In the 2000 movie Gladiator, there’s a poignant scene in which evil Roman Emperor Commodus Aurelius declares that the Senate shouldn’t exist, because “it takes an emperor to rule an empire.” That portion of one of my favorite films used to stir frustration against an antagonist in a movie plot. Now, that same self-serving sentiment expressed by Hollywood’s Roman Emperor seems to be taking root in our nation’s capital. The Obama Administration seems dead set on advancing their ideological agenda, regardless of the opinion of the United States Congress.
In February of this year, the Administration decided it would push the radical same sex marriage agenda, by abdicating its constitutional requirement to enforce the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). DOMA was passed by the Congress and signed by then-President Bill Clinton back in 1996, and it included a legal provision requiring all presidential administrations to defend court challenges to the law through the Justice Department. Since the Obama Administration doesn’t agree with the purpose of the Defense of Marriage Act, they’ve decided to dismiss the Constitution, and the Obama Justice Department has decided not to defend DOMA when challenges arise. Their decision not to defend the act assures that challenges will arise, for the ACLU and other radical groups have sought to dismantle DOMA since its inception. Ignoring the Congress and American People on DOMA was bad enough, but now the Administration is at it again. This time, they’re prepared to implement the DREAM Act, though Congress defeated the measure last December. Just as they did with DOMA, Obama and his team are preparing to use bureaucracy and regulations to achieve what they could not get from Capitol Hill. Earlier this week Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told Senators that her department is prepared to carry out operations as if the DREAM Act had passed last December.
The DREAM Act is a backdoor amnesty for illegal immigrants, simple as that. It is a piece of legislation that seeks to offer an amnesty and direct path to citizenship to millions of illegal immigrants who came to this country as children. While this sounds relatively reasonable, it is a truly a Trojan Horse: the Act includes a provision that allows minors under 16 to be granted immediate legal status (amnesty), and for them to then apply for legal status for the parents and / or guardians that brought them into America illegally in the first place. So, in effect, it is a full-blown amnesty if by another name. The American People have repeatedly expressed their opposition to an amnesty for illegal immigrants. We correctly understand that granting immediate legal status to millions of illegal immigrants undermines the rule of law, American Values and American culture.
Just as Lyndon Johnson used the Great Society Act in 1965 to “buy” the support of minority demographics, so the left is using the DREAM Act to carve out a new voting bloc. They understand that the majority of Latino voters adhere to the conservative principles of hard work, family values and personal freedom. As such, they are desperate for a way to expand their support among this fastest-growing of American communities. The most obvious way: undermine legal Latino citizens, who share conservative principles, and favor illegal immigrants. Thus, Democrats in the Senate plan to help illegal immigrants break the law, jump in front of the immigration line and give them benefits that not even legal American citizens receive. In addition to being a back door to amnesty, the DREAM Act provides in-state tuition rates at all public universities to these newly legalized U.S. residents. Even current U.S. citizens are not given this benefit. Just like LBJ’s Great Society, the DREAM Act is all about vote buying. Of course, buying votes comes at a cost to millions of legal American Citizens, including legal and native born Latino citizens. So, just as the Great Society Act cost the country $ billions, and actually destroyed family cohesion in this country, notably in minority communities, so the DREAM Act will cost $ billions and make millions of newly minted citizens totally dependent on the Federal government.
The Obama Administration has succeeded yet again in ignoring the U.S. Constitution and the rule of law, while simultaneously destroying the dignity of the individual. Instead of treating all folks fairly by applying the rule of law to the current immigration debate, the Administration will exploit current illegal aliens for a shot at political gain, even though it will come at a cost to millions American citizens of all racial backgrounds. It looks increasingly like Barack Obama is FDR and LBJ all rolled up into one: a president bent on the destruction of the American system of constitutional governance and the American tradition of equality and justice for all. This is all done for the sake of preserving his party’s power.
