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Indiana Gazette, IN
July 31 2014
Commentary: Sensible immigration reform needed
by DAN THOMASSON on July 30, 2014 10:10 AM
President Barack Obama three weeks ago attended July 4 ceremonies for
25 members of the U.S. armed forces who were sworn in as newly minted
American citizens. It was a quiet, dignified and impressive event that
punctuated the importance of somehow solving what has become the
nation's most pressing domestic problem: the lack of coherent
immigration policy.
More than that, it seemed an oasis of sanity in the political upheaval
that is bound to be a major issue in the coming midterm elections and
the crisis that deepens daily, aggravated by an onslaught of homeless
children at our borders and the refusal of the Congress to pass the
fiscal wherewithal to deal with it before the coming August recess.
If House Speaker John Boehner is to salvage any hope of being regarded
in history as anything even close to mediocre, he needs to get his
majority Republican troops in line with a reasonable solution or reach
some compromise with the administration.
The president has asked for more than $3 billion to meet the current
challenge, and under the circumstances, it seems like a reasonable
request. If Republicans on the far right don't think so, Boehner
should demand they at least propose their own solutions.
What's the alternative? Should we haul tens of thousands of children
back to some jungle or urban nightmare and just dump them?
Be that as it may, during his brief remarks to the new citizens Obama
noted that they had stepped up to risk their lives to prove the
sincerity of their intentions, that as a nation of immigrants millions
before them had proven that democracy would never have been sustained
without their sacrifice.
The president quoted no less an authority on what it means to be an
American than a naturalized citizen whose own youthful escape from the
horrors of oppression early in the last century is an inspiration for
us all.
Master chef, restaurateur, author, entrepreneur and philanthropist and
Presidential Medal of Freedom winner George Mardikian survived the
genocidal policies imposed on his Armenian homeland to dedicate his
life to promoting the freedoms he found here.
"You who have been born in America, I wish I could make you understand
what it is like not to be an American -- not to have been an American
all your life -- and then, suddenly, to be one for that moment and
forever after," Obama quoted Mardikian, whose 1956 book, the "Song of
America," has sold millions of copies.
The president noted that in many sites around the country that same
day immigrants were becoming citizens. Many had sacrificed for years
to get "to this moment and forever after."
Whatever one thinks of this president, to believe that nothing from
now through the election of a new chief executive two years from now
can be expected is perhaps the saddest and in many ways the most
frightening prospect this nation has seen in a long time. Immigration
needs to be solved as do a half dozen crucial issues or why should we
elect a Congress?
Mardikian's biography lists his political affiliation as Republican
but it was a Democrat president, Harry Truman, who awarded him the
nation's highest civilian honor for his contribution to liberty.
He was a friend of Herbert Hoover, a Republican, and is quoted by a
Democrat, Obama.
Is it not possible today then for Republicans and Democrats to
recognize the contribution of each other for the good of the whole
without sacrificing one's convictions? If not, Mardikian and those who
were inspired by his view of a shining, welcoming country where one
could live in peace and freedom and prosper is increasingly fantasy.
Ideology certainly has a place in politics but it should not override
every reasonable consideration. One's social beliefs are his or her
own but they need not be imposed on those who hold other ideas, and
there always should be room it seems to me for compromise.
An unwillingness to reform what clearly requires fixing, a capricious,
hide-ously expensive (in both money and its toll on our citizenry)
lack of coherence in immigration policy, could be the rock this
country eventually founders on.
If we don't find a way to accommodate the Mardik-ians among the masses
who want to huddle here, where will we be ultimately?
http://www.indianagazette.com/news/opinions/commentary-sensible-immigration-reform-needed,20318943/
July 31 2014
Commentary: Sensible immigration reform needed
by DAN THOMASSON on July 30, 2014 10:10 AM
President Barack Obama three weeks ago attended July 4 ceremonies for
25 members of the U.S. armed forces who were sworn in as newly minted
American citizens. It was a quiet, dignified and impressive event that
punctuated the importance of somehow solving what has become the
nation's most pressing domestic problem: the lack of coherent
immigration policy.
More than that, it seemed an oasis of sanity in the political upheaval
that is bound to be a major issue in the coming midterm elections and
the crisis that deepens daily, aggravated by an onslaught of homeless
children at our borders and the refusal of the Congress to pass the
fiscal wherewithal to deal with it before the coming August recess.
If House Speaker John Boehner is to salvage any hope of being regarded
in history as anything even close to mediocre, he needs to get his
majority Republican troops in line with a reasonable solution or reach
some compromise with the administration.
The president has asked for more than $3 billion to meet the current
challenge, and under the circumstances, it seems like a reasonable
request. If Republicans on the far right don't think so, Boehner
should demand they at least propose their own solutions.
What's the alternative? Should we haul tens of thousands of children
back to some jungle or urban nightmare and just dump them?
Be that as it may, during his brief remarks to the new citizens Obama
noted that they had stepped up to risk their lives to prove the
sincerity of their intentions, that as a nation of immigrants millions
before them had proven that democracy would never have been sustained
without their sacrifice.
The president quoted no less an authority on what it means to be an
American than a naturalized citizen whose own youthful escape from the
horrors of oppression early in the last century is an inspiration for
us all.
Master chef, restaurateur, author, entrepreneur and philanthropist and
Presidential Medal of Freedom winner George Mardikian survived the
genocidal policies imposed on his Armenian homeland to dedicate his
life to promoting the freedoms he found here.
"You who have been born in America, I wish I could make you understand
what it is like not to be an American -- not to have been an American
all your life -- and then, suddenly, to be one for that moment and
forever after," Obama quoted Mardikian, whose 1956 book, the "Song of
America," has sold millions of copies.
The president noted that in many sites around the country that same
day immigrants were becoming citizens. Many had sacrificed for years
to get "to this moment and forever after."
Whatever one thinks of this president, to believe that nothing from
now through the election of a new chief executive two years from now
can be expected is perhaps the saddest and in many ways the most
frightening prospect this nation has seen in a long time. Immigration
needs to be solved as do a half dozen crucial issues or why should we
elect a Congress?
Mardikian's biography lists his political affiliation as Republican
but it was a Democrat president, Harry Truman, who awarded him the
nation's highest civilian honor for his contribution to liberty.
He was a friend of Herbert Hoover, a Republican, and is quoted by a
Democrat, Obama.
Is it not possible today then for Republicans and Democrats to
recognize the contribution of each other for the good of the whole
without sacrificing one's convictions? If not, Mardikian and those who
were inspired by his view of a shining, welcoming country where one
could live in peace and freedom and prosper is increasingly fantasy.
Ideology certainly has a place in politics but it should not override
every reasonable consideration. One's social beliefs are his or her
own but they need not be imposed on those who hold other ideas, and
there always should be room it seems to me for compromise.
An unwillingness to reform what clearly requires fixing, a capricious,
hide-ously expensive (in both money and its toll on our citizenry)
lack of coherence in immigration policy, could be the rock this
country eventually founders on.
If we don't find a way to accommodate the Mardik-ians among the masses
who want to huddle here, where will we be ultimately?
http://www.indianagazette.com/news/opinions/commentary-sensible-immigration-reform-needed,20318943/