Thread: Americans are fed up, coming up with their own solutions

With the United States now being run by what some refer to as a "rogue government" or a "soft dictatorship," some municipal governments and ordinary citizens are beginning a movement. Their goal is to take charge of certain issues at City Hall rather than inside the Beltway.

It's a bottom-up approach that intends to let the political elites in Washington duke it out over such things as "comprehensive immigration reform" while real change is effected at the local level.

In the battle over what to do about illegal immigration, two sides have formed. On one side, you find the Bush administration, the mainstream media, industries that want cheap labor, The Wall Street Journal 's editorial board and the Senate. On the other side, you have the House of Representatives, CNN's Lou Dobbs, talk radio and the vast majority of the American people.

With a top-down solution from Washington in a holding pattern, the people are starting to take charge.

My guess is that frustration in cities and towns that are overrun by illegal immigrants simply has reached a boiling point. People want to know why aliens who are arrested for crimes are not having their immigration status checked. They want to know why local police simply shrug their shoulders and say, "It's not our job." If city police respond to the robbery of a federally chartered bank, why shouldn't they help enforce immigration laws?

The people, in short, are not happy.

In Houston, a so-called "sanctuary city" for illegals, a group called Protect Our Citizens has formed to force a citywide vote on whether police should check immigration status when officers make arrests. Houston also has a policy that forbids officers from detaining anyone solely for being in the country illegally. Protect Our Citizens aims to gather 20,000 signatures to force those policies to change.

Signatures already have been gathered in San Bernardino, Calif., where gang violence and deteriorating schools have residents up in arms. Citizens there complain about Spanish replacing English in supermarkets, stores that showcase Mexican flags and crime related to illegal immigrants. So Joe Turner and his Save Our State group got to work.

They drafted a proposal known as the San Bernardino Illegal Immigration Relief Act, which calls for shutting down day-labor centers, banning landlords from renting apartments to undocumented immigrants and lifting permits from businesses that employ them. It failed to get through the City Council by a vote of 4 to 3. The proposal will soon go before the people in a special election unless opponents can tie it up in court.

The movement in San Bernardino has spread to Hazleton, Pa., a town of about 30,000, where the City Council is nearing approval of a similar ordinance. Mayor Lou Barletta, frustrated by Washington's inaction, was looking for a way to solve the problem when he came across the San Bernardino measure. To Mr. Barletta, it was a bottom-up way to protect his city's borders.

Illegal immigration elites in the worlds of politics, business and academia are in a snit. Armando Navarro, a University of California at Riverside professor (of ethnic studies, no less), is also coordinator for the National Alliance for Human Rights. He's working on a strategy to defeat the new movement. And, as liberals always do, he will utilize the courts.

He and others, like San Bernardino council member Gordon McGinnis, will tell you that this is an issue that must be handled by the federal government and that even if these local initiatives pass, they cannot be enforced.

This, of course, is a liberal talking point that is divorced from reality. Mr. McGinnis wants the federal government to be in charge because the federal government is on his side.

So let the battle be joined. Call it "The People vs. the Elites," and sit back and see who wins. The people already have triumphed with the election of Brian Bilbray in San Diego, Proposition 200 in Arizona and new illegal immigration restrictions in Georgia.

Whether or not the elites like it, what happens over the next few months in Houston, San Bernardino and Hazleton may very well tell us whether a true movement of government "by the people and for the people" is under way.

Lynn Woolley is a nationally syndicated talk show host. His e-mail address is lynn@be logical.com.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... 0ec9b.html

So let the battle be joined. Call it "The People vs. the Elites," and sit back and see who wins. The people already have triumphed with the election of Brian Bilbray in San Diego, Proposition 200 in Arizona and new illegal immigration restrictions in Georgia.

Whether or not the elites like it, what happens over the next few months in Houston, San Bernardino and Hazleton may very well tell us whether a true movement of government "by the people and for the people" is under way.

Code:

Boy I hope so!!!!

William:

Wondering if you can get copies of some of these things that we as citizens could use to draft our own? Imagine the shock when citizens start showing up at the town/city hall board meetings and submitting these for consideration all over the country.

I in a heart beat would draft such a document to summit to our elected officials here in Peekskill...just need a basic format.

Boy I hope so!!!!

Me too CB!

Sounds like a grassroots groundswell building!!

Their stupid marches woke the sleeping dragon!

The battle is joined.
I have some friends that live in Hazelton and the proposed ordinance WILL pass. Let Hazelton fire the first volley!

Alturact, Very informative article!!!!!

PINTO
the Hazleton website has their entire document posted.

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