Finally. A common-sense and reasonable answer to illegal immigration! And wouldn't you know that it would come from Ted and John? My personal problem with illegal immigration is that, well, it's illegal. And rewarding this illegal behavior with an amnesty would be like punishing petty theives by giving them gift cards.
Not only is it illegal, it's an affront to all those who stood in line, filled out the forms, spoke to the lawyers, filled out the forms
again, etc. Those who played by the rules, in other words. I could see no equitable solution for the people already here, or really, for those who are on their way.
Then came McCain and Kennedy.
The Post has an article about McCain dropping his bombshell in front of a PoliSci class at the U.S. Naval Academy.
"Just by coincidence, Senator Teddy Kennedy and I, in the last couple of days, after several months of negotiations, have reached an agreement for an immigration proposal that we will be putting out next week," McCain confided Thursday to a first-year political science class at the U.S. Naval Academy here. For the 8 million to 13 million illegal immigrants in the country, the senator said, "our proposal is along the lines of make them pay a fine of a couple thousand dollars, make them work for three years, and after three years they can get in the back of the line for a green card and then eventually become citizens."
This not only takes care of my need for legal reparations, it gives the immigrant a chance to stay in the country legally but without moving them to the head of the line in regard to legalizing their status. It's fucking brilliant!
"But what about securing the border?" you may ask. Well, Teddy and John have addressed that too.
The McCain-Kennedy plan, he said, would "spend a lot of money and a lot of effort" to secure the southern border, using high-tech tools such as unmanned aerial vehicles and lasers. It would also have a "guest-worker program" that, unlike Bush's, would lead to legalization. "If there's a job Americans won't do, someone who can have pools of workers in countries with tamper-proof documentation, they can come and do those jobs and over a long period of time become eligible for a green card and eventually citizenship."
In this quote, McCain makes it clear that THIS IS NOT AN AMNESTY -
Most controversial will be the McCain-Kennedy plan to allow illegal immigrants to pay a fine, wait three years, then apply for legal residency and citizenship. "Don't reward them for breaking the law, but also give them an opportunity to become citizens,"
This topic has troubled the waters of civil discourse for far too long. I'm proud that it was the "godfather" of liberal politics and the "straight talk express" who were the ones to figure out a real and equatible solution. It gives me hope that despite the antagonism, the power grabs, and the vicious rhetoric from the right that there're still those who look beyond the politics of the day and work for the good of all the country.