Sponsored Content
« Newt Gingrich Spanks Romney on Twitter | Main | Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry Was Killed By... Mexican Nationals "Hunting" Border Patrol Agents? »
November 23, 2011

Gingrich's Daft Immigration "Solution"

Gingrich proposes, goofilly, that we'll have "Community Boards" to decide on whether or not illegal immigrants within specific communities will be granted amnesty or deported.

For starters, it is very odd to say that ordinary citizens will essentially be elevated to the position of judge -- without any sort of standards binding their decisions -- to essentially grant illegal immigrants an immunity from the operation of the law, or to order them deported.

That's a strange thing, to elevate citizens to essentially act as courts, imposing judgments and penalties, or granting government benefits, without some kind of court-like structure, procedure, and guidance in decision-making.

Newt would call this a "radical, transformative solution that shows a fundamental empowerment of the citizenry" or whatever. I call it daffy.

I also call it, in actual practice, amnesty for 95% of all illegal immigrants. Because only, say, 5% of illegal immigrants settle in red areas. 95% are either in sanctuary citizens -- dominated by liberals, which will then have liberal "Community Boards," which will then grant amnesty because they want them voting for liberals -- or liberal-leaning areas. Okay, probably less than 95% of illegal immigrants settle in liberal areas, but they will quickly move to liberal areas once they understand that "Community Boards" will deport them (conservative) or grant them amnesty (liberal).

And then, having secured amnesty, they'll move back to the red areas. Because now they're citizens (or at least have legal authorization to be present in the US) and are permitted to move freely about the country.

Newt intends this as some outside-the-box radical transformative solution or whatever blah-blah he applies to his supposedly "cutting edge" ideas.

In fact, it's as daffy as it appears at first. Maybe daffier.

At best, it's a dodge, permitting Gingrich to not really take a position on the matter, but instead punt the decision to his fellow citizens. He can claim this is some kind of transformative empowerment (blah-blah), but really he's abdicating his own responsibility for a clear articulation of his own position.

One of the most famous dodges in politics is to take no position on a contentious issue but instead announce support for a All Star Blue Ribbon Commission to study the issue and make decisions. Obama is quite fond of this, you've probably noticed.

Gingrich's proposal is the exact same dodge, except instead of one great big national blue-ribbon commission, he wants to punt the issue to 30,000 small, local commissions. Which might sound all federalistic and local-control-y but in fact they'd all be making wildly different decisions, without any consistent standards.

And, as I already pointed out, illegal immigrants would just game the system by moving to the blue areas where they know the Commmunity Boards would give them amnesty.

The knock on Gingrich is that he has ten ideas a day, five possibly good, five obviously bad, and can't distinguish between the two types. (Actually I'd complain differently: He has ten ideas a day, one possibly good, four that sound good on a superficial level but in fact are just campaign-trail chum without substance or usefulness, and five which are bad.)

This seems to be one of those bad ideas, and even though most people tried to tell him it was a bad idea months ago when he first started floating it, he still seems to think it's a great idea.

It's not. It's dumb.

It is, as they say, something so dumb only an intellectual could believe it.


digg this
posted by Ace at 12:53 PM

| Access Comments




Recent Comments
She Hobbit (out and about in Middle Earth): "Queer is is pretty much everything non-normal. Po ..."

Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? [/s] [/b] [/i]: "Apparently, they are rebooting a gender swapped Ma ..."

Eddie Valiant: "[i]Damn Loony Toons sock! Posted by: Cheri at May ..."

Indignacio Vindacatorem: "Stranger news - Tara Reed defecting to Russia or D ..."

President Select Decaf: "Now that Trump is running for President again, he ..."

ace: ">>>I don't read the numbers the same way. It looks ..."

wth: ""What is the difference between 'gay' and 'queer'? ..."

Diogenes: "Chicago Mayor's Neighbor Allegedly Beat a Woman to ..."

FenelonSpoke: "The story of Elisha, his bald head and the bears. ..."

bonhomme[/i][/i][/i][/b][/b][/b][/s][/s][/s][/u][/u][/u]: "> What is the difference between "gay" and "queer" ..."

Walter Freeman: "[I]@94: "What is the difference between 'gay' and ..."

vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion: "Or not quasi-religious, it's actually a religion, ..."

Recent Entries
Search


Polls! Polls! Polls!
Frequently Asked Questions
The (Almost) Complete Paul Anka Integrity Kick
Top Top Tens
Greatest Hitjobs

The Ace of Spades HQ Sex-for-Money Skankathon
A D&D Guide to the Democratic Candidates
Margaret Cho: Just Not Funny
More Margaret Cho Abuse
Margaret Cho: Still Not Funny
Iraqi Prisoner Claims He Was Raped... By Woman
Wonkette Announces "Morning Zoo" Format
John Kerry's "Plan" Causes Surrender of Moqtada al-Sadr's Militia
World Muslim Leaders Apologize for Nick Berg's Beheading
Michael Moore Goes on Lunchtime Manhattan Death-Spree
Milestone: Oliver Willis Posts 400th "Fake News Article" Referencing Britney Spears
Liberal Economists Rue a "New Decade of Greed"
Artificial Insouciance: Maureen Dowd's Word Processor Revolts Against Her Numbing Imbecility
Intelligence Officials Eye Blogs for Tips
They Done Found Us Out, Cletus: Intrepid Internet Detective Figures Out Our Master Plan
Shock: Josh Marshall Almost Mentions Sarin Discovery in Iraq
Leather-Clad Biker Freaks Terrorize Australian Town
When Clinton Was President, Torture Was Cool
What Wonkette Means When She Explains What Tina Brown Means
Wonkette's Stand-Up Act
Wankette HQ Gay-Rumors Du Jour
Here's What's Bugging Me: Goose and Slider
My Own Micah Wright Style Confession of Dishonesty
Outraged "Conservatives" React to the FMA
An On-Line Impression of Dennis Miller Having Sex with a Kodiak Bear
The Story the Rightwing Media Refuses to Report!
Our Lunch with David "Glengarry Glen Ross" Mamet
The House of Love: Paul Krugman
A Michael Moore Mystery (TM)
The Dowd-O-Matic!
Liberal Consistency and Other Myths
Kepler's Laws of Liberal Media Bias
John Kerry-- The Splunge! Candidate
"Divisive" Politics & "Attacks on Patriotism" (very long)
The Donkey ("The Raven" parody)
Powered by
Movable Type 2.64