Mexican people.
2. In spite of that empathy, they want immigration to be accomplished only within the law.
3. They support some form of “guest worker” program to fill jobs that Americans won’t do, one that requires illegals to apply at consular offices outside the U.S.  
4. They want our borders secured, whether by fence, by wall, or by military force.
5. They want those who employ illegal aliens to pay a heavy price for doing so.
6. They oppose government social services, other than life-saving medical care, for illegals.
7. They oppose any form of “amnesty” for illegal aliens.

Could an eighth-grade civics class read all of that and write a comprehensive immigration bill? Of course. But, Republicans in the White House and in Congress apparently cannot.

Second, electoral reform. In each and every election, in every state in America, Democrats engage in the most flagrant kind of fraud and violence in order to influence the outcome of elections. If the president and congressional Republicans could find the courage to let the people in on that dirty little secret, they’d find that the people, even many rank-and-file Democrats, would be in favor of the following reforms:

1. Requiring voter registration to be done only in person. Fraud-friendly “motor voter,” “postcard,” and “same day” registration schemes would be repealed.
2. Prohibiting the use of third party registrars who are paid “by the head.”
3. Requiring applicants to show proof of identity and citizenship before registering to vote.
4. Requiring voters to show photo-IDs prior to voting.
5. Imposing heavy fines and prison sentences on those who vote more than once, who vote on behalf of deceased or fictitious persons, or who vote without benefit of citizenship.
6. Imposing heavy fines and prison terms for those who would intimidate, interfere with, or cause injury to the person or property of any other person peaceably engaged in the political process.

Again, could an eighth-grade civics class find a comprehensive reform bill in all of that? Of course! Yet, congressional Republicans and Justice Department officials give no indication that they’re even aware of the problem. But how could they not know? It is a vitally important issue and there is no political down-side to it. And if Democrats counter that “both sides do it?” Fine! Hold public hearings, put them under oath, and let them prove it. 

Most Americans are honest and fair-minded. They don’t like people who push to the head of the line, whether at the local supermarket checkout or at our borders, and they don’t like people who use fraud, violence, and intimidation to get ahead, whether in a sporting event or in a local or national election. 

These are issues that are critical to our national sovereignty and to our republican form of government, but the Bush Administration and congressional Republicans have all but ignored them. It will be a tragedy of major proportions if Republicans lose either house of Congress to the Democrats, but if they do it will be because they have failed, miserably, in their obligation to lead the country.