0 comment Monday, August 25, 2014 | admin
Newt Gingrich on his website weighs in with his own extensive proposals for 'fixing' the immigration problem.(Link via Lawrence Auster's View from the Right blog.)
Newt's plan is detailed and complex, containing a little 'tough talk' and some common sense, but I take considerable issue with his thesis that "America must be a Continent of Hope." This may sound like a glowing ideal, but Newt's comments make it clear that he believes America is somehow responsible for the entire Western hemisphere; hardly a practical viewpoint.
The phrase 'Continent of Hope' is from a speech by Pope John Paul II in 1979. Of course it is to be expected that a religious figure like the Pope would see things from a utopian universalist perspective; Pope John Paul was not an American and his views are naturally derived from a 'catholic' (small-c) point of view. But Newt should surely be aware that this idea of America is far out of sync with the country our Founding Fathers created. However, Gingrich tries to give this idea a traditional American veneer by saying
"We, the people of the United States of America, must never lose sight of the self evident truths affirmed at our founding. That we are all created equal � citizen and non-citizen alike, and that we are all endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights, among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
If these truths are to have any meaning, then we must recognize that every person has an inherent human dignity that must be respected, including those in the U.S. illegally. And that these truths morally bind us to create a workable immigration solution so that legal status and legal channels for migration replace illegal ones just as a controlled border replaces an uncontrolled border."
Gingrich uses Jefferson's words liberally (in more ways than one) to lead to a very different conclusion than Thomas Jefferson and the other Founders would have proposed. Our Founding Fathers did not envision America as a kind of messianic country which would be responsible for every human being in the hemisphere, or indeed the world, if one takes that thinking to its logical conclusion. Gingrich goes on to say:
"For the United States, fulfilling this vision means that we must constantly conceive and implement strategies to achieve greater safety, health, prosperity, and freedom for every person in the hemisphere."
This is quite a daunting responsibility he is laying out for Americans here; an open-ended commitment to being the perpetual savior of the entire hemisphere. Now if there was the least hint from history that Latin America was capable of sound government and economic practices, this might not appear such a titanic chore, but the fact is, democracy and prosperity have been elusive in Latin America as a whole. Authoritarian, corrupt governments, poverty, and violence have been the rule rather than the exception. But for the messianic Wilsonians in the Republican party, history and reality need not be deterrents to Quixotic efforts to save the world.
Gingrich, along with other such 'global thinkers' in the Republican party, shows how far from our traditional roots we have come; even those who purport to be 'conservatives' are embracing this kind of utopian, liberal agenda. Worse, they have convinced many Americans that they are true conservatives, and that they represent patriotic American ideals.
Apart from the deceptive nature of the agenda that is at work here, Gingrich seems to be proposing that we admit even more immigrants, albeit legal immigrants. He seems to say that the problem is simply that we need to find ways to make immigration easier, so as to make life better for people everywhere, and that Americans don't take priority over anyone else; this country, it seems, is to be 'of, by, and for the people' -- but not necessarily the American people. To suggest that Americans should be the priority of America is to invite accusations of 'nativism' and 'isolationism.'
Gingrich's underlying message is that we have to unite the whole hemisphere and take care of our disadvantaged brethren.
If this is the best the GOP has to offer, the GOP must go the way of the Whig party; America needs a party that represents the American people, the American majority.
"The fundamental principle of [a common government of associated States] is that the will of the majority is to prevail." --Thomas Jefferson
Newt's plan is detailed and complex, containing a little 'tough talk' and some common sense, but I take considerable issue with his thesis that "America must be a Continent of Hope." This may sound like a glowing ideal, but Newt's comments make it clear that he believes America is somehow responsible for the entire Western hemisphere; hardly a practical viewpoint.
The phrase 'Continent of Hope' is from a speech by Pope John Paul II in 1979. Of course it is to be expected that a religious figure like the Pope would see things from a utopian universalist perspective; Pope John Paul was not an American and his views are naturally derived from a 'catholic' (small-c) point of view. But Newt should surely be aware that this idea of America is far out of sync with the country our Founding Fathers created. However, Gingrich tries to give this idea a traditional American veneer by saying
"We, the people of the United States of America, must never lose sight of the self evident truths affirmed at our founding. That we are all created equal � citizen and non-citizen alike, and that we are all endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights, among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
If these truths are to have any meaning, then we must recognize that every person has an inherent human dignity that must be respected, including those in the U.S. illegally. And that these truths morally bind us to create a workable immigration solution so that legal status and legal channels for migration replace illegal ones just as a controlled border replaces an uncontrolled border."
Gingrich uses Jefferson's words liberally (in more ways than one) to lead to a very different conclusion than Thomas Jefferson and the other Founders would have proposed. Our Founding Fathers did not envision America as a kind of messianic country which would be responsible for every human being in the hemisphere, or indeed the world, if one takes that thinking to its logical conclusion. Gingrich goes on to say:
"For the United States, fulfilling this vision means that we must constantly conceive and implement strategies to achieve greater safety, health, prosperity, and freedom for every person in the hemisphere."
This is quite a daunting responsibility he is laying out for Americans here; an open-ended commitment to being the perpetual savior of the entire hemisphere. Now if there was the least hint from history that Latin America was capable of sound government and economic practices, this might not appear such a titanic chore, but the fact is, democracy and prosperity have been elusive in Latin America as a whole. Authoritarian, corrupt governments, poverty, and violence have been the rule rather than the exception. But for the messianic Wilsonians in the Republican party, history and reality need not be deterrents to Quixotic efforts to save the world.
Gingrich, along with other such 'global thinkers' in the Republican party, shows how far from our traditional roots we have come; even those who purport to be 'conservatives' are embracing this kind of utopian, liberal agenda. Worse, they have convinced many Americans that they are true conservatives, and that they represent patriotic American ideals.
Apart from the deceptive nature of the agenda that is at work here, Gingrich seems to be proposing that we admit even more immigrants, albeit legal immigrants. He seems to say that the problem is simply that we need to find ways to make immigration easier, so as to make life better for people everywhere, and that Americans don't take priority over anyone else; this country, it seems, is to be 'of, by, and for the people' -- but not necessarily the American people. To suggest that Americans should be the priority of America is to invite accusations of 'nativism' and 'isolationism.'
Gingrich's underlying message is that we have to unite the whole hemisphere and take care of our disadvantaged brethren.
If this is the best the GOP has to offer, the GOP must go the way of the Whig party; America needs a party that represents the American people, the American majority.
"The fundamental principle of [a common government of associated States] is that the will of the majority is to prevail." --Thomas Jefferson
Labels: A Continent Of Hope?