Thread: Allen West: GOP ready to steal defeat from the jaws of victory in 2014 midterms

Allen West

Looks like the GOP may be getting ready to steal defeat from the jaws of victory in the 2014 midterms.

Here's why: http://allenbwest.com/2014/01/gop-ch...y-immigration/

GOP again chooses politics over policy on immigration

Written by Allen West on January 22, 2014


Photo: benswann.com

I find it unbelievable that the Republican Party may find a way to steal defeat from the jaws of victory in this very important 2014 mid-term election. Looks like they’re getting ready to step in it regarding immigration.

A great editorial in Investors Business Daily titled “House GOP Plans to Save Obama with Immigration Reform” just makes me cringe.

Republicans should own the issue of immigration. After all, the last time — 1986 — the nation took the “comprehensive” approach that Democrats now propose, nothing ended up being fixed in exchange for the amnesty for millions of illegals. And today, insisting on securing the border before doing anything else is no-lose politically.

Instead it seems the GOP is more concerned about being demonized by the liberal progressive Left on the issue of illegal immigration and will find a way to cave, or as DC calls it “compromise.” Ever noticed that when Democrats are in power, you never hear the word compromise used? During the first two years of Obama’s presidency when Democrats controlled the House and Senate did you ever hear the media talk about compromise? In DC and political lexicon, compromise simply means Republicans give in to Democrats, on everything.

So instead of recognizing illegal immigration is a multi-headed hydra affecting our national security, economy, healthcare, education, and local criminality, and must be dealt with by sound policy, everyone appears to be rushing to gain favor from the Hispanic electorate. It’s all about politics.

The House GOP is poised to use a piecemeal strategy as cover to enact, more or less, the Democrats’ agenda on immigration — giving the party millions of dependable Democratic votes as a consequence.

As reported by The Hill last week, Senate Democrats were told by Obama to expect House Speaker John Boehner to succeed this year in passing an immigration reform that would include amnesty because he believes Republicans fear opposing it would render them politically vulnerable. A tell-tale sign: Boehner recently hired former John McCain immigration specialist Becky Tallent. Boehner will supposedly release a one-page list of immigration “principles” some time before Obama delivers his State of the Union address to Congress on Tuesday.

According to Investors Business Daily, last month a Pew poll found 55 percent of Hispanics believe finding a way for illegals to live and work in the U.S. lawfully without fear of deportation is more important than giving them amnesty.

We must first do what the federal government failed to do in 1986: secure our porous border. We must end the practice of American taxpayer-funded benefits going to individuals here illegally. A great start would be ending tax loopholes for illegals.

We must have economic policy reforms that first of all get Americans back to work — we already have wage depression for middle-income families and a genocidal unemployment situation in the black community.

We need to work with out agriculture industry to develop a means by which we can have a guest worker program that is tracked. Comprehensive reform in DC-speak means a really big and convoluted political remedy that no one reads before they vote on it. And in the long term, the issue is never resolved, only exacerbated.

The GOP must persuade all Americans they can deliver on prosperity by reversing Obama’s big government policies in order to gain majority support.

Democrats play the political game of collectivism and the result from their big government schemes is greater dependency on the welfare state. Republicans — principled Republicans — must enact policy through regular order procedure that advances individual success, opportunity, and prosperity. That is the American dream, and why so many have sacrificed and ventured to our shores — legally.

When I was on Capitol Hill I had a very astute mentor by the name of Judy Schneider who worked at the Congressional Research Service. I will never forget the first time I sat down with this renowned Congressional expert when she imparted to me three key things about Congress: policy, politics, and procedure. She was very direct in explaining that two of the three make you a statesman. One of the three makes you a DC politician. But understanding all three will make you a force to be reckoned with, and a threat to the powers to be.

Where do you think the leading members of the House GOP score on this scale? Will the House GOP cave on this issue of illegal immigration and grant amnesty for an ill-conceived “political” gain, or will they stand on principle as true statesmen?

Tags: amnesty, GOP, illegals, immigration

http://allenbwest.com/2014/01/gop-ch...y-immigration/

The GOP is on Suicide Watch once again; attacking its base like clockwork