Why are we devaluing citizenship? Your status as a citizen and the rights as a citizen are supposed to be valued. They are supposed to be valued enough that you don’t want to lose them. They are supposed to be valued enough that immigrants study our country in order to become citizens and have the rights of US citizens. Our country is based on laws. Our laws allow 300 million plus to live together in relative harmony and pursue life, liberty, and happiness. Yet more and more our country is about avoiding and or ignoring the laws. How do we teach immigrants about the value of laws when we have our elected leaders selectively decide which to enforce based on political expediency or the results of the latest poll. Laws are not supposed to be changed at the drop of the hat. That’s why we have a process of presenting bills, having them debated in a free and open manner and then voted on. Then the people can decide whether the bill passers get to continue or not. We have a Constitution so that the rights of all are protected. And the Constitution has provisions for change. But the provisions are so stringent that people avoid that process by ignoring laws or by executive fiat and daring the people to challenge the executive order. Citizens get to vote and now that right is becoming a joke. In many places you can still vote even if you don’t prove who you are because making people have an ID is racial profiling. If I were a member of a minority race I think I would be insulted by being told my people are not smart enough to be able to get an ID. Racial profiling is a catch all phrase that is used to bypass laws … and common sense. They say Florida cannot purge their voting lists because the results impact too much on minority Hispanics. Say again? If a large percentage of illegal immigrants in any community are from one ethnic group it would be stupid to not expect more of them to be affected by cleaning up the lists. Yet that obvious point is now used to stop a process that only increases the value of citizenship and the validity of an election. To oppose such is clearly meant to devalue citizenship in order to change the election. There are many things in this country that need change. But we need to change them through laws openly debated and that express the will of the people while keeping for all the freedoms expressed and protected by the Constitution. Not being willing to allow that process clearly shows contempt for the Constitution and the citizens of this country.
Excellent post. Unfortunately the value of everything in the US is going down. The dollar, the morals, the values of hard work, and now... the value of citizenship. Congrats Liberals.
Shiny, I couldn't say this better. You should mail it to Congress! Yes, that's true for those of us who came in legally. The ones who come in illegally often have contempt for us. Maybe I'm oversimplifying things, but sometimes I think I can pick up who is and isn't legal at motels and places like that out at the coast just from how they relate to us. Some of them have been downright hostile for no reason I could see other than that. I've probably said this before, but when people focus too much on race and make a big show of worrying themselves sick about doing the "right" thing, I start to look at them more closely. It's ironic, but their concern is sometimes in direct proportion to their degree of racism. To add insult to injury, they are also trying to twist things to make those of us--like the ones trying to clean up Florida's voter list--look like racists. They're counting on us being too dumb to see them for what they are. I'm hoping that someday before I die, we'll have a government that's not run by people like that, but I'm not holding my breath.
