Recently John Boehner sent a message to the White House stating that an immigration bill is unlikely to pass because the president must win the trust of the Republicans. Sounds a little like stall tactics, don’t you think? Are there parties in Washington who believe they have the trust of the American people?
Trust is earned, and while it would be nice if we could stop paying taxes until the boys and girls in D.C. actually earned our trust, we do recognize that will never happen. While there are multiple reasons given for not passing immigration reform, most are short-sighted and smack of hidden agendas – on both sides.
Why stall on immigration reform, or any of the other important issues presently before Congress? Steve Little, KPost Company president, provided his fresh perspective on the challenges facing the hill today:
Were They Really Trying to Pass Immigration Reform?
Both political parties interest in immigration reform are 100% driven by capturing constituents’ votes. How can they capture votes to get elected so we can do this all over again? I don’t think that either party understands the impact to their daily lives when they make these decisions as they think about who is voting for them. Either they want the immigrant vote or they want the constituent’s vote who does not want the illegal immigrant in the country, but neither thinks about the real impact. It’s a very polarizing position. Politicians no longer respect each other or the system designed by our forefathers.
We live in a time that the backbone of our politicians is becoming weaker because the exposure to information is greater. It used to be that folks could gather round a table, have some meat in their conversation and then go back to Congress and take action. Now it’s all public knowledge and public perception. We live in the information age where every bit of information is accessible 24/7 via some channel, whether it is on television, social media or even radio. Now politicians are afraid to really speak up and come out and stand on a position because it goes into social media immediately, where they are judged based on limited information. Before they can affect change they are bombarded with other’s positions derailing them before they have a chance to affect change. If this trend continues, it will be the demise of our political system.
Bill Clinton Would Still Be in Office
My political stance is Bill Clinton would still be in office if there were no term limits. Some way he got with Newt Gingrich and Bob Dole and the three of them together figured out how to balance the budget, how to affect change, how to do things that were good for this country. Together they pulled all the parties together to do what was best for the country as a whole and not a specific party’s agenda.
How fabulous was it that for the first time in many years this country had a balanced budget. Can you imagine running your household without a balanced budget? Running your business without a balanced budget? Somewhere, somehow, somebody is realizing we have to do something different.
It Can’t Be Radical. It Has to Be Logical.
The tea party had an opportunity to affect change, but they got too radical. The youth, when Obama first got into office, had an opportunity to affect change. They became too apathetic.
It’s like “Come on folks! I don’t care if you are red or blue. Get to a position and stand on it. Otherwise you are going to implode the businesses in this country.”
Ask yourself this – who will stock your grocery shelves? We don’t have a clue. The natural progression of immigrants coming into the entry level pay level has been thwarted by the thought we need to have more educated immigrants to perpetuate science and technology. But at the end of the day, who is going to clean the operating & hospital rooms? Who is going to roof our buildings? Who is going to do the things that need to be done that make this country run every day?
We can get up on our high horses and we can build up walls around our borders to reach high into the sky. We can say all the things we are saying against immigration, but at the same when there aren’t enough fruits and vegetables, when the shelves aren’t being stocked, when the buildings are not being built, because all of our kids want to be in technology, where will we be?
Both Parties are Screwed Up
What was interesting about the election of this particular president was it was the first time we had a non-Caucasian, with limited political experience, with such a polarizing vote from our youth. I think the reason Obama was elected was we did not have a better choice, and that Obama’s camp offered a breath of fresh air; they offered change. What they did was market to the people that would get off couches, get on their mopeds and go to the voting booth. Actions instead of rhetoric!
Unfortunately, now this party seems focused on putting things out to the immigrants and Latino community about the old fat white guys in the Republican Party wanting to do XYZ. There may not be any truth to it, but because the issue is already so heated, it gains momentum in the self serving media without any ground.
Then the Republicans try to reinvent themselves with the Tea Party, but unfortunately it was a position of what they were not going to do. They kept taking the position of no, no, no, then the media blasts it out, and eventually you tune it out. Why not take the position of yes, yes, yes…..what can they do to affect change?
They have to do something or the Republicans will get slaughtered. There are people completely on the left and completely on the right. What worked for Clinton, Dole and Gingrich was they figured out a way to get to that middle. You are not going to be happy with everything, but if we get to the middle to benefit the country, then it’s the right thing to do. End the end, Everyone WON!
Frankly, border control has been our primary focus and it does not seem to be worth our time. Mexico has managed to improve their own economic status, making it less likely they need the jobs in our country. Now I’m looking to legal people who now are coming in from Guatemala, Vietnam and the Dominican Republic. So do whatever has to be done with border control and get on with it.
It’s time to quit with the smoke. All the border control and visa tracking systems are pointless if we don’t have the funds and capabilities to implement and manage them. If they do not come up with some form of immigration reform, in the next three years it will cripple construction which is one of the four legs of the foundation of this country. Soon we won’t need retail employees because over 50% of retail sales are moving online. Now two of the four legs are negatively impacted. The third leg is food, another industry that immigrants are working in as they arrive in this country. You must grow the food, then package and distribute it or people don’t eat. Three of the four legs broken do not bode well for the future.
My position is what’s the right thing for the country? Not what is right for a specific party. Our political system is so impacted by the media in its own self serving way it does not allow the politicians to formulate a plan. It’s time to reach middle ground, developing plans of action and taking charge of the future of our country. No more bickering, posturing and positioning. Meet in the middle and figure it out before our country is in ruins and it will take decades to recover.
