"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

-Theodore Roosevelt 1907
 
Ironically having visited Ellis Island last week while the immigration rhetoric reached a crescendo, it is evident that, aside from the brilliance our founders exhibited in a unique constitution dictating a limited federal government and unmatched liberty for its people, the United States became an unprecedented economic and political power due in no small part to legal immigration.  Millions of immigrants passed through Ellis Island and through immigrant processing centers on the borders of Mexico and Canada as well as the ports of San Francisco and Los Angeles as a lawful path toward citizenship, hard work and “the American Dream”.  The benefits to the nation were exceptional, in that the American “melting pot” of the world melded the best of every culture into a hybrid that provided generations of growth, prosperity and peace never before seen in the history of the world.  The great immigration wave of the early 1900s produced some of the most patriotic new Americans, many who sacrificed their own sons in two world wars for the love of their new land and culture.  These immigrants were hard-working, proud Americans who were honored to learn about American history and how to speak the language of their new country.  One flag represented them, and that was the American flag.
 
Unfortunately since the period of peak immigration in the late 1800s to early 1900s, a period that attracted hard working rugged individualists, the left has implemented overly generous social programs that steal wealth from faceless citizens and redistribute it to other faceless individuals based on income tax returns that may be wholly inaccurate.  Even worse the government is negligent in its role of monitoring these programs to ensure only those with legitimate need receive the forced largesse and charity of our nation’s taxpayers, the main reason our founding fathers did not believe in a large central government and treasury raiding socialist schemes.  These programs have caused a tremendous strain on the civil rights and constitutional right to personal property of legitimate legal citizens, particularly in those states hardest hit by the influx of illegal immigrants.  One has to wonder about the intent of these failed programs and since the poverty rate has remained fairly consistent throughout the tenure of many of these programs, are they really just about buying votes?
 
Too often leftist demagogues impulsively steer the immigration debate toward race and accusations of racial profiling.  However, the illegal immigrants that exist in this country come in the form of many races and ethnicity and, regardless of such characteristics; those who circumvent our nation’s laws to enter the U.S. violate the human and civil rights of legitimate U.S. citizens and taxpayers. Illegal Immigrants steal services and benefits that emanate from the ardor, sweat and toil of legal American citizens, while the majority of illegal immigrants often work for cash payments not subject to deduction and therefore lack contribution toward supporting those services.   Moreover, the mere presence of such a large illegal population in the U.S. makes a mockery, not only of its immigration laws, but also the rule of law in general.  Persons displaying a wanton disregard for U.S. immigration laws clearly indicate they have no compunction toward ignoring the overall rule of law, as proven time and time again in those states like Arizona that are experiencing meteoric increases in crime rates associated with the influx of illegal immigrants.
 
The Arizona law is merely an enforcement of the federal laws but the Arizona laws are far more restrictive on racial profiling and overall less strict toward illegal immigrants than federal immigration law.  Due to rampant crime committed by illegal aliens, Arizona has pleaded with the federal government for years to enforce our nation’s immigration laws.  In fact when the present Department of Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano, was Governor of Arizona, she repeatedly requested that President Bush send National Guard troops to the borders to enforce these laws, enforcement she suddenly considers racist and, along with the rest of the Obama Administration, is neglecting.  The entire Arizona law is only 17 pages and can be found here.
 
The federal government should be involved with security, not healthcare. The primary Constitutional role of the federal government is to provide for the common defense, which includes securing our borders and protecting our legal citizens from invasion and harm.  Nowhere in the Constitution does it permit the federal government to be involved in healthcare, to the contrary it actually prohibits such involvement since it is not an enumerated power (The 10th Amendment; “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people”)
 
After Mexican President Calderon acted as Obama’s sock puppet and parroted his propaganda about the Arizona law before the U.S. Congress (resulting in an aberrant ovation on the part of its Democrat members) in exchange for the honor of a state dinner, he ultimately admitted to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that in Mexico when illegal aliens are caught, they “Send back them”:   One has to wonder - will Obama afford Isreali Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu the same opportunity to speak to Congress during his upcoming visit to the White House?  Will he even allow Netanyahu to enter the White House through the front door this time?

It seems Obama has plenty of time to bash Arizona, but has yet to call its governor and answer repeated pleas for assistance in enforcing federal immigration law—entirely unsatisfactory and unconstitutional behavior of a United States President.
 
I appreciate a good sense of humor, especially during times of crisis when it is self deprecating and appropriate, but I find it despicable to mock others and lie about their motives as Obama and the left have done with the Arizona law at a time when Arizonians are simply attempting to protect the civil and human rights of their citizens who are being raped, murdered, kidnapped and stolen from, as well as the civil and human rights of American citizens through the arrest of Muslim terrorists seeking to do our nation harm on the scale of 9/11.
 
It is very unfortunate when racism occurs.  In fact, the horrendous treatment of the Japanese in the 1940s by a liberal socialist Democrat President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was a tragic and shameful act in our nation’s history.  However, I believe the actions after 911 to protect our nation were far from racist.  President Bush expressed loudly and often that American Muslims were not to blame for the incident, and because of that emphasis the absence of backlash and violence against American Muslims was unprecedented and historically unique—I was proud of America for that significant accomplishment.  The airport security personnel went to such an extreme in order to make their security efforts non-racist toward Muslims they strip-searched more white pilots travelling on one way tickets and elderly citizens than those appearing to be Muslim.   I was personally stripped searched countless times after 9/11, the difference is I can’t blame it on any racial features I may outwardly portray.
 
The truth is that every American citizen has likely at some point or another experienced racism/discrimination.  Since the 1960s, Affirmative Action has inflicted more widespread racism than anything else that ever occurred in this country, and all of us have been discriminated against due to our religion (Obama’s Director of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, recently stated Catholics shouldn’t work in hospitals), economic status and yes, our race—White children attending mostly Hispanic high schools become victims of racism in many respects.  I certainly don’t believe the United States is a racist nation.  If America is so bad, why are these illegal immigrants fighting so hard to stay here?   I believe all racism exists on the political left and that the nefarious focus on race they have brought to bear on this country is solely meant to further their political power.  From their hyphenated American group politics to their ethnic studies programs implemented in High Schools and universities throughout the country that have acted as mini madras’s teaching history revisionism and hatred of America, their efforts have created levels of hate, resentment and divisiveness never before witnessed in our country.  Because of them, America is no longer that glorious melting pot where all races assimilate into one exceptional culture, but rather now the only country in the world that purposefully divides and characterizes their citizens according to race.  Just think about it; black citizens exist in the former slave holding countries of Canada, Britain and France but have you ever heard of an African-Canadian, or African-Britain or an African-Frenchman?  That’s because in the U.S. “race” has become an industry with significant financial and opportunistic gain at stake.
 
As for Obama, I realize the Left has been using the accusation of racism ad nauseam on every occasion someone voices honest opposition to President Obama’s policies and incompetence.  This may be difficult to understand, but I don’t disagree with Obama because he is half white or half black or whatever the liberals see him to be in their obsession with racial division and identity politics. I disagree with Obama based solely on his socialist policies and his condescending, pompous attitude that does not permit him to take responsibility for anything, but rather point the finger of blame at others for everything he is responsible for.   The mocking and demagoguery he undertook during the campaign that continues to this day has unmasked him, making him largely seen as a hypocrite and divider by those paying attention.  Moreover, polls show he is the most divisive president in the history of our nation: 

All this emanated from a candidate who received such widespread support and initial popularity as president that the media declared it unprecedented.  How can those Americans, who voted for him and supported him in such vast numbers knowing quite well he was black, now be considered racist if they disagree with his policies after realizing how grossly he misrepresented himself?  Moreover Obama has severely damaged relationships with our allies, is appeasing our enemies and is attempting to destroy the principles upon which our nation was founded while conducting a world-wide apology tour for America and her values, all of which point to why he has the lowest approval rating at this point in his presidency than any preceding president.  Obama is possibly the most unaccomplished, inexperienced and incompetent man to ever hold the office of president in any country.
 
What is great about our nation is that, for now, we are still free to speak and disagree with our government and its leaders.  That has been a cherished American freedom since its founding.  But for our great Republic to survive it needs an informed citizenry as expressed by our founders, "Wisdom and knowledge, as well as virtue, diffused generally among the body of the people are necessary for the preservation of their rights and liberties."  This includes government officials.  When our nation’s leader of Homeland Security and its Attorney General bash the Arizona law and then subsequently admit they have not read it nor had been briefed on it, it causes me to wonder about the true motives of the current leadership.