http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.a ... E_ID=50675


Tuesday, June 20, 2006



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Meet a man with an agenda
'You bet your life I do,' says Tom Tancredo in new book

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Posted: June 20, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern




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© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
WASHINGTON – Some people get elected to Congress to advance their careers.

Tom Tancredo, R-Colo. and the chairman of the House Immigration Reform Caucus, went to Washington to advance an agenda.

He's not ashamed of that agenda. In fact, he writes in his first book, "In Mortal Danger," he's quite proud of it.

"I have always wanted to advance the agenda of limited government and enhanced individual freedom," he says. "Although it sounds a bit audacious, I want to participate in the reintroduction in this country of the concept that America is a unique place, not just a place where we can reap the economic and political benefits afforded by the labors of those who lived before us. I want our borders to be secure and those who have violated them to be deprived of the benefits lawful citizens enjoy, lest the concept of citizenship be rendered meaningless. I want immigrants seeking that citizenship to assimilate and sever their ties to their countries of origin. And I want us to encourage – not discourage – that assimilation. Perhaps even more audaciously, I want to do what I can to defend the West in the clash of civilizations that threatens humanity with a return to the Dark Ages."

Tancredo has become the "lightning rod" in the Congress on the issue of borders and illegal immigration. But "In Mortal Danger" shows he is hardly a one-dimensional, one-issue, predictable Johnny-one-note.

Yes, Tancredo is passionate about borders, passionate about enforcing duly enacted laws of Congress as they apply to immigration matters. But it's all part of a much bigger picture for Tancredo – a picture for which he is willing to make personal sacrifices and take political risks.

"The battle to hold a diverse nation together by a common adherence to the American creed – which is most easily defined by our Constitution and our founders' Declaration of Independence as opposed to a creed exemplified by an almost religious devotion to diversity – seems worth the effort," he writes.

The battle has often placed him at odds with not only the predictable enemies.

"Amazingly, these items on my agenda have put me at odds with my own party and President George W. Bush," he admits. "You must understand, however, that I never imagined that these differences would be the chief hallmark of my tenure in Congress. I ran for office with the intent of being a team player. I assumed, naively, that my goals coincided with the party's and the president's. It hasn't worked out that way."

Yet, this lone wolf of a congressman – this renegade, this maverick – has, seemingly against all odds, advanced his agenda over the wishes of his party's establishment, his president and much of the Washington bureaucracy and the nation's media elite.

"In Mortal Danger" is his story. But it is more than that. It is his manifesto for the future. It is a prophetic warning of what lies ahead for the country if his agenda is not adopted in its entirety and soon.


Ironically, Tancredo the maverick – the man who was warned he had no future in Congress – has outlasted and outperformed some of his staunchest critics.

"Former House majority leader Tom DeLay, R-TX, once called me into his office to tell me I had 'no career' in Congress," he writes. "He was pretty specific about the possible problems I could face if I didn't change my tactics."

Tancredo today is more optimistic and upbeat than he has ever been before. Little more than a year ago, he could count solid votes of support in the House on one or two hands. Today his immigration reform caucus numbers nearly 200-strong.

"So with or without the blessing of my party or the president, and for as long as I have a forum, I will continue to raise my voice and use my vote in Congress," he pledges. "I will continue to rail against the permissive attitudes regarding immigration enforcement held by most of my colleagues and the president. I will always challenge their adherence to the idea that borders are anachronistic barriers to the free flow of goods, services and people. We in government are collectively not doing enough to protect America from a range of threats that are working against us, and we seem oblivious to the fact that these threats place us in mortal danger."