'76 Blog

Again the Obama administration announced that bureaucrats may decide when they will ignore laws.  This instance involves illegal immigrants.  But that’s not the point.  The true problem is inconsistent, arbitrary application of government. Every resident – you and I, business-people, employees, parents, young and old – needs a consistent legal context.  If rules may or may not be enforced, we cannot plan.  Business decisions, investment, even household budgeting become unfathomable. Worse, bureaucrats with license to apply rules arbitrarily readily fall into corrupt cronyism.  This CEO wants a regulation enforced against his competitors, or that union wants to pressure management.  Influence-peddling and bribery will abound. Then bribe demands spread.  A contractor wants the inspector to approve a job, or you merely want to renew your driver’s license.  Without known rules consistently applied, America becomes a bureaucratic quicksand like Mexico or the Middle East.  That will be the end of prosperity and freedom.

(Editor: Venkatraj was invited to testify in the House Education Committee on Monday when SB-126, granting in-state college tuition to illegal aliens, was heard and ultimately rejected on a 7-6 vote.  Here is his prepared testimony.) I am a Staff Assistant at the Centennial Institute and an Engineer Officer in the Colorado Army National Guard.  My narrative as the son of immigrants may shed light on this pending legislation. Over 30 years ago, my parents began the long and arduous process of immigrating to our great nation from Southern India. My father told his family of his desire to come to the United States and his sister sold all her gold to pay for the young couples’ ticket as well as spending money - - $100. The young couple began their lives in one bedroom of a crowded apartment in Brooklyn, NYC, where I was born. My father began as an X-ray courier for New York hospitals and my mother worked as a nurse’s assistant in a busy Manhattan hospital.  Ten years later, my father would be graduating with his PhD from New York University and my mother would finish her schooling as a full M.D. This narrative is the narrative that is repeated time and time again. It is the story of immigrants who lived and exemplified what we treasure most in our nation and what makes this nation great - - the American Dream.  It is the dream of a better life in the context of a better nation. What bothers me about this legislation is not so much what it means for my parent’s narrative but that this legislation embodies a piecemeal approach to real immigration reform that is vested in mere political gesturing than legitimate public policy option. To elucidate, an individual illegally here with a bachelor's degree will have slim to no opportunities of obtaining employment. I think it’s time we get serious on immigration reform and focus on public policy rather than mere political gesturing.  Our citizens and immigrant communities deserve better than that and we, as Americans, can and will do better. I look around this room and see kids wearing shirts saying “future researcher”, “future teacher”, and “future lawyer” and I don’t doubt it for a second. In fact, I would be honored to lead or be led by some of these kids in our armed forces. But let’s do it in the right way to truly help our immigrant communities.  

When another speaker at Centennial's immigration debate on Jan. 12 asked rhetorically who should win and lose in the job market, Rosemary Jenks of Numbers USA burst out, "Americans should win, every time!"  It was one of the most dramatic moments of the event, soon to be available in full on video at this website.  Meanwhile, here is the text of Jenks's opening statement: ======================= JENKS: All sovereign nations have the right and the duty to protect their borders. Whilenations do not have the right to keep people within their borders, they do have the rightto keep noncitizens out. In other words, noncitizens do NOT have a right to immigrate; rather, immigration is aprivilege granted by a nation to those individuals it chooses. So, how should nations choose to whom they grant that privilege? In America, the U.S. Constitution specifically empowers Congress to set immigrationpolicy, and the preamble of the Constitution provides the framework in which thatshould be done. The preamble reads, “We the people of the United States, in order to form a moreperfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the commondefence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselvesand our posterity, do ordain and establish this constitution for the United States ofAmerica.” So, under the Constitution, we the people empower our elected officials to establishpolicies that serve the interests of Americans. Today in the United States, 22 million Americans want, but cannot find, full-time jobs. Among Americans with only a high school education, one in five (20%) cannot find fulltimework. Among Hispanic Americans with only a high school education, 36 percent cannot findfull-time work. Among Black Americans with only a high school education, 40 percent cannot find fulltimework. Among American teens—16 and 17 year olds—40 percent cannot find full-time jobs. And yet, today in the United States, because our government has abdicated its duty toenforce immigration laws, an estimated seven million non-agricultural jobs are held byillegal aliens. The vast majority of these illegal aliens have no more than a high schooleducation. In addition, our government currently grants permanent work permits to an average of75,000 working-age legal immigrants every single month, under the most generouslegal immigration policy in the world. About half of these immigrants have no morethan a high school education. How is it morally or civically acceptable for the U.S. government to not just ignore theplight of 22 million Americans who desperately need jobs, but to actively pursue apolicy that actually imports more workers to compete with them for scarce jobs, andthat drives down wages? How is it morally or civically just to import large numbers of foreign workers at theexpense of native-born minorities? How is it morally or civically right to import foreign labor and thereby deny our ownyoung people the entry-level jobs they need to develop a work ethic and begin to climbthe economic ladder? Individually, we have a moral and civic obligation to help all people to the best of ourability. The moral and civic obligation of the United States government, however, mustbe first and foremost to serve the interests of the American people. It simply is not moral or civically responsible to offer the American Dream to massnumbers of foreigners at the cost of denying it to the most vulnerable of our fellowAmericans. Contact: rjenks@post.harvard.edu  

Editor: Here is the first in our series of position papers from Centennial Institute's debate on "Immigration: Which Way America?" attended by a full house of 300 on Jan. 12 in Lakewood.  Former State Sen. David Schultheis (R-Colorado Springs) spoke against the evening's proposition: "Resolved: A less restrictive immigration policy is civically and morally best for America."  His opening remarks are given below.  Position papers from fellow debaters Lucia Guzman, Rosemary Jenks, and Helen Krieble will be posted as we receive them.  The debate was recorded for later airing on TV and radio; watch this space for broadcast times. ===================== SCHULTHEIS: Thank you for allowing me to participate in this important discussion.  My comments on morality will be made from the perspective of America’s citizens.  America is still the most exceptional country in the world, and if we are to retain the ability to respond to the world’s urgent needs as we have in the past, we must remain exceptional.   The question of morality for this Resolution is important to discuss, because it is seen so differently from both the proponents and the opponents of illegal immigration.  What is so interesting about the passion on each side however, is that such a discussion skirts the real issue of a why sovereign nations and states, with defined borders, exist in the first place, and whether or not the removal of such borders,  and the consequent one-world government is preferable to nation states.  We’ll have to leave that for a possible future debate for Colorado Christian University in the future. Since most Americans believe that defined borders are essential, the discussion of Morality should be made solely from the perspective of the U.S. Citizen and what consequences they wouldincurif illegal immigration remains unchecked.  This is perhaps among the most significant of political choices we’ll make in our lifetime.   In making it, I urge us not to think about what was good for your great-grandparents, grandparents or parents: I urge us to think about what’s good for our grandchildren. The end goal I hope we are all seeking is a just, humane, orderly, and prosperous nation.  Illegal immigration hinders that goal, in my view.  Mass low-skilled immigration undermines the national interest and endangers the future of the Republic and the American people. As American citizens, it should be our mutual desire for continued reliance on: • the rule of law• upholding the dignity of American labor• sustaining our social safety net• maintaining the balance we’ve struck between our pluralism and our sense of national belonging conveyed in the phrase E Pluribus Unum• preventing the emergence of a dual-culture, dual-language society and• providing to our descendants the solitude of the wild spaces of this magnificent country for their spiritual health. All these important areas of concern are important moral and ethical issues that bear serious consideration. Much has been made of late of the increasing growing gap between the poor and wealthy over the last couple decades or so.  This indeed should be troubling to all of us, and a closer look at a major cause indicates that it is, in large part, due to massive low-skilled, low-educated Mexican immigration. One has only to look at California that now leads the nation in income inequality, which resembles that of Mississippi in the1970’s. California once had the most educated workforce in America; now it ranks dead last.   California’s lack of monitoring of illegal immigration has allowed mass importation of poverty.  62% of all immigrants from Mexico and Central America don’t have a high school diploma, while for American Workers it’s only 6%.      A recent study by the Pew Hispanic Center reports 30% of illegal immigrants between ages 25-64 have less than a ninth-grade education, while the same statistic for American workers is only 2%.  Is it any wonder that California’s inequality is spreading throughout the U.S.?  Such dramatic educational difference places tremendous burdens on American citizens as they try to cope with the many consequences of such poverty in a country that is fast-becoming a huge welfare state. Sadly, mass illegal immigration has brutal consequences for our most vulnerable citizens.  Yet, while most advocates of illegal immigration to the U.S. say that they’re on the side of justice, their argument ignores the fact that those same advocates give no priority to the significantly-increased sufferings of their fellow citizens. This is borne out by The National Research Council of the American Academy of Sciences which found that cheap labor of low-skilled illegal aliens caused 44% of the decrease in wages among the poorest Americans from 1980-1995. The poorest 12% of the American labor force, (15-18 million workers) have suffered pay cuts, heavy job losses, and have fallen deeper into poverty. More recent findings show far more damaging effects.  A 1998 study showed wages for American workers drop 7% for each 1% addition of illegal aliens to the workforce in any job category. Over the past 25 years, real wages for American workers without a high school education have declined 22%. One cannot dismiss the fact that the flow of unskilled immigrants plays a significant role in increasing poverty of citizens throughout the U.S., placing large numbers of citizens on welfare rolls. How does one face these citizens, many who can no longer support their families and not acknowledge the immoral aspect of illegal immigration on their lives? Contact: senatorschultheis@gmail.com    

Next Monday, Dec. 13, Centennial Institute will assist President Bill Armstrong in welcoming Gov. Bill Ritter for a return visit to the CCU campus.  Ritter spoke here during his campaign for governor in 2006.  He joins us again during his final month in office *** Scroll down for a complete calendar of events, December 2010 to April 2011 *** for a noontime talk in the CCU Events Center to review the accomplishments, challenges, and lessons of the past four years.  Anyone may attend, but you will need a reservation.  Email us with your name and the number in your party at Centennial@ccu.edu. A month from now, Centennial will start the New Year of 2011 with a bang on Wednesday, Jan. 12, when advocates from the left and right face off in a debate on immigration policy.  Rosemary Jenks of Numbers USA and former state Sen. David Schultheis will make the conservative case.  Daniel Carroll Rodas of Denver Seminary and state Sen. Lucia Guzman will make the liberal case. The debate will be held just off the CCU campus at Lakewood Cultural Center, 470 S. Allison Parkway, 7pm on Jan. 12.  Once again, anyone may attend, but you will need a reservation.  Email us with your name and the number in your party at Centennial@ccu.edu. Click for more on the immigration debate: Immigration Debate Jan. 12 And scroll down for our full calendar of Winter-Spring 2011 events.  You are always welcome! CENTENNIAL INSTITUTEEvents, Winter 2010-2011----------------------------------------Monday, December 13, 12 noonCCU Events CenterHonored Guest: Gov. Bill Ritter“A Vision for Colorado’s Future”------------------------------------------Wednesday, January 12, 7pmLakewood Cultural CenterImmigration Debate: “Which Way America?”Rosemary Jenks & David Schultheisvs. Daniel Carroll & Lucia Guzman-----------------------------------------(Invitation Only)Friday, January 21, 730amBusiness Council Breakfast“Making Poor Nations Rich”Dr. Benjamin Powell----------------------------------------  Thursday, February 10, 730amDowntown Policy Breakfast“New Hope for the Inner City”Dr. Robert Woodson----------------------------------------  (Invitation Only)Friday, February 18, 730amBusiness Council Breakfast“Will Obamacare Survive?”Dr. Sally Pipes----------------------------------------Monday, February 28, 7pmCCU Beckman CenterIssue Monday: “Better Schools on Lower Budgets”William Moloney & Krista Kafer----------------------------------------(Invitation Only)Friday, March 18, 730amBusiness Council Breakfast “Free Speech & Campaign Finance”Dr. Bradley Smith-----------------------------------------(Invitation Only)Friday, April 15, 730amBusiness Council Breakfast “Ten Books that Worsened the World”Dr. Benjamin Wiker-----------------------------------------Thursday, April 21, 7pmCCU Music CenterForeign Policy Debate:“United Nations Pro & Con”Presenters TBA------------------------------------------AND BACK BY POPULAR DEMANDFriday, July 29 – Sunday, July 31Denver Marriott City CenterWestern Conservative Summit 2011Presenters & Pricing TBASee WesternConservativeSummit.com------------------------------------------Admission Free except where noted Reservations RequiredReserve at Centennial@ccu.edu  Or Call 303.963.3424John Andrews, Director