Most of the spotlighted conservative leaders at the giant CPAC convention this weekend showed that they are far more interested in the feelings of Republican Party major donors than in offering help for 25 million Americans who can't find a full-time job.
Americans might have hoped that finally at this meeting there would be a sign of true leadership in stopping the massive importation of new foreign workers during a jobs depression. But on that topic, hope was as scarce as at the Obama White House.
But reports from those at the convention (I wasn't there) indicated that the thousands of (mostly young) conservative attendees seemed to have a much better grasp of what the country needs on immigration.
They exploded into a standing ovation when a freshman congressman on Saturday finally broke the taboo and stated emphatically:
We need to lock down the border and enforce visas, reject amnesty and enforce our current laws, get rid of our rewards and incentives to be here illegally, mandate E-Verify . . . .
-- Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah)
For three days, one star speaker after another from Congress, from the media, from the conservative pantheon and from potential presidential hopefuls glaringly avoided immigration when given the microphone in the big room. (See P.S. about a couple of exceptions.)
The mood for the convention had been set even before the opening of the annual extravaganza for conservative activists when some of the inside leadership of the convention made a big news splash with the argument that conservatives should stop talking about limiting immigration (and should support some kind of amnesty) if the Republican Party is to have a decent chance at winning elections in the future.
I've got news for those kinds of conservatives: The political independents of America -- who are deciding one key election after another -- are not going to be attracted to the same Big-Business-As-Usual, Country-Club Republicanism of the Bush era that always put immigration ahead of struggling American workers and their families.
And the many eye-witness reports from the conversations in the hallways and exhibit areas suggest that immigration-avoidance doesn't sell well with the rank-and-file conservative activists, either.
There were a couple of excellent break-out sessions where small audiences could actually hear the immigration issue discussed as if it demands an urgent response. But it seems there was a pent-up desire to hear immigration tackled in a forthright way in the Big Room. There was a satifying release of emotion when Chaffetz finally violated the immigration blackout.
All the potential presidential hopefuls could have had the adultation Chaffetz received as their own if they had only dared to speak the obvious truth that came during Chaffetz' address on foreign policy:
If we are going to have an effective foreign policy that is true to our convictions then we need to address illegal immigration.
No longer can we ignore the immigration problem. I believe it's highly immoral and very exploitive.
-- Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah)
Remember that Chaffetz is the young upstart who challenged incumbent Congressman Chris Cannon in the Republican primary of 2008 and beat him because the voters wanted an alternative to Cannon who was the House Republican leader for amnesty.
Cannon had represented the approach to immigration advocated by the only CPAC leaders who spoke up on immigration this year (for amnesty). Chaffetz broke the taboo in Utah just as he broke it at CPAC.
Cannon stood for the cheap-labor business lobbyists and campaign contributors. Chaffetz stood for the unemployed Americans.
The conservative and Republican stars who spoke in the Big Room decided not to take sides between the Cannon and Chaffetz approach. They just decided to ignore immigration. And that meant ignoring 25 million U.S. workers who want a full-time job and can't find one, in part because immigration policy gives out 160,000 permanent and temporary, new and renewal work visas EVERY MONTH.
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ROY BECK is Founder & CEO of NumbersUSA
P.S. Congressman Steve King (R-Iowa) brought the room down on immigration in break-out session. And California gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner in the Big Room (on the topic "Saving Freedom from the California Model") said the state magnets for illegal immigration have to be cut off "once and for all" and the borders have to be secured by National Guard if necessary.
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Think on this! We are told we don't have the money to deport the 20 to 30 million already here? But states like SANCTUARY CALIFORNIA and across our nation, seem to locate the money for education, free health care treatment, prisons and a hundred and one hidden subsidies, that are denied to American's poor in many instances. Time and again, you will read that the PC run program is derogatory to citizens and green card holders alike, when if a E-Verify job applicant is rejected he can a*sert his rights at the Social security building in his community. SIMPLY STATING THAT NOBODY WITH INELIGIBLE DOCUMENTATION, WILL STAY AT A DISTANCE FROM THE SSA OFFICES. This is obviously not spelled out in the liberal press, a*sociated websites or even negative bloggers comments. The Fact is they don't want to divulge the truth, to the general public and specially to all the working population.
Our immigration enforcement programs are upside down, because Washington and the open border lobbyists have engineered it that way. We legally in this country have never undertaken, to research the truth about the decades of neglect under different administrations. We have been taken to the cleaner's for years, because we never seriously asked questions because we didn't have access to lawmakers? But the Internet has changed all that and anybody today can unravel the truth about the millions of illegal immigrants squatting here. YOU THE TAXPAYER ARE FORKING OUT THE BILLIONS? SO YOU SHOULD GOOGLE THE TRUTH AND FIND OUT WHERE YOUR TAXES ARE GOING? While you about it, research SMARTBUSINESSESPRACTICES. dot.com. NUMBERSUSA.dot.com and read about the WASHINGTON AND STATE CORRUPTION AT JUDICIAL WATCH. dot. org
At the same time call those phonies at the Capitol switchboard 202-224-3121 and ask them why are they trying to sell us on another AMNESTY, when the last one was never enforced. At the same time asked them why they have cut-back on ICE raids or why Janet Napolitano isn't doing her Homeland Security (HSC) job properly and evidently listening to open border lobbyists. HS chief has deliberately cut funding for the State, county and city police training programs, so they can arrest illegal aliens and send them home. In addition E-Verify has been recommended in the future to unmask illegal immigrant fraudulent mortgages and loan restructuring, transportation drivers licenses, vehicle registrations, insurance and health care.irregularities. It could also be used to detect illegal aliens voting in our elections as well. Our country is overrun by not just job seeking illegals, but hardened gangs and a list of habitual criminals who have run rampant.
Be ready to deflate these tired old wealthy legislators brought and sold, beginning with the mid-term elections. PUBLIC UPROAR IS THE ONLY WAY TO GET THINGS DONE? American jobs for American people. One flag--One language. No Copyright. Copy and Paste.