'Remember when the entire Democratic Party was like Donald Trump?' asks Matt Welch @ Reason. There's much to read (and weep) of the 1996 party platform on immigration, crime, drugs and “zero tolerance”, but here's just a taste...The Democrat party has become so radical and un-American that you wouldn’t recognize it 20 years ago. The 1996 Democratic platform stated we must remain a nation of laws and cannot tolerate illegal immigration, but today they say the exact opposite. The same could be said about the Republicans and open-borders Republicans like Jeb Bush, who claim we can’t build a wall because it will cost too much. Fences clearly work and would take pressure off border patrol agents trying to keep up with the flow of illegal immigration. ~ ML, 8/27/15
Now, not only have Democrats made a complete 180 from that platform (and constituency), but the GOP cowers from this tough LAWFUL talk as well (mostly in fear of campaign coffers affected).Here's your who-said-it of the day:
[W]e must remain a nation of laws. We cannot tolerate illegal immigration and we must stop it. For years […], Washington talked tough but failed to act….[O]ur borders might as well not have existed. The border was under-patrolled, and what patrols there were, were under-equipped. Drugs flowed freely. Illegal immigration was rampant. Criminal immigrants, deported after committing crimes in America, returned the very next day to commit crimes again.OK, so the headline gives it away, but that's the Democratic Party's official platform for 1996. Mirroring that year's Republican platform, which was arguably the most stringent anti-illegal-immigration tract in the GOP's modern history, the Dem document is filled with tough talk...
If Jeb Bush can put his other grand ideas down for just a moment, along with much of the rest of the GOP, and the entirety of Washington for that matter, Democrats included, let's pretend as if we believe in national sovereignty again, because Daniel Horowitz makes a compelling case for the Border Fence (yes, the one Congress already passed to create, but never funded!)...
CR: Yes, border fences work. And that is exactly why the political class is so stridently intent on opposing the construction of a full double-layered fence or any effective barrier at the border.This detailed piece goes on with further analysis, examples and other imperative information towards the very realistic (yes, Jorge Ramos) border fence. But perhaps the last section puts the true cost and necessity for such a structure into perspective...
The bipartisan open borders cartel is all in favor of discussing sundry forms of “border security,” especially if it will afford them the political cover to pass amnesty. But the one tangible form of border security they will never support, and in fact, pull out all stops to prevent, is the completion of the border fence.
Several weeks ago, Jeb Bush released his amnesty plan. In order to grease the skids for his amnesty proposal, Jeb released a “six point plan” for securing the border. The one thing that is missing, of course, is the competition of the double-layered security fence.
One of the most pervasive arguments against a border fence is the puerile nursery chant, “show me a 20-foot fence, I’ll show you a 21-foot ladder.” Even 2016 presidential candidate Rick Perry is oft to advance this intellectually dishonest argument. The problem is they can’t show us the 21-foot ladder. The border fence that conservatives are advocating has worked in San Diego and it has worked in Israel. It will work for much of the rest of the border.
Will a border fence cost money? Will it look aesthetically unpleasing in some places? Sure, but the cost of illegal immigration on our welfare, education, hospitals, criminal justice system, highway safety, drug violence, and culture is incalculable and infinite. And the sight of dead bodies and drug smugglers is more offensive than a security barrier. ...And that's the reality of the matter...if only either side of the aisle in Washington had the will to acknowledge their malfeasance and reverse course. But for some reason, the pro-illegal detriments wager more time, attention and money (suckage) with the D.C. crowd than the pro-citizenry benefits, and in that, America continues to be destroyed from within.
Ideally, we should not need a full security fence at our southern border. As Moses observed when the Jews were conquering the land of Canaan, the weaker cities were the ones encompassed by a wall while the stronger ones were confident in their prowess for defense. And indeed, if we had a country that actually enforced our laws, cut off the magnets, and held the government of Mexico accountable for their violation of our sovereignty, we wouldn’t need a wall. But we are not a strong country at a political level. In fact, we have a weak and malfeasant governing class. We therefore need a border fence.
Related link: REPORT: EVERY DEPORTED ILLEGAL HOUSEHOLD SAVES TAXPAYERS MORE THAN $700,000
