Mac-Coleman

20 March 2014 - 

Who’s in charge around here, anyway?  Part II

“Sovereignty: supreme and independent power or authority in government, as possessed or claimed by a state or community. “  -- Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary.

For at least a generation, the U.S. has not adequately controlled its borders.  The resulting unfettered movement of foreigners in and out of the United States has become a pressing threat to our sovereignty.  

In the absence of decisive lawmakers making sensible U.S. law and policy, foreign authorities, powers, and peoples are wielding increasing influence over what should be the exclusive domain of the citizens of the United States.   The power to ensure that the rule of law reflects our, the citizens’, wishes – i.e., our very sovereignty -- has seriously diminished because of our refusal to see this as something other than an economic or political issue. 

       

I have observed throughout the world that if someone enters a country illegally, his expectations to thrive there will depend on continued illegal activity.  His subsequent actions will include nonpayment of taxes, driving without a license, using false identity papers, bribing officials, moving around the country illegally, etc. Such acts eventually infect surrounding citizens as well, and the nation’s sovereignty and its rule of law begin to erode.

How do we impress upon our citizenry the importance of sovereignty and responsibility?  Our leaders could start by implementing a sensible policy of vigorously enforcing existing immigration laws and then of selectively changing those laws that wear away our sovereignty.  

Obviously, few politicians seem to be in a pressing hurry to implement such straightforward immigration reform.  Therefore, I suggest a slightly different approach. 

Perhaps, English language classes, including English as a Second Language (ESL), in our high schools, junior colleges, and community education programs would be a good venue to precisely present the facts of illegal immigration.  For example, teaching the twelve English verb tenses would be very useful in presenting this information. 

        

Simple Present. Many of my compadres and I enter the U.S. illegally.

Simple Past. Because I needed work and my home country was in such horrible straits, I entered the U.S. illegally.

Simple Future. If I am ever deported again, I will enter the U.S. again illegally. 

Present Progressive. Because the U.S. government insists that its southern border stay so open, I am reentering the U.S. illegally today.

Past Progressive. The border is porous and U.S. border patrol forces are bound by restrictive rules of engagement; therefore, I threw rocks at the border guards last week so they would leave me alone when I was entering the U.S. illegally. 

Future Progressive. Because your country can neither get its laws in order nor enforce them, my friends and family have been crossing U.S. borders illegally for many years. 

Present Perfect. This is a sanctuary city, so it doesn’t matter that I have entered the U.S. illegally.

Past Perfect, Is my son an American or an “anchor baby” because my wife and I had entered the U.S. illegally before he was born? 

Future Perfect.  Before the U.S. government finally commits itself to enforcing legitimate forms of sovereignty, millions more people will have entered the U.S. illegally. 

Present Perfect Progressive. Although it might be painful for those who consider the rule of law and sovereignty essential to the nation’s security, I will have been living illegally in the U.S. for most of my life before immigration reforms are finally enacted and enforced. 

Past Perfect Progressive.  Other people had been entering the U.S. illegally long before I did.  Today, if my fellow 11.7 million illegal immigrants lived together, we would make the seventh largest state in the union.  That would be a lot of electoral votes, especially if amnesty were the heart of immigration reform. 

Future Perfect Progressive.  By 2020, some estimate that sufficient numbers of illegal immigrants will have been entering the United States to push our total to over twenty million. 

Review. By 2020, most illegal immigrants will have come from Latin America.  This influx of illegal immigrants is a regional phenomenon that has little to do with language, culture, or ethnicity, but has everything to do with proximity. 

Millions of people from other countries want to live in the United States.  They would come here any way they could, legally or illegally.  Probably the only reason there aren’t tens of millions of illegal Africans streaming here is because the Atlantic Ocean is a lot wider than the Rio Grande River. 

Comment at mac.coleman.colonel@gmail.com.