By Armstrong Williams
The specter of terrorism and tough economic times, have brought the immigration debate to the forefront of American politics in a big way. The average citizen sees the flood of immigrants entering the country as a symbol of the lack of border security in the midst of a particularly dangerous time for America. In addition, the growth in illegal immigration is seen as diluting the value of citizenship, cheapening the labor pool, and leading to a lower standard of life for actual citizens. Some of the rhetoric surrounding the debate has unfortunately resorted to anti-ethnic bigotry, but the fundamentals come down to jobs and security. Thus, the reaction to the current wave of immigration has been similar to those of prior waves of migration: the new lumps in our stew froth and steam, and sometime bubble over, in the melting process that is American society.
The schizophrenia over how to act on this issue has resulted in the government agencies overseeing immigration become so bogged down in bureaucracy and politics that they have lost both the capability and the willingness to carry out the basic immigrations laws. Thus, for illegal immigrants seeking jobs in this country, there is actually a disincentive to playing by the rules. They know that if they report voluntarily, their applications for work permits, etc., might be sempiternally ensnared within the system, putting them in a state of limbo as they await their fate. Many would much rather take the chance of detection and possible deportation rather than place their livelihoods in the hands of some intractable government bureaucracy. On the other hand businesses, which increasingly rely on immigrant labor, have struggled to come up with a way to comply with the law while meeting their bottom line. It is a frustrating situation all the way around.
In a very interesting way, the immigration quandary poses a deep question about the nature and viability of American Democracy, as we know it. On the one hand, Americans continue to view citizenship within the nation-state as a prerequisite to the full enjoyment of the rights, privileges and responsibilities that have come to characterize the American way of life. On the other hand, the basis of our economic system seems to require labor input at conditions of less than perfect liberty. Whether in the form of outsourcing jobs abroad, or the tacit agreement between government and corporate America to turn a blind eye to undocumented workers, we find ourselves deriving a large part of our livelihoods and consumer goods from cheap labor. As it plays abroad, we attempt to break down the door to markets such as China, and open our markets to goods from these countries, yet find ourselves compromised when it comes to demanding that these countries respect the labor rights of its citizens. We are loathe to insist as a precondition of trade that China adopt minimum wage, maximum work week, and worker safety, because we are attracted to the price at which we can purchase labor and the goods that only semi-slave labor can afford. We have made the pragmatic decision in the past to form relationships with repressive regimes and therefore secure oil and other resources, only to have it bite us in the rear later on down the road. At home, we have a tough time speaking with one voice about illegal immigration and its potential pitfalls because we are in love with the strong work ethic and skills we can employ at cheap wages — wages which are depressed by the fact that undocumented workers have few options and cannot complain about low pay and poor working conditions without fear of deportation. What are the long-term implications of such a disjointed practice on the American polity? If measures are not taken soon to resolve this discrepancy, the problems will continue to get out of hand as immigrants have children who, by virtue of their American birth are citizens and can vote. And they will grow up in a world in which their parents’ labor and civil rights are disrespected. They will eventually come to realize the game that is being played, and they will resent it. When they come of age as a population, especially in a context in which America will be a majority minority nation, what will the reaction of the state be? Will this spell an end to democracy, as we know it?
The question comes down fundamentally to who we are as a nation. Are we capitalists at the core, who happen to enjoy a democratic-styled government, geared to the elite, or are we really a democracy, which upholds democratic principles first, and encompasses under these principles a market-based economy? The bottom line is that capitalism is not a fundamental virtue, whereas liberty, and its political ally, democracy really are. Any steps we take now to reinforce the democratic process will ultimately help, not hinder, our country as we move to a future with people of all backgrounds sharing the American space.
www.armstrongwilliams.com
“The Armstrong Williams Show” is broadcast daily on XM Satellite Power 169 from 9:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
For Release: February 25, 2009
Contact: David Almasi at (202) 543-4110 x11 or e-mail dalmasi@nationalcenter.org
Washington, D.C. - Three apologies were offered by New York Post editors and its owner, Rupert Murdoch, for an editorial cartoon said to compare President Barack Obama to a chimpanzee. None of these apologies were accepted. Project 21 Chairman Mychal Massie says it is time to recognize the protests for what they are: revenge and an attempt to silence conservatives.
“When Al Sharpton was investigated for tax evasion, it was the New York Post that broke the story. Now Sharpton seems to be blowing this cartoon out of proportion to get even. I also think others are using ambiguous allegations in a larger attempt to punish Rupert Murdoch and his media empire for not toeing the liberal line,” said Project 21 chairman Mychal Massie. “There is a tenuous link, at best, between this cartoon and Obama.”
In a February 18 editorial cartoon in the New York Post, drawn by Sean Delonas, two policemen have shot a chimpanzee. One cop says to the other: “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.” Al Sharpton calls the cartoon proof of the paper’s “racism” and has led two protests at the Post’s headquarters. He is now asking the Federal Communications Commission to reconsider a waiver awarded to Rupert Murdoch - who as also owns the Fox News Channel - to own more than one newspaper and television station in a city.
A petition circulated by the NAACP claims: “Your publication sadly reminded me of the reality that even in 2009, when an African-American man holds the highest post in the nation, racism is alive and well in the United States.” The NAACP petition also implies that the cartoon itself could encourage an attempt on Obama’s life.
Murdoch offered an apology to those who were offended, but noted that “[t]he only intent of that cartoon was to mock a badly written piece of legislation.”
The cartoon specifically recalls a recent chimpanzee attack in Stamford, Connecticut. The depiction of the chimpanzee bears no physical resemblance to Obama. Furthermore, Obama is not the author of the economic “stimulus” legislation referred to in the cartoon. In his address to Congress on February 24, Obama noted: “I asked Congress to send me a recovery plan… I am grateful that this Congress delivered.”
Project 21’s Massie noted: “If these critics had tried to tie the cartoon to black congressmen such as James Clyburn or Charlie Rangel, they might have had a leg to stand on. They aimed bigger, and this misfire exposes them. Sharpton is now asking the FCC to investigate the validity of Murdoch’s media holdings. It’s just another step along the path to their true goal of silencing conservative speech. This is just a battle in a larger war to reinstate the so-called ‘Fairness Doctrine’ so liberals can impose their political agenda on a free-market-driven talk radio.”
“The criticism of cartoonists and parodies is also selective,” added Massie. “Why aren’t Sharpton and the NAACP complaining about much more blatant Bushorchimp.com? Where was the outrage when syndicated cartoonist Ted Rall called Condoleezza Rice ‘Aunt Jemima’ and depicted her calling herself a ‘house nigga’? How about when Jeff Danziger portrayed Rice as Prissy from ‘Gone With the Wind’? Their failure to condemn those blatantly racist acts exposes the petty political motivations of their current attack on Murdoch and the Post.”
Project 21, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization sponsored by the National Center for Public Policy Research, has been a leading voice of the African-American community since 1992. For more information, contact David Almasi at (202) 543-4110 x11 or project21@nationalcenter.org, or visit Project 21’s website at www.project21.org/P21Index.html.
By Herman Cain
Consistent bad news will eventually lead to a bad attitude, and a bad attitude leads to failure. Just ask any high achiever in business, sports or any endeavor of life.
Since the summer of 2008, we have been fed a constant diet of more and more bad news about the economy, the credit crisis, the housing crisis, the recession, political scandals, a dysfunctional federal government, crooked politicians, crooked lenders, crooked borrowers and crooked executives.
We are constantly being reminded that it is going to take time to fix these problems, and that there are no quick fix solutions. We know that, but the Obama Administration and Congress continue to believe that they can spend us out of these problems. They can’t. The math does not work.
“Audacity of Hope” has been replaced with a Sea of Frustration.
People who are expecting President Obama to solve all of their problems will eventually become frustrated and disappointed, when they stop celebrating and wake up to what’s happening. We are on a race track to socialism.
Campaign promises about transparency, bipartisanship and no earmarks in the stimulus bill have already been broken. And as the mainstream media looks the other way and tries to rationalize the broken promises, the informed voters get more and more frustrated, while the uninformed voters stay stuck on stupid.
Republicans in Congress are frustrated that they are being ignored by the Democrats. Democrats are frustrated that the Republicans won’t just roll over and stop trying to slow things down, so they can pass all of this hurry-up legislation before even giddy Democratic voters wake up.
Many voters are frustrated with both the Democrats and the Republicans in Congress, because Congress is in denial of the coming economic earthquake, and has once again ignored all the warning signs and lessons from history.
As a result, We the People are in a bad mood with a bad attitude.
As expected, the stimulus checks of 2008 did not stop this economic crisis, but Congress and former President Bush did it anyway. The first $350 billion in stimulus spending did not stimulate banks to start doing what banks are supposed to do – lend money.
Before Obama was sworn in as president, Congress swiftly approved the second half of the first stimulus package for his administration to spend without having any idea of how it would be spent. How gullible are we supposed to be?
And while the Obama Administration was still figuring out how to spend that second $350 billion, the Democrat-controlled Congress passed another $789 billion so-called “Stimulus Bill” literally overnight. They did not bother to tell the public about the interest that will be required, which would put the bill at about $1 trillion dollars. That’s a million-million dollars.
Not one member of Congress can honestly say that they have read the bill.
But it is now the law.
The Obama Administration and some members of Congress are already hinting that they may need to spend even more money to turn the economy around, without seeing the results of the trillions of dollars already committed. That’s insane according to Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity.
The House of Representatives has become the House of Politicians. The Senate has become the United States “Spend-it”. And President Obama is still campaigning.
We the People need A New Voice.
© 2009 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.
By Harry R. Jackson, Jr.
This past week, Eric Holder, the nation’s first black Attorney General, got off to a rocky start. What could he be thinking, I asked myself as I watched the speech on C-Span. As he read his speech without the use of teleprompters or the dramatic flair of his friend, President Obama, Holder fumbled in his attempt to draw upon knowledge of history and instruct his fellow citizens about how to overcome the problem of race in our land. His timing and his delivery made me cringe as I watched his remarks. I knew instantly that Holder’s ineptness would reflect badly on his boss and the entire Obama administration.
Perhaps Holder’s problem began with a subtle misunderstanding of the role of the Attorney General. No, I am not talking about an understanding of the job description. I am talking about having a proper respect for how those greats in the Attorney General office helped change their world. Despite the lackluster performance of several recent AGs, this position has been responsible for setting the tone for both law enforcement and the direction of the nation’s concept of justice. For example, Robert Francis “Bobby” Kennedy served in this post from 1961 to 1964. He worked with his older brother, President John Kennedy, during the Cuban missile crisis and helped establish the legal foundations for the lasting impact of the civil rights movement. Kennedy’s visionary courage concerning the rights of blacks got him assassinated - just as civil rights champions, Dr. King, and Bobby’s brother – J.F.K.
Therefore, I was shocked by Holder’s statement last week in which he made the following statement, “…Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and I believe continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards.” Perhaps Holder’s view of the AG function was tainted by a combination of pride (in his own achievements) and personal racial bitterness. I am not qualified to assess the root causes for the flaws in his logic, yet as an African American I cringed when this affluent armchair intellectual called us a nation of cowards.
Cowardice could hardly describe the sacrifice of Medger Evers, Rosa Parks, and thousands of nameless Americans that marched with Dr. King. Hundreds of martyrs, both black and white, gave up their lives for the advancement of colored people in the last century. In addition, America is changing culturally. I pastor a church that has 22 different nationalities worshiping together. This weekend, my church members chose to spend time together – not just talking about race - we are working together to change America. White families are adopting disadvantaged black children and interracial couples are raising their families in the safety of our social network.
Even if someone agrees that Americans should be even more courageous in righting the collective wrongs of our culture, we have come a long way. My fear is that Holder was making an announcement “in code” or a veiled threat to right some “imagined” wrongs that many of us do not have on our radar screen. These wrongs probably go far beyond the race issue.
Instead of celebrating the nation’s destruction of the ultimate glass ceiling for minorities – electing first black president, Holder misjudged the unique opportunity he had been given to intensify the nation’s racial reconciliation efforts. If he had been encouraging, he could have opened the hearts of millions of Americans and gained countless allies. Every parent knows that you can get a baby to take its first, bold steps easier by lovingly calling its name than by threatening a bewildered kid, who is mastering new skills.
Perhaps it was wishful thinking for me to believe that Holder would have set a tone of celebration that would motivate people to take more groundbreaking steps concerning placing African Americans in critical roles in the nation. Holder resembled a specialist that had rushed out of the dusty back rooms of the legal world to deliver a book report instead of the manifesto it could have been. Filled with pride of learning, he forgot to be a statesman. I hope he will analyze his mistake and avoid “hoof and mouth disease” in the future.
Despite Holder’s hang-ups, the Justice Department’s Black History Month celebration ended on the right note with the singing of the National Negro Anthem (Lift Every Voice and Sing). Written by black lawyer and civil rights activist James Weldon, the song thanks God for justice and strength to blacks. It also pledges allegiance to both God and our nation. I offer the last two stanzas of the song as my prayer for all Americans - black, white, Hispanic and Asian.
GOD of our weary years, GOD of our silent tears
Thou Who has brought us thus far on the way
Thou Who hast by Thy might, led us into the light
Keep us forever in the path we pray
Lest our feet, stray from the places our GOD where me met Thee
Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee
Shadowed beneath Thy hand, may we forever stand
TRUE TO OUR GOD, TRUE TO OUR NATIVE LAND
By Joyce Hail
On February 11th Obama wrote in an op-ed piece in the Washington Post that if Congress does not pass his “stimulus” package, and do so right away, “Our nation will slip deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse.” “Wow,” I thought when I read this, “The stimulus bill must contain some really important stuff if it’s critical to the survival of our country! I better take a closer look. Maybe the guy is really onto something.” So, I did some internet research and here is just some of the massive spending proposed in the bill:
– $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts
– $380 million for the Women, Infants & Children welfare program
– $300 million in grants to combat violence against women
– $1.2 billion to provide “youth” with summer jobs
– $2.4 billion for “neighborhood stabilization” activities
– $650 million for digital TV coupons
– $150 million for the Smithsonian
– $34 million to renovate the Dept. of Commerce headquarters
– $500 million for improvements to the National Institute of Health facility
– $44 million for repairs to the Dept. of Agriculture’s headquarters
– $350 million for agriculture department computers
– $88 million to move (that’s right, move) the Public Health Service into a new building.
– $1 billion for the Census Bureau
– $89 billion for Medicaid
– $30 billion for COBRA extensions
– $36 billion for expanded unemployment
– $20 billion for food stamps
– $850 million for Amtrak
– $87 million for a “polar ice breaking ship” (What about the ice caps melting because of global warming?)
– $1.7 million for the National Park Service
– $55 million for the Historic Preservation Fund
– $7.6 million for the Rural Advancement Program
– $150 million for “agricultural commodity purchases”
– $150 million for producers of livestock, farm-raised fish and honey bees
– $160 million for paid volunteers (what is a “paid volunteer”?) at the Corporation for National and Community Service
Are we really to believe Obama that we may not be able to reverse our country’s slide if he and Congress are pevented from ramming all this pork down our throats? And, by the way, what happened to Obama’s pledge to end pork barrel spending?
Another interesting tidbit: Obama said that one of the reasons Congress must pass the stimulus bill, and must pass it NOW, is to end our dependence on foreign oil. What is astonishing is that he made this proclamation about energy independence less than 24 hours after his new interior secretary canceled the oil and gas leases on 77 parcels of federal land.
We are only two weeks into this guy’s term and already he and his party are out of control.
Please circulate this to as many people as you can.
By Lisa Fritsch
Here we go again.
Another black liberal elitist - this time, Attorney General Eric Holder - is telling Americans they aren’t living up to his standards.
What’s the problem this time? ”[W]e, average Americans,” Holder said at a recent Black History Month lecture, “simply do not talk enough with each other about race.” Holder, who is black, calls America “a nation of cowards” on racial matters.
Excuse me, but aren’t Holder’s concerns a bit misplaced?
For a black man who just became the nation’s top legal official in an administration headed by a black man, to project racist notions on the rest of America is irresponsible and cowardly.
If there is anything to talk about regarding race in the country, how about that nearly half of black children are missing their fathers? How about that, although blacks make up 12 percent of the overall nation, they account for almost 40 percent of the prison population (in 2005, as compiled by the Justice Department)?
If anyone is being a coward, it is Holder when he ignores how he can help cure these ills.
It is deeply hypocritical to lecture on racism while neglecting to lecture on choices and the natural consequences of ones’ actions that may provide relief.
Did Holder ever think to share with the suffering masses what exactly catapulted him to his own success? One can bet it isn’t because he opened up dialogues on race and racism everywhere he went, as he now preaches. More likely, he spent interviews articulating the skills he had to offer. He surely counted on his credentials and hard work rather than dwelt on his skin color.
It’s also a safe bet that none of Holder’s three children were born out of wedlock. And his physician wife is obviously not a high-school dropout. He also probably lacks a criminal record.
Did he, believing his race might work against him, work twice as hard? Did he choose friends who kept out of trouble?
Such good choices would have been heroic and noble to share with those afflicted by the blame-game syndrome now a leading culprit of failures in the black community.
As embarrassing as it is to be confronted with such problems in our culture and our failures as a community, it is a greater embarrassment for those of us who know the formula for black success and triumph to withhold the information that is pertinent and profound.
That truth is that, no matter what our race or shade, ideal choices and blame abandonment trumps the stale remnants of institutionalized racism.
This cowardice of one-sidedness was on display during Holder’s Black History Month lecture. While we are just supposed to suck it up and take it, others who inch forward with a modern truth on race, achievement and opportunity are shut down as out of touch or sell-outs.
It is an embarrassment when Holder looks down on so many. Those at the bottom, after all, can benefit from his advice.
Holder is the first black Attorney General for the first black President of the best country on earth. Doesn’t he understand the potential for many black and Latino children with fertile minds just like his who could one day follow his path if only they are inspired and encouraged?
It is an outrage and an injustice for someone such as Holder to essentially betray this confidence in the black community. Considering his great position and background, his willingness to play the blame game himself makes it more embarrassing to be black than the gangster mall thugs with their baggy pants and gold chains.
At least the thugs know exactly who they are.
# # #
Lisa Fritsch is a member of the national advisory council for the Project 21 black leadership network and a writer and radio talk show host in Austin, Texas. Comments may be sent to Project21@nationalcenter.org.
By Star Parker
As our new political leadership leads us into the fiscal twilight zone, is it too much to ask for a little honesty as they do it?
The day after President Obama unveiled his plan to bail out distressed mortgage holders, Treasury Secretary Geithner and Housing Secretary Donovan wrote an op-ed in USA Today explaining it.
“Ordinarily, American homeowners don’t need government help. … But these are no ordinary times,” they say.
But practically every American homeowner does get government help by being able to deduct mortgage interest from their taxes.
And, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the taxpayer backed quasi-government mortgage behemoths, own or insure around 50 percent of all outstanding mortgages in the country.
So, how about a little truthfulness here. It would be extraordinary if the government did not get involved. Which gets to the broader point.
This $275 billion mortgage plan, coupled with the “stimulus” package and the bank bailout, adds up to a cool couple of trillion dollars. In one short month, the Obama administration has committed us taxpayers to new obligations equal to what the whole federal budget was a couple years ago.
This unprecedented government-spending binge, beyond any liberal Democrat’s wildest dreams, has been enabled by a narrative. According to this narrative, we now understand that unbridled capitalism doesn’t work. Unregulated markets are behind today’s problems, and all agree that we need more government.
According to our president, because “big banks traded in risky mortgages … lenders took advantage of homebuyers … homebuyers knowingly borrowed too much …” we have today’s housing crisis.
But it’s all so untrue.
What has failed in our country is not capitalism. It is our intentional undermining of it.
As government spends us into oblivion, and we recall Roosevelt and the New Deal, we should also recall the role the Supreme Court played then in changing the rules by which we live.
In a decision in 1937, Helvering v. Davis, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of key provisions of the new Social Security Act. Until then, the power of Congress to tax us was limited to paying for those functions of government explicitly laid out in the Constitution. This decision opened the door to government taxing us for anything the Congress could deem in the “general welfare.” In other words, anything they could pass.
A central tenet of capitalism, of course, is private property. But what is private property in a nation where citizens can be taxed to pay for anything politicians can get passed?
In 1938, the very next year, Fannie Mae was created, which got the government – taxpayers – into the housing business.
In 1968, President Johnson took Fannie Mae off budget and transformed it into a government-chartered company to buy and insure mortgages. A private company whose securities were guaranteed by we taxpayers. Private investors get the profits, and taxpayers pick up the losses.
Could we have had this housing disaster without Fannie Mae and its brother, Freddie Mac? Certainly not.
Why would a mortgage originator sell a mortgage that couldn’t get paid back? Only if it could be re-sold to taxpayer-backed Fannie or Freddie.
Both went belly up last year and were put under explicit government control. Their $5 trillion in debt went right onto us taxpayers, doubling the outstanding debt of the U.S. government.
Now President Obama is “solving” our mortgage crisis by adding another $200 billion of taxpayer guarantees behind these two entities and, for the first time, allowing them to guarantee mortgage refinancing for more than 80 percent of the home value.
And those who can’t make their mortgage payments will be subsidized by taxpayers to the tune of $75 billion so they can.
A failure of capitalism? This could never happen in a country where private property was respected and people were not subsidized by government to buy what they can’t afford.
Rather than saving the American Dream, the Obama team could be bringing it to an end.
