Illegal immigrants within our borders have rallied again to demand what they choose to call their “rights” – and legal immigrants are divided on the issue. They are divided on the issues because they are divided on the matter of character. They are divided on the matter of obedience to the laws of our nation.
I’m one of the legal immigrants – one who believes our nation’s laws must be obeyed. My ancestors obeyed the law when they came to this country. Yes, they needed work. Yes, they came here because they wanted a better life for their families, and they had many needs, but they obeyed the law. They did not demand government benefits. Our nation was not then in the habit of taking money from one group and giving it to another. Whatever their need, my ancestors earned it or did without.
Common laborers, and not college professors, they were not well-educated people, but they were educated in a very important matter – character. They had been taught, and had embraced thoroughly, a list of character traits that molded them first into law-abiding immigrants, and eventually into law-abiding citizens. They knew that, whatever else they gave their families, they must give them a love for moral excellence – and moral excellence demands obedience to those in authority. So they taught their families to obey the law.
Now I, a descendent of hard-working ancestors, am being told to move over. I’m being told that these millions who choose not to obey the law have as much right to this land and its government handouts as we who obey the law. I am told to let people illegally run through the house that is my nation, stealing whatever they want. I am urged to help them do it. And when they choose to make a mockery of my nation, its flag, and its anthem, I am urged to ease the way for them.
Susan Estrich wrote Monday on FOXnews.com, “We need to draw a line between the newest arrivals and long time residents, between those with families here, and those who just crossed the border. We need a sensible border protection plan, but we also need a system that allows people who have tried to follow the law to become citizens and not to become felons.”
Hers is one of many confused voices speaking on the issue. Ms. Estrich wants us to believe that illegal immigrants have “tried to follow the law” despite the fact they flung our law in our faces when they first arrived. She wants us to award long-term law-breakers with citizenship, and punish short-term lawbreakers with deportation. She wants to encourage outlaws to take over a nation that has long been based on law. She wants to exchange moral excellence for moral depravity.
Character obeys the law, whether that law forbids murder, rape, child abuse, bank robbery, or illegal immigration. Character does not choose between laws it likes and those it does not like. Character does not choose to label as “rights” those things which are, by law, labeled “forbidden”.
Ms. Estrich threatened a loss of votes for any politician who tries to uphold laws that negatively affect illegal entry into our country, but character does not base decisions on votes. Character seeks moral excellence, and that means strict adherence to every law.
Character obeys the law, and punishes, without exception, all of those who do not obey.
That’s the view from my chair. What’s your view?