Making America Great Again: It Ain’t Easy

Vivek Ramaswamy ignited a bit of a firestorm today on X.

Let’s start with the obvious: on November 5th we voted to secure the border and deport the illegals. Completely sealed: no more illegal entries. Total deportation: if you’re in illegally, you have to go back. But what we didn’t vote for was the termination of immigration. And so, Ramaswamy:

The reason top tech companies often hire foreign-born & first-generation engineers over “native” Americans isn’t because of an innate American IQ deficit (a lazy & wrong explanation). A key part of it comes down to the c-word: culture. Tough questions demand tough answers & if we’re really serious about fixing the problem, we have to confront the TRUTH:

Our American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long (at least since the 90s and likely longer). That doesn’t start in college, it starts YOUNG.

I think most of the anger over this is twofold:

  1. nobody likes to be told that their country sucks. To say that our culture doesn’t promote excellence is to say that our culture is substandard.
  2. the American people, on the whole, are not keen to import workers – not even good workers. This is on the basic truth that American jobs should by and large be filled by American workers.

Ramaswamy does not go on to say that we should just keep importing workers – I think some people are misunderstanding what he said, and some are likely deliberately misunderstanding it because, remember!, there are lots of people who’s whole existence is based on disliking Trump…and this includes a lot of people on the Right. The rest of Ramaswamy’s post is a call to arms, as it were: that we can make excellence our focus as part of that whole Make America Great Again thing.

We do have to acknowledge our flaws. If we can’t, then we’re doomed. Do you know why South Africa is heading towards a Third World collapse? Because the majority doesn’t want to be told that they suck and if they want to get ahead they’re going to have to ask the Boers for instruction. They’d rather wallow in memories of Apartheid as the excuse for all ills with confiscating whitey’s farms as the cure. The only way a person, an organization or a country gets its act together is by acknowledging what’s wrong and then setting about fixing it.

Ramaswamy correctly states that we have been praising the second rate, the unimportant…and I’ll add that we also laud the downright self-destructive. Think about the number of movies and shows that hold up some psycho as the hero. We can’t deny that Anthony Hopkins played the psycho killer excellently in Silence of the Lambs…but the coda of the movie with him heading off to eat the pretentious psychiatrist is hideous. So, too, the end of No Country for Old Men with the bad guy getting away…possibly after murdering a completely innocent woman. Yes, of course, the bad guys sometimes get away with it…but sanity requires that in our story telling they don’t. Lambs should have ended with Starling arresting or killing Lecter…just as Bell should have killed Chigurh to finish up Old Men. This is not to take away the skill or artistry of those involved in those productions…but The Wild Bunch ended up with the bad guys all dead and quite uselessly over nothing. That was the fitting end to violent criminals…and the sort of story that is useful for society.

We need to start holding up the good, the true and the beautiful – popular culture is never a social mirror…it is what you’re aspiring to. And if we’re aspiring to bad guys winning and psychos being cooler than sane people, then we’re going to have some problems. Like, for instance, all the problems we have right now.

In order to Make America Great Again our first order of business is to fix our problems. Deporting all the illegals won’t resolve the fact that about 70 million Americans used illegal drugs last year. That is 20 percent of us. One in five! This does not include those who booze it up too much nor does it really cover marijuana as that is legal in a lot of places these days. We still must deport all the illegals…but the American drug addicts are a huge problem. So, too, things like people having sex before marriage, getting divorced, adultery…with our pop culture pushing these pathologies as positively healthy. That has to stop. No, you can’t say “first amendment!” and call it a day…do you want broken families and drug addicts or do you want sober people in healthy families? You can’t have it both ways – you’re going to get what you insist upon and if you don’t insist upon sobriety you’ll get drunks.

We can’t leave people lying around in the streets. We must do something with them. We must demand that people perform or punish them. Do you realize how tough this is going to be? Kicking out Jose and not letting Patel have a visa isn’t going to Make America Great Again. Its going to take a bit more than that. Do you have the iron in your veins to get it done?

So, yes, I firmly believe that American jobs should be filled by Americans…and that companies should pay wages that Americans want, not what some guy who doesn’t want to live next to an open sewer in Mumbai is willing to take. But this does mean we need Americans who are fit for the task. That means sober, stable, dedicated people who know that life isn’t a free ride. Hindu immigrants to America are doing very well – overall they make more money than white Americans. And its because they are stable, sober and work their butts off. Do you want that? Well, guess what…

Yes, it is Replacement

That sure is a dog of an immigration bill, isn’t it? I mean, if we really want to call it that. Its also got $60 billion for Ukraine, $14 billion for Israel in her hour of need…and $10 billion for the Palestinians so they can pay more people to murder Jews. Insane doesn’t really begin to cover this.

I mean, this thing is just horrible. And the talking points they’re using show that either they’re stupid or think you are. Just one for-instance, they’re saying “at 5,000 crossing in a day, the border automatically closes!”. As if 5,000 is ok…and as if there’s some magic counter along the border which trips at 5,000 and seals the border. Rather than as it actually is – Team Pudding Brain gets to decide if 5,000 or more have crossed and they get to decide if they’ll issue an order to close the border. Oh, and if you want to sue them about it, all cases will head to the Democrat-dominated DC federal court to make certain your case has no chance. And GOPers are saying this is the compromise position! Geesh – what was it to begin with? 10,000 a day and a free foot massage? There is not one aspect of this bill that actually secures the border but provision after provision ratifies the last 3 years and locks it in place until 2029 to tie Trump’s hands should he win in November.

This is our Ruling Class spitting on us.

My view is that we don’t need any immigrants. Our population is more than large enough that we can find people to take care of every task we have – yes, including picking our crops if they’re just paid an American wage rather than slave wages of which a portion is kicked back to the Cartels. But supposing you can make the argument that a certain level of immigration is acceptable and beneficial. Fine. But that’s easy: we set the criteria for immigrating (including the criteria for asylum seekers) and anyone who presents themselves at a legal point of entry is judged by the pre-set criteria. If you fit the bill, welcome! If you don’t, back you go.

But if you cross illegally then I don’t care if your oppressors are waiting for you on the other side of the border…back you go. We have ports of entry all along the border. There are US embassies and consulates all over the world. There is every opportunity to avail yourself of legal entry. If you are illegally crossing then you are, point blank, not an asylum seeker nor an immigrant…you are a criminal up to no good, or the victim of criminals up to no good. In neither case can I afford to let you in.

What we have now is complex, clunky and really outside of any one person’s control because that is what the Ruling Class wants. For two reasons:

  1. They’re making bank off it. Rely on it, the Cartels are shoveling money at people in the US government and NGO’s to keep things going.
  2. The Ruling Class hates us.

The second point is actually more important than the first. Run of the mill corruption can get very bad and cause all sorts of trouble, but you can also stop it very quickly. As soon as you are willing – like Bukele was in El Salvador – you just take or kill all the criminals. It really isn’t at all difficult; we’re not dealing with smart people. Criminals are monumentally stupid. If they weren’t stupid, they wouldn’t be criminals. Rounding them up and jailing them…or even having a series of terrible and unexplained accidents with them…is easy. Just takes the will to do it. But when your Ruling Class hates you, that becomes a problem.

When your boss hates you, he’s going to do everything he can to thwart you and if a combination of bribes and threats can no longer keep you in line, he’s going to get rid of you. Since before WWII – but massively accelerated after it – our Ruling Class has done everything it could to make certain the people don’t rule. Lies, bribes, conflict (foreign and domestic) have been used to keep us bewildered but mostly calm – the bribes were the big part of it. Welfare! Social Security! Medicare! They were stealing our money via inflation but until the 1970’s only a very little at a time. But that part of it couldn’t keep going – because when you keep giving out goodies financed by stealing the money of the recipients, you eventually provoke a financial crisis. The one that started in the 70’s and has really never ended, just masked by money printing at an ever more furious rate since then. Even the prosperity of the 80’s and 90’s was built on a house of (fake) cards. What the deepening financial crisis means, though, is that after a while the people you’re bribing start to lose fast enough to notice.

That really started after the 2008 financial crisis with only the briefest interruption under Trump. More and more inflation, fewer and fewer jobs…and more and more immigrants. To replace those who were being screwed. It works because while what is bad for you, an American, is a dream come true for the Indian.

Now, they’re going to screw the Indian guy, too…but they hope that he’ll vote Democrat long enough to see us into the hereafter. The most important thing is to get rid of us…with our silly notions about God and family and owning property and Rule of Law and having rights and all that drivel. That is what they’re trying to burn out of America…by teaching the kiddies that it’s all racist and importing enough people to outvote the adults who know better.

It is us or them, guys. Either we get rid of the whole Ruling Class – especially the GOP part of it – or they’ll get rid of us. And I mean we’ve got to want these people in jail. At a minimum. It isn’t enough to outvote them…we’ve got to uproot them. Take their money, take their positions, take their freedom.

Or they’ll take all ours.

Orlando and Coming to America

I tried to write about it last night but just couldn’t. I’m guessing the disgust was just too much. Fortunately, Victor Davis Hanson had something worthwhile to say:

Still more monotonous themes: as in the case of Major Hasan (the Fort Hood jihadist), the Tsarnaev clan (Boston Marathon), and Syed Rizwan Farook (San Bernardino), there is something deeply wrong with American immigration policy and the attitude of us, the lax host, to newcomers. In too many deadly cases, a generation of Muslims goes to great lengths to reach the United States only to raise an American-born or naturalized ungracious and unappreciative generation that apparently grows to hate the bounty and freedom of America to such a degree as to blow up, shoot, and maim innocent Americans. Immigration to the U.S., and citizenship itself, should be seen, again, as a privilege, not a right—and assimilation and integration, not multicultural separatism and ethnic and religious chauvinism, should be the goal of the host. We need not single out Muslims in terms of restricting immigration, but we should take a six-month timeout on all would-be immigrants from countries in the Middle East deemed war zones—Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Libya, Palestine, Pakistan, Syria, and Yemen—not only for our own immediate security but also to send a general message that entrance into the U.S. is a rare and prized opportunity, not simply a cheap and pro forma entitlement.

Trump vs Pope

Just wanted to get this out there – the Pope did not say we can’t build a wall…he just said, correctly, that if all you’re about is building a wall, you’re doing it wrong.

It must be kept in mind that the Catholic Church is neither left nor right – it can’t be. The Church, being universal, contains all…a deep concern with the poor as well as a deep concern that people be allowed to hold their own property. And it goes on and on like that on the issues.

Trump, however, decided to lash out – stupidly. Oh, I’m sure it will delight that element of the American population which retains an anti-Catholic animus, but the bottom line is that the Pope did nothing to Trump…just pointed out that if all Trump is about is building a wall (and for a lot of his supporters, that is all Trump is about), then Trump is flat wrong…and I’ve held that position for nearly 9 years now. Border security is a must – but there must also be accommodation for those who are here and for those who wish to come here. People can disagree endlessly about this, but getting in a fight with the Pope for being Catholic is absurd.

GOP Makes Sure Trump is the Nominee

The GOP base is furious with the GOP leadership – and one of the major bones of contention is the way the leadership is handling immigration. Out of this has come the rise of Trump to the utter dismay of the GOP leadership. So, what to do? Clearly, the times call for the GOP leadership to stab the GOP base in the back on immigration!

The upcoming appropriations legislation would massively expand the foreign worker program, quadrupling the issuance of low-wage visas, according to an analysis from Sen. Jeff Sessions’ (R., Ala.) office.

The H-2B visa program allows employers to hire foreign workers to come temporarily into the United States to work either in nonagricultural labor or a temporary service job. For example, some workers who use the H-2B visa program could be employed as a housekeeper, an amusement park worker, or a landscape laborer…

This is all about importing low-wage workers to replace American workers so that Big Corporation can squeeze out just a little more profit. Why the heck would the GOP sign on to this? I’ll tell you why:

1. The major GOP donors wanted it.
2. The GOP leadership didn’t want a fight with Obama going into 2016.

As for the first bit: screw the GOP donors. We don’t need them. Only inside-the Beltway nitwits give a darn what the mega donors think. As for the second bit – the GOP leadership doesn’t want a fight but the GOP base does. We’d love to have a fight over expanding a program to bring in more low-wage workers! Give it to us! Let’s have Obama and Hillary try to defend that stupid idea at the behest of Big Corporation.

But, we won’t get the fight because our leadership is afraid (seriously) that the MSM would look negatively on such a thing – as if anyone who will vote GOP, ever, pays the slightest attention to what the MSM says.

This action will only make the GOP base more angry – and will allow Trump to gain even more support. Cruz and Rubio needed a knock-down, drag-out fight with Obama and, by extension, Hillary…the GOP leadership gave them craven surrender. What can they say now? Vote for me, I’ll get the people I serve with in Congress to fight for you?

I’m ready to throw up my hands here – what can I possibly say to a Trump supporter? That Trump is irresponsible? That he can’t get things done for our side? Compared to the current GOP leadership Trump is a responsible, hard-working warrior for the Middle Class…

Immigration as the GOP Litmus Test

It does seem to be, now doesn’t it? You can pretty much rely on it that Jeb is going nowhere because he was forthright in his defense of comprehensive immigration reform, while we all know that Trump rocketed into first place in the polls based upon his “deport ’em” statement. And as I go around social media and the conservative websites, it becomes ever more clear to me that the GOP base, at least, has set down this marker: if you aren’t in favor of strict border security and at least some deportation, then you’re going nowhere.

Long time readers know that I’ve been an amnesty shill since 2007 – or even before; but that is as far back as I can remember making any sort of statements on it. But I’ve also been a vigorous proponent of border security – but not so much in service of keeping people out as in recognition that “open borders” works out to “borders controlled by criminal gangs”. And those criminal gangs treat the immigrants just hideously (to the absolute silence of open borders liberals, of course – they don’t want us talking about that aspect of it all). It astonishes me that the GOP isn’t dwelling upon the issue of what the criminal gangs do to illegal immigrants day in and day out – to me, it is the best way of making sure that the people understand that the desire for border security is based upon a desire for justice and mercy, not some manifestation of anti-immigrant feeling. But for all my support for border security, if I were running for office I’d be a RINO – because I’m not into deportation.

I don’t believe, as our establishment does, that being in favor of deportation in some form is political suicide. It does make it more difficult to appeal to Latino voters, of course, but I personally know Latino voters who are ok with the idea of shutting the door a bit and sending back those who cause trouble while in the United States. In spite of strenuous liberal efforts to present Latinos as a monolithic block on this issue, they aren’t. But, still, the GOP does have a problem here – because if we’re yammering on about deportation, then natural-born Latino Citizen A or even Naturalized Latino Citizen B do wonder if it means that Illegal Alien Relative C gets deported, even though he’s a decent chap who works for a living.

I do, though, worry about making immigration a litmus test. Marco Rubio has many of the qualities that any conservative GOPer can get behind. In addition, he is the most “natural” politician we’ve got. On the stump, he is fantastic and in debate he never stumbles. He’s young, ardently patriotic, he’s got a great life story and in spite of attempts by the MSM to gin up controversy, he’s never done anything dishonorable. In contrast to a worn out and corrupt Hillary, Rubio is stellar. But he’s also a RINO – because he did sign on to the misbegotten “Gang of 8” immigration bill. And even though he has now renounced that action and is promising border security if elected, he’s persona non grata for a large swath of GOP voters (as an aside, I’m still a Jindal supporter – but I’m pretty sure his destiny is HHS Secretary in President Rubio or Cruz’ Administration).

This is absurd. I do understand the single-issue thing – I’ve got a couple, myself. I cannot in good conscience ever vote for a candidate who would advance the cause of abortion, for instance. But I can’t see how immigration has become this massive issue which we must have first and foremost. We should, as I said, be border security fanatics – but we should also be talking up things like letting in more Christian refugees from the Middle East; more immigrants from the increasingly Christian (and massively socially conservative) nations of west Africa. We should be, that is, firmly demonstrating that we’re not afraid of immigration, as such – but that we are insistent upon justice and mercy for the immigrants…and that leaving them in the hands of bloody handed human traffickers (as the left de-facto does by refusing border security) is not something any decent person would do.

The more I look over the overall parameters of the 2016 race, the more I see a chance for a stunning Republican victory. A victory which would make Reagan’s 1980 triumph pale in comparison. We can win the White House. We can even possibly increase our numbers in Congress (very difficult in the Senate, but the fact that it is even in the realm of possibility shows the real state of the campaign). We can certainly increase our political power at the State level. But all of this will be put at risk if we’re just seen as running on deporting illegal immigrants. And we can rely upon the MSM to do the Democrat’s dirty work – they will relentlessly tell the people that we’re a bunch of kooks not ready to govern and we’d all better play it safe with Hillary. And LIV will fall for that nonsense – unless we are demonstrably not what is being said about us.

Jeb’s Immigration Problem

We all know that Jeb is in favor of amnesty – as am I – but there’s a problem I detect in Jeb’s view:

Here’s Bush: “We need to find a way, a path to legalized status for those that have come here and have languished in the shadows. There’s no way that they’re going to be deported — no one’s suggesting an organized effort to do that. The cost of that would be extraordinary.”

And here’s Bush: “The 40 percent of the people that have come illegally came with a legal visa and overstayed their bounds. We ought to be able to find where they are and politely ask them to leave.”

As it turns out, those who over-stay their visas tend to be better educated, have a command of English and would be eligible for some pretty good jobs if their legal status was changed. Meanwhile, people who cross our southern border tend to be less educated, non-English-speakers and cluster in low-pay, low-skill jobs. It would seem to me that if we wanted to do amnesty, we’d actually want to favor those with the most skills – ie, those who can do the most good for the United States – than those with the least skills. But here’s pro-amnesty Bush saying let’s get rid of the high-educated and keep the low-educated. Why?

I can’t peer into Jeb’s heart and see what precisely is motivating him but I suspect that raw, political calculation might be at play. Who would feel most threatened by the sudden legalization of a large number of college-educated, high-skilled immigrants? Americans who are college-educated and high-skilled – you’d be allowing massive competition for their jobs to suddenly erupt…and people like that can command political power by simple fact of their ability to donate buckets of money to political campaigns. But letting in lots of low-skilled workers? No problem – they just compete with low-skill American workers…who cares about them? And, at any rate, a large increase in low-skill workers just drives down labor costs for some of our largest multinational corporations, and that is pleasing to the Chamber of Commerce types. In total, Jeb’s views on immigration are picture perfect if you are planning on running for President on an anti-GOP Base platform…it allows you to appeal to the big money corporate donors while also keeping upscale, suburban voters on your side (who are, also, all in favor of amnesty…as long as it doesn’t hurt them…and if it provides cheap nannies and gardeners, so much the better).

I’ve long grown rather irritated with our Ruling Class, including the GOP part of it. It appears to me that they want to keep masses of Americans on welfare so they can be fat, dumb and happy voters while importing a bunch of foreigners to do the grunt work of the nation while the people at the top get to live swell lives…meanwhile, those Americans who want to work hard and play by the rules are to be squeezed by cheap labor and high taxes. Methinks this might not be the best way for the nation to go. I’m not going to blame Jeb for all this – or even think him bad for what he advocates…but the whole system is rotten and it will screw us all over (even the immigrants – remember, cheap, easily exploitable labor is not exactly what America is supposed to stand for)…and Jeb is just part of it. We definitely cannot entrust ourselves to him, or anyone like him.

I retain a general support for amnesty – but until we get a government I can trust is actually on the side of the people, I want no part of it. I want liberty and justice for all – not special deals designed to merely perpetuate a Ruling Class in power.

As If…

Dear Speaker Boehner:

There is nothing I’d like better than to keep the United States House of Representatives in *conservative* hands.

Regarding that issue, we wholeheartedly agree.

In that spirit, could you kindly resign your tenure as Speaker of the House?

Under your leadership, Obamacare is still the law of the land. Those responsible for allowing four Americans to be murdered in Benghazi are yet to be held accountable. The Constitutional abuses of the IRS scandal, the “Fast & Furious” federal gun-running scandal, and NSA scandals continue to go un-investigated, and Obama continues to be held unaccountable. Under your ‘leadership,’ the Republicans in the House of Representatives have done nothing to hold the Obama administration accountable for their overreach and malfeasance and assaults on our Constitutional liberties. You supposedly practiced brinkmanship when Obama forced a government shutdown, but then acted like you owned it, and ran with your tail between your legs. It’s been “go along to get along” ever since.

And now you want to cave and give special treatment to those scofflaws who ignore our immigration laws.

Your team put up a nice graphic on Facebook today in response to President Obama’s “I have a pen” comment, to which you replied, “We have the Constitution.”

However, as much as you hold up the Constitution and parade it around like a golden calf, you have displayed no real intention of upholding it. As your actions and inaction have clearly demonstrated, to you, the Constitution is nothing more than window-dressing in a photo-op.

Speaker Boehner, you have on many occasions taken a solemn oath and promise to uphold the Constitution.

After taking those solemn oaths, on multiple occasions, you have demonstrated that your promises are as empty as must be your conscience.

If you really believe that the Constitution must be kept in conservative hands, I call upon you to resign your office as Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Whether or not your constituency in the 8th District of Ohio continues to re-elect you to as their representative in Congress is their business.

The office you hold as Speaker, however, is *our* business. You have lost the trust and confidence of those of us in the Republican Party.

You have lost the trust of the nation.

Time for you to resign, Mr. Speaker.

Sincerely,

Leo Pusateri.Boehner

Giving America Away

On the heels of the nine robed justices decision to over ride the sovereignty of my state, I was compelled to write a scathing article full of four letter expletives but discovered that E.W. Jackson recently said it much better than I ever could:

A few years ago the Obama regime filed a lawsuit against my state for the audacity of actually upholding federal law in terms of immigration. That lawsuit was not only a violation of my states sovereignty, but also wasn’t in keeping with federal immigration laws as they are currently written. And now, the nine robed elitists on the SC, decided again that AZ was incapable of governing within it’s borders as they threw out Arizonans desire to have proof of citizenship before casting a ballot, preferring instead to uphold the federal requirement of simply checking a box claiming that you are a citizen, which is a very weak standard. Yesterday however, Marco Rubio proposed an amendment to the immigration bill which would raise that standard nationwide by requiring proof in the federally written motor voter law, but that’s provided the immigration bill passes, which is uncertain at best. Considering that the immigration bill calls for amnesty now, and border security later, I hope like hell it doesn’t pass. It’s 1986 all over again where Congress promises to secure the border in favor of immediate amnesty and we all know how that turned out. This AZ election decision and the current immigration bill obviously pleases the open borders crowd and the Democrats who are always in pursuit of a new block of constituents to give our treasury to, in return for votes, but these two decisions are harmful to the country overall, as they have the potential to create absolute chaos in the border states. Thousands of immigrants will flock across the border with amnesty just around the corner, and then subsequently vote for the politician that promises them the most, and why wouldn’t they? If we are so stupid to allow that to happen, why wouldn’t someone take advantage of it? This is not only outrageous, it is a violation of state sovereignty, a violation of common sense, and an offense to every intelligent American. E.W. Jackson eloquently said – “keep the federal government out of my state, out of my healthcare, out of our schools, and out of our lives”. Which leads me to quote the great Smokey Robinson – “I second that emotion”!!!

Tuesday Open Thread

Have at it.

Primaries…. in 3 WEEKS!

POLL: PEOPLE FEAR BIG GOV’T MORE THAN BIG BUSINESS OR LABOR…

Yes, obAMATEUR is “serious” about border security….

FEDS PLAN UNMANNED CROSSING WITH MEX…

Obama to slash National Guard force on border…

I wonder if the cat had to pay the Death Taxes?

Woman Leaves $13M Fortune to Pet Cat…

The libs will cater to their special interests….

Congress considers bill to censor Internet… it doesn’t matter if it is unconstitutional…

…. and everybody’s favorite uninformed talking head liberal drone …. DNC chair denies unemployment up under Obama…

Update:

‘The Americans have perhaps decided to give us this spy plane’…

OBAMA: Can we have it back, please?