Apply The Abraham Lincoln Rule
Filed under: Courts, Elections, Health Care, Immigration, International Reflections, International War, National Party Politics, Presidential Watch, Social Commentary, Terrorism, U.S. Economics, Unions, United States at War
When it comes to beating Obama in the 2012 presidential election Republican candidates should apply the Abraham Lincoln rule: Give up every single argument of your opponent with which you agree and beat him up mercilessly on those with which you disagree.
I realize that it is difficult for a Republican candidate to agree with President Obama on anything but the truth is there is an area of agreement which no Republican candidate can deny. When it comes to national security President Obama has adopted the George W. Bush doctrine and then some. He refuses to abandon the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq recognizing their strategic national security value by placing American boots on the necks of al-Queda operatives located throughout the Middle East. American military presence in Afghanistan and Iraq provides our armed forces the ability to fix the enemy while we kill their leadership by Special Forces or drone attacks. The killing of Osama bin Laden and Anwar al-Awlaki are recent examples of this successful strategy. President Obama has kept open the prison at Guantanamo and treats its prisoners as enemy combatants and therefore will try them in military tribunals. He has signed an even stronger amended Patriot Act. And the Justice Department has kept the heat on domestic terrorist organizations. In effect the Obama administration gets an A+ on National Security.
By recognizing this fact and thereby applying the Abraham Lincoln rule, a Republican presidential candidate will have a clear field to beat the hell out of the Obama administration for its oversized and systematic failures in matters economic, energy, environmental and everything else it has deemed to touch.
God Bless America
Filed under: Elections, Immigration, National Party Politics, Social Commentary
Every American has a story has to how it happened that their family floated up upon these shores and became Americans. It seems after every election winning candidates are impelled to tell their story and last Tuesday, election night, was no different, except that we witnessed two grown men weep in the telling.
This is Roger Madon and this is what I think.
Last election night John Boehner and Marco Rubio, before a group of each of their supporters gave their acceptance speech for their well-earned victory. For John Boehner it was his re-election to the House of Representatives and due to the results of the election nationwide it was his ascension to Speaker of the House. For Marco Rubio it was his election to the U.S. Senate. Each began with the perfunctory “thank you” to their supporters, described the ideology as why they felt compelled to run for public office but then, as is so often the case, began to describe their family history and how that history had such a profound affect upon their ideology and what it meant to being an American to them and their families.
As John Boehner began to recite his family story of his father being a bartender he began to weep and couldn’t continue. He couldn’t tell us why because while in the telling he probably didn’t quite understand it himself. But we did. Here he was, addressing the nation on national television, Speaker of the House, elect, third most powerful person in America and his father was a bartender. It’s just another American story….but it was his.
Marco Rubio’s voice began to crack when he began to tell how his family left Cuba after the Castro takeover. He told the story of how his father’s aspirations were all but destroyed by coming here but that his father resolved to make certain that his children would take full advantage of the opportunities that America offered to those who were willing to work for them.
Each of us have heard these stories so very often at different times and different circumstances but we as Americans never tire of them. In fact we relish their telling and demand to hear them over and over again. And the reason is simple: Each of those stories, no matter how different they are in nationality, or race or religion is related to our own story of how we also became Americans. God bless America.
This is Roger Madon and that’s what I think.
The American Muslim Integration Strategy
Filed under: Immigration, International Reflections, Social Commentary
The challenge for the American Muslim is to find the right balance between submission to God as revealed by Mohammed while fully participating in the American experiment. For the Muslim in America we hope it will ultimately be a satisfying journey.
This is Roger Madon and this is what I think.
When the Pilgrims first arrived on this continent they already experienced living in a society that rejected their religious beliefs and behavior. Numerous Christian sects followed bringing with them different religious beliefs and practices. Some religious sects were established on this continent adding to the mix of different religions. But all them, almost without exception had as their foundational principle the belief in Jesus Christ as the son of God.
When the American constitution was drafted this fact was foremost in the mind of our founders and the First Amendment prohibited Congress from establishing a religion and provided for its free exercise. Though non-Christian religions had been established on this continent at the time of the drafting of the constitution our Founders’ greatest concern was that government took no role in the competition between and among Christian religious sects.
However, unlike the vast majority of immigrants that have come to this country throughout these two centuries Muslims have come from countries which are predominantly followers of Mohammed and for the first time in their lives therefore they live in a country as a religious minority. Moreover, Islam is a religion which has as one of its most important tenets, inconsistent with the First Amendment, that a country may establish Islam as its national religion.
This concept is not necessarily unfamiliar to Christianity or Judaism since both religions at some time in their long history endorsed it. In fact today Israel is a Jewish state established by the United Nations as such. But it cannot be denied that the power and glory of our constitution ultimately draws all Americans towards its fundamental universal principles of justice and fairness, American Muslims included.
This is Roger Madon and that’s what I think.
The 21st Century Mexican Civil War
Filed under: Immigration, Social Commentary, Terrorism
It is one thing for a rich country to share a border with a poor country. It is quite another for a country at peace to share a border with a country at war.
This is Roger Madon and this is what I think.
Mexico is a country of 100 million people and is in the midst of a civil war. It is a war which sets in opposition those who wish to live in peace and those who wish to use the country as a gateway to transport illegal drugs to the United States. On average 23 Mexicans are killed every day due to this war. The United States is a country of 300 million and imagine if 70 people were killed every day due to a drug war. That would mean 25,000 people every year would be found dead on our streets, many of them innocent of drug trafficking. This is what is happening to our neighbor to the south.
Right now Americans are looking the other way. Right now all we care about is the fact that Mexicans are crossing our border for what we seem to believe is to find work. We have set up border patrols to stop the influx of human beings. But 2 countries, one at peace and one at war cannot share a border without the country at peace becoming itself engulfed in that war. Especially when the country at peace is the very reason the other country is at war. If this civil war in Mexico does not end soon the violence of that war will spread not only into our border states but right into our cities across the entire country.
And is there anything that is being done by our Federal government about the millions of dollars and numerous caches of guns that cross our border into Mexico which represents the profits of the drug trade? Has the United States Federal government accepted the reality that if the civil war going on in Mexico does not end in victory for the Mexican government it will be carried out on our streets in the cities of New York, Chicago or Los Angeles? If this civil war in Mexico does not end and soon you will be reading on the front page of the NY Times that a Marine rifle company crossed the border into Mexico in hot pursuit of a fully armed group of drug traffickers. Then what?
This is Roger Madon and that’s what I think.
Why Mexicans Should Invade the U.S! BTW, Don’t Sweat It.
Filed under: Immigration, National Party Politics, Social Commentary, U.S. Economics
As I stated before the Republican Party has adopted a political strategy with regard to illegal immigration, and in particular illegal immigration from Mexico, that is downright wrong. So what’s the right strategy?
This is Roger Madon and this is what I think.
Whether we like it or not this country will need 100 million more people by 2050. That’s only 40 years from now. Our birth rate is 2.1 which means we are just barely replacing the people we already have. Therefore we must adopt an immigration policy that will provide us with 2.5 million new people every year. And by the way they all can’t be brainiaks. We need workers: workers to pick fruit, dig ditches and yes, do some construction work. Know any MBA’s, or lawyers God forbid, who are willing to do that?
The truth is Mexicans have been populating our land long before we were a country. And if anyone thinks this will be stopped by a wall or armed guards they’re kidding themselves.
So let’s get serious. Let us adopt an immigration policy, specifically with respect to Mexicans, who want to come to the U.S. and build their lives here. This policy will provide numerous border crossing stations across our 2 thousand mile border with Mexico. Any Mexican can arrive with proof of Mexican citizenship, and if he wishes, with his wife and children. He will receive a temporary social security number and a temporary visa. Our government will have 6 months to a year to determine whether the immigrant has a criminal record in Mexico or the United States. If not, they are permanent residents.
If we adopt this policy, by year 2050 we will have the 100 million people, many from Mexico, which we will need to economically compete with China and India and with the added benefit that thousands of Americans will be crossing the Mexican border, for work, pleasure and retirement.
Now that’s creating 100 million people without breaking a sweat. Further, if the Republican Party adopts this program it will draw millions of loyal Hispanic voters.
This is Roger Madon and that’s what I think.
Holder and Arizona Law
Filed under: Immigration, National Party Politics, Social Commentary
Attorney General Eric Holder has been voicing concerns about Arizona’s recently adopted anti-illegal immigration law and has been threatening to challenge its Constitutionality. Last week AG Holder was testifying before the House Judiciary Committee in a Department of Justice oversight hearing. In a discussion between him and Representative Ted Poe, a Republican from Texas, concerning the Arizona law, Representative Poe inquired, quite innocently, mind you “Have you read the Arizona law?” AG Holder responded, “I have not read it.” Oy vay!
This is Roger Madon and this is what I think.
If you live in any major city and walk its downtown streets you will not be able to avoid being approached by college age men and women who will accost you with every variety of social cause for which they want you to sign a petition (oh, and also for which you should donate money). These causes run the gamut from global warming, gay marriage, abortion rights and yes, undocumented (meaning illegal) aliens who will be victims of the new Arizona law. I know, most of you out there, just pass them by. Well, I don’t. I ask them questions. “Have you read any of the scientific studies on global warming?” “NO.” “Have read any of the studies concerning the social ramifications of gay marriage?” “NO.” “Have you ever had a chance to read Roe v. Wade?” “What’s that?” And of course, “Did you read the Arizona law concerning illegal, oh, I’m sorry, undocumented aliens?” “You don’t expect me to do that, I’m not a lawyer.” Well, don’t feel bad about that, neither has the highest law enforcement official in the U.S.
But you know it does say something about we Americans. Notwithstanding we have strong opinions about everything, we don’t really take the time or effort to get to research all the underlying documents or studies concerning all the opinions we have and no one expects us to. We have a lot more important stuff going on in our lives. But we do expect our officials to do the required research especially before they start running around the country mouthing off on one statute or another. Even the Honorable Eric Holder knows that. And one look at AG Holder’s face when he told Representative Poe that he hadn’t read the Arizona law revealed the proof of that.
This is Roger Madon and that’s what I think.
Obama’s ethnic thugery immigration policy reaction
Filed under: Immigration, International Reflections, National Party Politics, Presidential Watch
Last week Republican Governor Jan Brewer of Arizona signed into law a tough immigration statute making illegal immigration a State crime and requiring police to question people about their immigration status if they suspect they are in the U.S. illegally. President Obama jumped into this 2010 election wedge issue and howled that it was a civil rights violation for Arizonans to protect themselves from violent crime.
This is Roger Madon and this is what I think.
Finally the President after 15 months of finding himself on the wrong side of the majority of the American people by supporting Tarp legislation, the Stimulus Bill, the Health Care Reform Act, Cap and Trade and the Financial Reform Act he now thinks that he has an issue that will drive a wedge between voting Americans. He believes that wedge issue is between those Americans who argue that the Federal government is just plain refusing to address the serious violent crime committed by illegals who cross the Mexican/American border and adversely affect the border states of California, Nevada, Texas, Florida of course Arizona and the American Hispanic Community which reacts viscerally to any legislation which attempts to keep Hispanics out of the country raising the fear of prejudice and results in a sense of isolation.
The President could easily have avoided this dispute, however by stepping into it he reveals once again his political roots: Chicago ethnic thugery. Is this too harsh? Our Constitution provides that the Presidency represents all the American people as a nation and to keep them safe from harm. It seems President Obama has abandoned that Constitutional responsibility for the mundane prize of keeping the control of Congress in the hands of the Democratic Party. And for him if it means getting Americans to see the immigration dispute as one which divides them well that’s just standard operating procedure for Chicago ward politics.
This is Roger Madon and that‘s what I think.
Immigration with Special Guest – Robert Hornak
Filed under: Immigration, National Party Politics, Presidential Watch, Social Commentary
Highlights from my conversation with Robert Hornack.
In this episode Roger discusses immigration policy improvements with Robert Hornack.
We’ll be back to 4.5% unemployment after the Barack Obama Presidency.
Robert suggests a complete overhaul of current immigration policies.
The current system encourages people to break the law.
Robert supports no more public assistance for non-working immigrants.
The Democrats want to give assistance to everyone legal and illegal immigrants alike.
500,000 immigrants are coming to the U.S. every year.
Reagan’s policy didn’t think forward, it only thought backwards.
Roger asks, “Is it possible that this is about racism?”
Racism is not only from conservatives, you’ll find it on Daily KOS and Move On.org
The left is happy to let these people sit in the undocumented state because they use them for political leverage.
Roger asks, “What do we can do to begin to get our conservative friends to turn around on this?”
Robert: There are many conservatives in this camp. We need comprehensive reform not small steps.
Roger: “There is no great vision of America in Obama’s plan.”
Robert: Barack Obama is the first social justice President, he has a disdain for the rich, he believes they have used unfair advantages to accumulate their wealth. Obama wants to take as much as he can from the upper class and give it to the middle class.
Roger: During FDR’s term the tax rate for the rich was 92%.
I look forward to your comments and questions below. Thank you for tuning in. Feel free to join me on Facebook and subscribe to my iTunes feed for my daily updates.
Another Modest Proposal
When Conservatives address America’s immigration laws they have to consider the next 50 years and determine what its needs will be: economic, social and yes, even political. The Limbaugh, Hannity, Levin and O’Reilly gang is not very constructive in this regard and seems to be blind to what is in store for America if it doesn’t wish to emulate its European cousins across the Atlantic pond. Take for example the gang’s position on those illegal immigrants that currently live and, I might add, work here. It wants to throw them out. I suppose, practically speaking, that also means their children, who, more than likely are American citizens. America’s current birth rate is 2.1. That’s borderline in order to maintain a nation’s current population. Some European countries are at 1.7. That means that by 3 generations (60 years) the population in those countries will be reduced by half. Of course I refer to the European part of the population. That portion of the population coming from the Middle East and living in those same countries is somewhere over 3. You do the math.
America’s immigrant population generally does not come from the Middle East but south of the border. In fact most of America’s illegal population comes from Mexico, for an obvious reason. Mexico shares with America a 2 thousand mile border. Approximately 500,000 illegals arrive from Mexico each year. The good news is, much to the chagrin of the gang of four, this influx will not be impeded by much of anything short of shooting them as they attempt to cross the border. Obviously Americans are overwhelmingly against that. So here they come. And truth be told, America needs them. But what we also need are their families. We need them to pay our taxes and contribute to our ever growing benefits.
So, here is my proposal. America passes a law which allows Mexican citizens (proof of citizen ship will be required), who wish to come to America to work, to enter at the border at specific border locations, with their families if they have them, children and all, where they will receive a temporary green card and a temporary social security number which will expire within six months from date of entry. During this period an investigation will be carried out by Homeland Security to determine whether they have a criminal record in the United States or Mexico or discover some material fact which will deny them their continued presence in the United States. This will allow the immigrant, now legal, to find work, be on the payroll, pay taxes, find a place to live and add to the general welfare of the nation. After six months he and his family will obtain the status of permanent resident. Current illegal aliens of Mexican lineage will be provided the same advantage. All other immigrants will be required to strictly adhere to the immigration laws. This will substantially reduce the number of illegal aliens and allow Congress to deal with the issue in a more reasonable way.
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