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

    The report, "The Fiscal Burden of Illegal Immigration on United States Taxpayers," examines the cost of illegal immigration through a detailed analysis of federal, state and local programs that are available to the nation's illegal immigrant population, their U.S.-born children, or accessed via fraud. The study tallies the impact on education, medical, justice/enforcement, welfare and other government programs. The report notes that the $116 billion cost of illegal immigration falls on state and local taxpayers disproportionately - by a ratio of roughly 2 to 1 - with state and local expenditures totaling $88.9 billion and Federal expenditures totaling $45.8 billion, with only approximately $19 billion recouped in taxes.

    Democrats and liberals love to say that illegals pay taxes, but they are intentionally misleading and deceptive. They pay consumption taxes, like sales taxes and gas tax, which everyone pays as a function of being a consumer. But they do not pay federal income tax. In fact, the taxes they pay are wholly inadequate to cover the costs that they incur and the burden they pose on actual taxpayers. Here are the facts:

    The staggering total costs of illegal immigrants and their children outweigh the taxes paid to federal and state governments by a ratio of roughly 7 to 1, with costs at nearly $135 billion compared to tax revenues at nearly $19 billion.

    All told, the nearly $135 billion paid out by federal and state and local taxpayers to cover the cost of the presence of 12.5 million illegal aliens and their 4.2 million citizen children amounts to approximately $8,075 per illegal alien and citizen child prior to taxes paid, or $6,940 per person after taxes are paid.

    On the federal level, medical ($17.14 billion) is by far the highest cost, with law enforcement coming second ($13.15 billion) and general government services ($8 billion) third.

    At the state and local level, education ($44.4 billion) was by far the largest expense, followed by general public services ($18.5 billion) and medical ($12.1 billion).

    The study also includes cost and tax revenue estimates per state. The top three states based on total cost to state taxpayers for illegal immigrants and their children: California ($23 billion); Texas ($10.9 billion), and New York ($7.5 billion). [Ibid]

    Mexicans remain the majority of the nation's unauthorized immigrant population; the "estimated" number of illegal Mexican immigrants (aliens) was 5.8 million in 2014. On top of this, the number of unauthorized immigrants from all other nations - especially those from Asia and Central America - is growing. In 2009, the number of illegals from all other nations (other than Mexico) was 325,000. In 2014, that figure rose to 5.3 million. As if these numbers aren't staggering enough, remember our laws allowing chain migration and recognize that illegals are breeding like crazy. Their numbers are growing very rapidly.

    On one of Tucker Carlson's shows, he commented: "Millions of low-skilled workers are flooding into the country and clearly something needs to be done. Facts rarely matter in the national debate surround immigration, including in Washington DC; instead, to supporters of an open immigration policy, it's about morality and emotion. But facts must be addressed because they have real consequences for legal Americans. Illegal immigration costs American taxpayers $135.8 billion dollars each year. Illegals pay about $19 billion in taxes which leaves a deficit that the American taxpayers are on the hook for of $116 billion. To put that into perspective, Americans spend $70 billion each year on college tuition. If we didn't have the immigration burden that we have, that $116 billion could provide a college education for every American child, with about $50 billion left over. That sum could go towards fixing roads, it could be spent on healthcare, etc."

    Tucker then brought on a spokesman, Mr. Dan Stein, for the Center for Immigration Studies, the organization which compiled the data referenced. The spokesman explained that the typical immigrant in this country is related to someone already here. "Every initiating immigrant has already brought 3.5 family members with him/her to the country. This is known as chain migration. Each legal immigrant from Mexico has already brought an average of more than 6 others with him/her to the United States. Most have low prospects of contributing economically (of getting a good-paying job). 24% of those who have come here through chain migration are over 50 years old (and not able to speak English) and hence, they barely work or don't work at all. But they will be able to collect social security benefits, after never paying into the system. If 700,000 DACA recipients receive amnesty, they stand to bring millions more under our policy of chain migration. The only reason to excuse this situation is because for the left, its is a chance to gain and hold onto political power. On the right, Republican politicians are being pressured by the business lobbyists (who fund their campaigns and have a lot of power) who want to keep labor costs low. Ordinary Americans are ignored. They are losing their jobs to these immigrants. They need their taxes lowered because they have had stagnant wages for years and have watched as costs have gone up for everything. The average immigrant makes about $36,000 per year (below the poverty line) and therefore, has a negative federal tax liability."

    To continue an immigration policy at the current rate and with the consequences it brings ensures that actual taxpayers will never get a break. They will continue to subsidize the lifestyles of others.... and most offensively, subsidize the lifestyles of those that shouldn't even be here. The American taxpayer, and the legal citizen should NOT have to subsidize and fund an insidious policy that is political in nature and designed only to effect a shift in party allegiance. It is simply politics at its worst and is outrageous.

    For Liberals to embrace open borders and an open immigration policy is just insane. It's just as insane as them piling more people on social welfare programs, offering more entitlement programs, and driving the nation further into debt. Clearly, the cost of allowing illegal immigration to continue is far too high. Anyone with an ounce of grey matter can understand this. Combine this with the fact that the federal government is specifically tasked - is REQUIRED - to enforce a rational and meaningful immigration policy, and we see that liberals are simply beyond ignorant and reckless on this issue. But then again, open immigration isn't about what is moral and compassionate (as the Pope likes to espouse, while never once offering to open the Vatican coffers to fund their social costs); it is a "kool-aid" issue that masks a more sinister goal - to bring in more potential Democrats. The political ambitions of today's liberals continue to destroy brain cells and continue to put the health and vitality of the country at risk.

    [Jeffrey S. Passel an D'Vera Cohn, "Overall Number of U.S. Unauthorized Immigrants Holds Steady Since 2009; Decline in share from Mexico mostly offset by growth from Asia, Central America and sub-Saharan Africa," Pew Research Center, Nov, 3, 2016. Referenced at: http://www.pewhispanic.org/2016/09/20/overall-number-of-u-s-unauthorized-immigrants-holds-steady-since-2009/ ]

    NYC TERRORIST ATTACK - Profiling and Vetting are Highly Offensive to Liberals, even when innocent American lives are at stake

    On Halloween Day, October 31, in New York City, a legal permanent resident who came to the US from Uzbekistan committed an act of terrorism that mirrored those being committed in European nations, especially France and England. Sayfullo Saipov drove a rented Home Depot truck down a New York City bike lane, intentionally targeting and plowing into pedestrians and bicyclists, before slamming into a school bus, killing 8 and wounding 12. He got out of the truck and shouted "Allahu akbar" ("God is great" in Arabic) before the NYC police were able to subdue him. When the police later were able to go through Saipov's effects, they learned that he had pledged loyalty to ISIS and had plotted the attack for weeks before carrying out in the name of the Islamic State.

    How did someone so hateful of America come here? It turns out that Saipov came to the United States seven years ago from Uzbekistan under the Diversity Visa (DV) Program, a State Department program which offers a no-questions-asked (with respect to ideology and terrorism) lottery for people from countries with few immigrants in America. The DV program makes up to 50,000 immigrant visas available annually, "drawn from random selection among all entries to individuals who are from countries with low rates of immigration" to the U.S., according to the information provided on the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services website. Applicants must prove they have a clean criminal record, have a high school diploma or its equivalent, or have at least two years of work experience within the past five years in order to qualify. The program originated as part of a bill introduced in 1990 by Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-NY, then a member of the House. Schumer's measure to make a set number of visas available to "diversity immigrants" from certain countries was absorbed into a larger House immigration bill, which was sponsored by Schumer and 31 others.

    The House legislation passed in a bipartisan, but contested, vote (231-192), while the Senate version passed more easily (89-8). The bill went on to be signed by then-President George H.W. Bush in 1990. Up until that point, the US was essentially only acknowledging terrorism abroad, primarily with groups like Hamas and Hezbollah. In 1979, Iranians kidnapped fifty-two American diplomats and citizens and held them hostage for 444 days (until Reagan took office in 1981) and in 1988, a suitcase bomb exploded aboard New York-bound Pan Am Flight 103, killing all 259 passengers and crewmembers, along with 11 people on the ground, in Lockerbie, Scotland. (Libya's leader, Gaddafi, finally claimed responsibility in 2003).

    In light of the rapid and violent escalation of terrorism all over the world and especially here in the United States, our Congressmen never thought to get rid of the DV program in favor of a more sensible immigration policy - a merit-based one, one rationally related to our national interests, the most important being safety and self-preservation. They never thought it important, for safety reasons, to come together in a non-partisan fashion, and repeal the policy? How many "Allahu Akbars" did they need to hear shouted before innocent American lives were taken? Do they not bother to look at the data that entire executive departments are tasked to gather regarding terrorism, radicalism, and countries in which both are thriving? It took someone like Donald Trump, vaulted to the presidency by common-sense Americans, to think along such lines. Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark) sponsored the Reforming American Immigration for a Strong Economy (RAISE) Act, which calls for its elimination and President Trump has come out in support of it, calling the DV program "outdated," adding that it "serves questionable economic and humanitarian interests."

    In their infinite wisdom, Democrats provided a beauty of a program that was able to bring potential and actual terrorists into our communities in the aftermath of the 9/11 NYC terrorist attack.

    Liberal federal judges want to keep that door open as well. How many liberal circuit courts of appeal have struck down President Trump's common-sense travel ban so that officials can know, with some degree of confidence, who exactly is coming into our country.

    TEXAS CHURCH SHOOTING - As greater numbers of people reject religion and its tenets, a crowning achievement for liberals, violent crime (mass shootings, that is) has increased

    The incidence of violent crime (mass shootings, that is) has risen as greater numbers of people reject religion and its tenets. Conversely, violent crime decreases as greater numbers of people are religiously active in their community. Religion establishes a strong moral climate for its believers.

    The rise in this phenomenon of 'Man's inhumanity to his fellow man' forces us to assess whether the social engineering of liberals/progressives starting in the late 1940's (with the "Wall of Separation" decision, Everson v. Board of Education, 1947) has created a social climate that feeds man's dark side. In today's America, everyone is a victim, and as a victim, others must be pay or be punished.

    On Sunday, November 5, a gunman walked into a small Baptist church in the very small town of Sutherland Springs, Texas, and began shooting all its parishioners. The gunman, Devin Kelly, was an Air Force veteran who was dishonorably discharged and confined for a year for severely beating his wife and her baby son. As Kelly walked into the church, he said: "Everyone die." He killed 26 people, including toddlers and the elderly. The youngest victim was a baby in its mother's womb, just 2 months or so from birth, and the next was only 18 months old. The eldest was 72. As Kelly walked from pew to pew, he shot point blank at the terrified church-goers, who were cowering and covering their loved ones. He pumped bullets into the bodies of those who were cowering, and took care to make sure that if anyone appeared to still be alive he would shoot them some more.

    Clearly his intent was to shoot all 50 or so parishioners. If it hadn't been for a neighbor who sprang into action, got his rifle, and began shooting at him, he may have succeeded in his mission. But he did more damage and was responsible for more carnage than a person can ever imagine. In such a small town, and with the church being as much of a family gathering as a church service, the deaths were particularly heart-wrenching. One family lost 8 members, and probably everyone in the small community lost someone close to them. The pastor lost his 14-year-old daughter.

    Devin Kelly was a deeply, deeply disturbed individual. He was violently, physically abusive as well as psychologically abusive. His depravity knew no bounds. His ex-wife detailed how he abused her: "He would choke me, punch me, kick me. There would be times where I would be on the floor curled up and having to protect my organs because he would be violently kicking me on my side. He kicked me like I was less of a person; that's how it made me feel." She said he once pulled a gun and held it to her head while they were driving on an empty road, and asked her: "Do you want to die?'" He threatened to kill her, her son, and her family if she ever told anyone about him hurting her or pulling a gun on her. As he put it: "I could just bury you somewhere here in the desert and nobody would ever find you." He smacked her infant son around so hard that his skull was fractured. Kelly pled guilty to charges of abusing his then-wife and hitting his stepson "with a force likely to produce death or grievous bodily harm," according to documents.

    Where does such evil come from? How do monsters arise among us? And why do they?

    I give a lot of thought to those questions. And I invariably think back to an old Cherokee parable that I had shared with my kids many years ago. The parable goes like this: An old Cherokee chief was teaching his grandson about life. He told him: "A fight is going on inside me... It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, self-doubt, and ego. And the other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. This same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other person, too." The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf will win?" To which the old chief simply replied: "The one you feed."

    I think it's true that everyone has a fight going on inside them, inside their hearts and in their head, and some days the angel wins and some days, it seems like the angel doesn't hold up too well. Who doesn't feel the demon winning sometimes when things go bad or tragedy strikes? Who wouldn't feed that demon when, say, a child gets gravely ill or passes? Or when someone they love dies unexpectedly? They question the sense it makes and why good doesn't prevail, as we expect it should. Who wouldn't feed the demon when debts pile up, the house bills can't be met, and the stress level is almost unbearable? Or when a person loses his or her job at the worst possible time? Or is mistreated by a horrible boss? Or mistreated by their spouse? Who wouldn't empower the internal demon in an environment that is consumed with division and hatred, pitting one group of individuals against another? Or when there is injustice? Or in a politically-charged environment, with critical issues at stake? Or in an environment where individuals continue to have "diversity" shoved down their throats when in fact, diversity has often resulted in a great loss of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, self-censorship, a cold-impersonal workplace, lowered standards (as in education), changes to the holidays and traditions that have been part of our nation's history for so long (holidays like Christmas and Columbus Day being renamed, Easter being eliminated, and now establishing a new "special" month - Hispanic History Month or Hispanic Appreciation Month... c'mon), challenges in how history is taught and viewed (we can't offend anyone in any way), a sense of insecurity, and even instances of anxiety (being forced to exist with others that clearly don't share similar values, customs, and norms). Some people cannot cope when they lose control of the important things in their life.

    Without being properly grounded and guided, without a clear understanding of boundaries and expectations, without proper preparation for the real world, and without proper love and support, a person can feel lonely and helpless as the internal war wages on. Without the sense of community and a tangible feeling of compassion and care, a person can go further down a dark road and sink further into despair. Unfortunately, the progressive era has destroyed, eroded, and undermined all those indispensable supports and guidelines that individuals need to keep the demons at bay. They've taken religion and morality out of our schools, out of our public square, and out of government. I remember we started every morning during my public school years with a prayer (up until high school) and then with a time of silence (last years of high school, where the home room teacher would encourage us to say a prayer to start the day out strong). As short and seemingly inconsequential as those early morning moments may seem, I remember being reminded every day of right versus wrong, that I was grateful for my life and its possibilities were in my own hands, and that all said-and-done, I would be accountable to God for how I conducted myself. It grounded me and yes, it pushed me to be the best version of myself I could be. It brought me back to my Sunday school and my church service lessons which taught me about God's grace and God's love, how faith doesn't depend on anything visible or provable, but in simple belief and acceptance, how Jesus calls us to live according to God's laws so that we can best love and help serve on another. It reminded me of the people I grew up in the church with - learning that each of them had their own cross to bear, in one way or another, yet they were there for others and their crosses. I used to spend many days in my church not because I was a sponge and wanted to soak up the Scripture; I just enjoyed and felt comforted being with such a warm and generous and selfless group of people. They were always happy.