The Open-Mindedness of Liberals; It's a Dangerous Thing | Eastern North Carolina Now

    I just happened to have been in Washington DC this past January for the Women's March. I traveled to the nation's capital to celebrate the inauguration of Donald Trump as president and decided to spend a couple of extra days enjoying the beautiful and vibrant city and taking advantage of all its history lessons; I did not know in advance about the march. But getting out and observing the march, noticing the various individuals marching and protesting, I was given a unique peek at the tactics of the liberal/progressive movement (ie, today's Democratic Party). Under the guise of protesting for their individual issue, the protesters were invited and encouraged to march together the day after the inauguration so that the Democratic Party could claim that "the people" are rejecting Trump as their president. In other words, they scheduled the event to say "F U," in as colossal a way as possible, to Trump. The various groups were "collected" - and yes "manipulated" on account of their one-issue politics - into serving the ultimate goal of the Democratic Party, which is to discredit, distract, delegitimize, and obstruct Trump in any and every way possible in order to frustrate his tenure and success as president. Alone the groups are small, weak, and even inconsequential. For example, the large group of feminists at the rally were protesting for equal rights, equal right in the workplace and equal pay. I guess they never heard of all the gender equality laws (and amendments and Supreme Court cases). I guess they've never read or even heard of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which is posted in every Human Resources Department in every place of employment. I guess they forgot that Roe v. Wade and further cases give women the exclusive right to kill and destroy a baby growing inside, even though that baby has a father. Alone the liberal groups might be small and weak, yes, but pooled together, they make a more powerful political statement. And they are happy to collaborate, because in the end, it's about moving their one issue forward.

    The liberal/progressive movement has now targeted immigrants. The more, the merrier! They have politicized immigrants, including illegals, turning them into victims who have a gripe and can, with the help of the collective group of liberals, seek demands.

    California has by far the largest number of unauthorized immigrants, about 2.3 million in 2014. About six-in-ten unauthorized immigrants live in the six states with the largest populations of unauthorized immigrants-California, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York and Texas. And in six states, the numbers of illegal immigrants has greatly increased - Virginia, Washington, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. The great influx of Latino immigrants has changed California from a purple state to a blue one. California's Proposition 187 ("Save Our State" initiative) would have denied all public services to illegal immigrants and forced all state employees to immediately report illegal immigrants to the Immigration and Naturalization Service for deportation. It appeared on the ballot in 1994 when California Republican governor Pete Wilson was running a very hard-fought campaign for reelection, which he won. Prop 187 was approved by the voters, but it galvanized the Hispanic vote against the GOP from that year on. California is now known for its high progressive income taxes and high welfare benefit levels (ie, wealth redistribution) - a haven for immigrants who don't come to the United States with skills to fully support themselves and their families. California rewards its Hispanic immigrants and they reward the Democratic Party. We see the same in New Jersey and New York. We see states that want to turn or remain "blue" (Democratic) supporting policies that attract Hispanics and other immigrants (those that take advantage, and even scam, welfare and other assistance programs). Low-skilled immigrants go where they can best afford to live.

    Refer to the Pew Research Center data below:

    A = Unauthorized immigrant population, 2014

    B = Unauthorized immigrant share of population, 2014

    C = Unauthorized Share of immigrant population, 2014

    D = Unauthorized immigrant share of labor force, 2014

    E = Share of K-12 students with unauthorized immigrant parent(s), 2014

    F = Share Mexican of unauthorized immigrants, 2014

    G = Change in unauthorized immigrant population, 2009-2014



    Note: All numbers are rounded independently and are not adjusted to sum to the total U.S. figure or other totals. Percents and Change calculated from unrounded numbers. (90% confidence in rounding)

    "N.A." - Not available. Base of percent is too small to produce a reliable estimate.

    "n.s." - Change is not statistically significant.

    Download data on unauthorized immigrants in the U.S., 2014.

    Source: Pew Research Center estimates for 2009 and 2014 based on augmented American.

    Why does immigration matter and why is it such an important issue for Democrats that the US have an open-door policy, that states be able to have sanctuary cities, and that illegals be granted amnesty? It's because immigration has the potential to the demographics - and hence, the electoral power - of the states that Donald Trump depended on to win the presidency. Immigration is a power play - a strictly political issue, and NOT a moral one, as they might claim. Immigration has the potential of being a game-changer for the Democratic Party and the liberal-progressive movement. It has the potential of changing the political landscape in a major way in favor of liberal-Democratic policies. Just as Lyndon B. Johnson realized the potential of poor blacks when he signed the Aid to Families With Dependent Children legislation (the welfare program as we know it today) and greatly enlarged other assistance programs (his "Great Society") when he said: "I'll have those n*** voting Democratic for 200 years," today's liberals know the potential power of having a majority of people existing or at least dependent on the government for their essential needs. The power to control is the power to manipulate.

    If you question LBJ's logic, which is the same logic of the Democratic Party, just look at the results of his programs. They were intended to lift blacks out of poverty; yet the poverty rate is almost the same today as it was in 1965 (17.3% in 1965; 15% in 2012). This is despite the now 92 + federal programs designed to help lower-income Americans. For instance, there are dozens of education and job-training programs, 17 different food-aid programs, and over 20 housing programs. Instead of giving people the temporary assistance they may need to become employable and become self-sufficient (ending dependency), democratic government policies have done the opposite - they have discouraged work and education, and have helped destroy the one institution that is most important in determining success - families. Rather than being temporary programs and helping to lift individuals and families out of poverty, government programs have become true social programs, or permanent programs. Instead of moving people out of poverty, they are now designed to make people "comfortable" in their poverty.... So much so that it is no longer worth investing in an education or a meaningful employable skill. Liberals and Democrats have taken LBJ's scheme, saw the political brilliance in it, and have run with it. The scheme, of course, is to entangle politics with hand-outs and freebies, including a Get Out of Jail FREE card. And we see it quite clearly with immigration. The Liberals have politicized them. They are participating in Antifa, they are participating in violent protests, they are bashing the US flag, they are hostile to the current administration, they are frustrating our court system, they are demanding rights, they are flocking to sanctuary cities.

    I watched an episode of FOX News this morning. In discussing amnesty for illegal immigrants, Juan Williams said that morally, the United States has a moral obligation to take care of illegal immigrants who are here in this country by providing them healthcare, welfare, education opportunities, etc. His opponent responded by telling him to take that argument to the average middle-class taxpayer, who is already watching his tax dollars go to pay for a huge amount of social services (of which he himself, and his family, is not eligible for) instead of for his own family's needs. Illegal immigrants and their children are costing the American taxpayers $135 billion, the highest ever. This price tag includes healthcare, welfare, other freebies, education, prison costs, and increased law enforcement expenses.

    According to the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IFLI), illegal immigration to the U.S. costs federal, state and local taxpayers a staggering net cost of $116 billion a year - an increase of some $16 billion compared to previous estimates - according to a new study released by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). The study is the most comprehensive to date on the cost to federal, state and local taxpayers of the nation's 12.5 million illegal immigrants and their 4.2 million citizen children.