The current national debate over immigration reform has caused me to think deeply about what is actually happening in our country. What we are seeing right before our eyes is a bunch of politicians defying the clear will of the vast majority of the American people. Poll after poll clearly show that upwards of 75 to 80 percent of the people want illegal immigration halted in its tracks and restrictions placed on legal immigration. Yet most of our illustrious leaders in Washington are doing their level best to disobey their masters.
This issue, as much as any other, will demonstrate to you, the American citizen, the true character of your elected representatives. Is he or she a statesman or just another politician? And believe me, there is a vast difference between the two.
Today we like to throw the label “Statesman” around yet not really understand the true definition of it. You probably recall many times seeing one of our older members of Congress on television and hearing the commentator refer to him as an “elder statesman.” That may or may not be true. It all depends on who he is and what he has stood for over his career. So let me bring this to the forefront and clear the air.
The textbook definition of a statesman is partially true, defining it as one who practices the art of government. I hate this definition because under it Adolf Hitler was a statesman and none of us would agree with that. But the second part of the definition is “one who governs wisely.” Now this will tell us much about today’s current debate.
Is it wise to allow millions of illegal aliens to cross our southern border every year with no serious effort to stop it? All we have heard since that fateful morning in September over four years ago is that the world changed, that we must adjust our policies to it. And we have done so, launching unprecedented pre-emptive wars, engaging in massive nation-building efforts, and seeking to spread democracy around the globe, all at a cost of countless billions of taxpayer dollars and thousands of lives. Yet we have left our southern border with Mexico wide-open, and at a time when al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden have threatened new attacks on our homeland, possibly with weapons of mass destruction. This is far from wise.
But the national security reason is not the only one. Economics is also an equally important factor. Just this week we heard President Bush, speaking from Cancun, Mexico, remind us that these immigrants, seeking work in the United States, will do the jobs American won’t do. Now that is an out-and-out, bald-faced lie! And it has been spewed from Washington for years. The truth is that Americans won’t work for four or five dollars an hour, and illegal immigrants (and legal ones for that matter) will. This is the main reason the Republican Party has allowed such as flood of illegals to cross over into our country, in order to pay back massive campaign contributions from corporations and big business. The GOP gets campaign cash, businesses get cheap labor. And what does the American worker get – the shaft! Massive floods of cheap labor will, and is, driving wages in this nation downward. More labor means lower wages. It’s simple economics.
For Democrats the issue is a little different, although they are aiding businesses as well. Don’t ever think they are not. But mainly they want to expand a voting block in which they will always get the vast majority of the votes. Republicans were overjoyed when Bush gained 44 percent of the Hispanic vote in 2004. Well yahoo! That will not cut it, not ever. Don’t these fools realize that if Mexicans continue to pour into this nation at that rate, gain amnesty and citizenship (or just vote as illegals the way many Democrats want it) that the days of a Republican majority are over forever? Our nation, the nation of our fathers, will be lost. Our culture will be changed and it can never be regained. This is my biggest fear. I’m beginning to think the late Sam Francis was right. Maybe they are the Stupid Party!
Now back to our definitions. Those who support and promote this crazy immigration policy are not statesmen but politicians. They are worried only with now, today, the present, and have no thought for tomorrow. Oh we hear every campaign season how they are “fighting for the children” but we should look at their actions, not their words. As our Lord told us in Matthew 7:15, “By their fruit you will know them.” Don’t believe what comes out of a politician’s mouth, but look at what they actually do to judge their character. Most of our representatives in Congress only care about staying in office and their power. They are not concerned with what happens to this nation in the future. A statesman, on the other hand is wise and takes a long range view of situations, all the while standing on principle. A politician thinks about today but a statesman thinks about tomorrow, or more accurately, the next generation. Think about it my fellow citizens – what will our great nation be like in 20 or 25 years of unrestricted immigration? I can tell you – you won’t recognize it! A politician will do anything, and say anything, to get elected. We hear it all the time, yet a statesman will stand on his principles and if he is defeated he will retire to his home happily. The trappings of power do not affect him. We need men of this caliber in Washington today.
One of America’s greatest statesmen and political thinkers, John C. Calhoun, wrote and spoke often about the differences between a politician and a statesman. To Alexander Hamilton, Jr., he wrote in 1830: “The distinction between the statesman and the politician is broad and well defined. The former is an ornament and blessing to his country, but the latter a pest. No one is worthy of the public confidence, who does not place himself on principle and services as the means of advancement. Intrigue and cunning will, I trust, prove as feeble as they are detestable.” So where does your elected representative stand?
Ryan S. Walters 
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