Let’s say there was an education reform bill proposed that gave liberals everything they ever wanted: Per-pupil spending would be doubled. As would be the salaries of every teacher. Mandatory pre-kindergarten schooling starting at age 2. Teacher tenure after just one year in the classroom. No teacher evaluations. No merit pay based on student test scores. Mandatory self-esteem classes in grades K-12. And no U.S. history.
Pure liberal nirvana. However …
In addition, every parent of any income level would be given a full voucher to send their child to any private school of their choice, including Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry if that’s what they wanted.
A deal-breaking poison pill.
Well, a similar situation faces the United States Congress today as it relates to immigration.
Fact is, Republicans are all for immigration reform. Tighten up the borders. Tighten up visa enforcement. Streamline the process. Increase the number of work permits. Even allow, with certain conditions, persons who are presently living in the country illegally to remain here legally without fear of deportation.
On these aspects there is widespread agreement. And a bill could be passed tomorrow. Immigration reform nirvana. However …
Allowing most illegal immigrants to remain in the U.S. legally isn’t enough for the left. No, they are insisting on granting those who have broken into the country illegally full U.S. citizenship, complete with voting rights that would effectively destroy the Republican Party in many parts of the country.
A deal-breaking poison pill.
And now, in an effort to shame Republicans into swallowing this poison pill, Democrats are trotting out kids as human political shields. For example, the campaign of Democrat congressional candidate Erin Bilbray-Kohn is promoting a YouTube video of a college student named Jose whose mom brought him into the U.S. from Mexico illegally.
Jose is upset that the current Democrat administration is deporting illegals, but wants to blame Rep. Joe Heck (R-Nev.) for not supporting an immigration reform bill that is weak on enforcement while nevertheless providing a path to full-blown citizenship. Worse, Jose falsely claims in his hostage-style video that Rep. Heck “arrested me and four other friends for speaking our minds” at the congressman’s office recently.
Total fabrication. It didn’t happen. Indeed a liberal blogger exposed Jose’s so-called protest as nothing more than a preplanned, staged propaganda stunt in which no one was “arrested.” The agitators — “speaking their minds” with bullhorns inside the office, by the way — were merely issued a citation for trespassing, an offense that apparently runs in Jose’s family.
Let’s face it; Democrats don’t want real immigration reform. They want a political issue. Pure cynical opportunism that does nothing to fix the problem. Yet unsuspecting dupes like Jose are falling for it. Is this any way to run a constitutional republic?
Chuck Muth is president of Citizen Outreach, a conservative grass roots advocacy organization. He can be reached at www.muthstruths.com.