Okay, it is really early to seriously land on one political candidate. Early on, I like Hillary but Obama is hypnotic in his presentation and style; he's very politically attractive. I think I'm most inclined, at this point, to vote for a bit of a dark horse candidate in Bill Richardson.
It's easy to see how Democrats differ from Republicans, and easy to see the similarities in their policies or views on Iraq, the economy or healthcare. But if one looks at an issue like immigration - one that cross cuts conservative and liberal ideological leanings, it might be easier to decide who YOU like.
A sampling of the three:
Clinton
Hillary does not address immigration specifically on her website. But, from what I read and now from her previous votes, she tends to push the security/build a wall approach over freedom/identify-reasons-people-immigrate approach, which is a waste of time and money, in my approach. The Washington Times put's her position just right of Bush's, even.
Obama
From the Campaing Website:
Creating Secure Borders
Barack Obama wants to preserve the integrity of our borders to reduce illegal immigration. He supports additional personnel, infrastructure, and technology on the border and at our ports of entry. Obama believes we need additional Customs and Border Protection agents equipped with better technology and real-time intelligence. However, enforcing our borders is only one step of comprehensive immigration reform. Despite tripling the size of the U.S. Border Patrol along the southern border between 1990-2005, the undocumented population doubled in size, the death rate of border crossings tripled, and the per-apprehension cost increased from $300 in 1992 to $1700 in 2002, according to the Center for American Progress.
Removing Incentives to Enter Illegally
To remove incentives to enter the country illegally, we need to crack down on employers who hire illegal immigrants. Barack Obama has championed a proposal with Senators Charles Grassley (R-IA), Ted Kennedy (D-MA), and Max Baucus (D-MT) to create a new employment eligibility verification system so employers could verify that their employees are legally eligible to work in the U.S., making it fair to legal workers and tougher on employers.
Improving Legal Immigration
The overwhelming majority of immigrants, both legal and undocumented, come into this country with the hope that hard work and sacrifice will secure a better life for their children. Every year, an estimated 500,000-800,000 people enter the country illegally or illegally overstay their visa. Another million enter legally. Barack Obama believes we must address illegal immigration by stronger border measures and fixing the dysfunctional bureaucracy to balance the needs of American workers and the U.S. economy.
That includes creating legal avenues for people to work here. Barack Obama believes immigrant workers should have legal protections to avoid abuse and downward pressure on American wages and working conditions.
Richardson
From the Campaing Website:
"Building a fence will not increase security, just as attempting to deport 12 million illegal immigrants is not feasible or reasonable. I believe a realistic immigration reform plan must address the problem from all sides -- securing the border, penalizing employers for knowingly hiring illegal workers, offering a tough but reasonable path to legalization, engaging Mexico in the reform process, and improving our current immigration quota system."
The quick and dirty, it appears, is that the first two are pandering to the middle America fears of a 'browning of America' and tout a tough 'wall and troops' approach, which, I disagree with. Building a wall will not stop people, ideas and influence of either from going in and out of this country or any other. It just gives something to 'snap' down the road, when the real reasons for massive immigration keep pushing on.
On a completely unrelated part of the campaign, I had to chuckle when I read that Hillary's campaign picked THEIR song. I don't think it is a good sign of things to come for her campaign, but we'll see.
No comments:
Post a Comment