A Good Law Gets A Bum Rap: Arizona Comes To Its Own Defense And Is Excoriated For Doing So
A Good Law Gets A Bum Rap: Arizona Comes To Its Own Defense And Is Excoriated For Doing So
By
Ken Eliasberg
Arizona, abandoned (one might go so far as to say, betrayed) by a derelict federal government and under siege by escapees from a narco state, took matters into its own hands — a seemingly understandable act of self defense, if you will. And the law is reasonable, appropriate, and, in my opinion, constitutional. However, you would never get that impression from listening to the howls of the chattering classes, i.e. some ignorant loudmouths on the left, supported by an equally ignorant mainstream media that long ago gave up even the pretext of journalistic integrity.
Have any of these guys taken the trouble to read the law before condemning the people in Arizona who have been victimized by illegal marauders, crossing their borders with relative impunity and wreaking havoc on its citizenry? Well there are some, and those who have find the law measured, reasonable, appropriate, and constitutional (I am among their number). Of course, the constitutionality of the measure remains to be decided, and, as long you have left-wing judicial activist judges, no law is safe from their far-reaching Judicial sweep. That said, I urge you to read the law, as well as a subsequent measure designed to make it perfectly clear that this is neither vigilante justice nor racial profiling. Before you launch an unhinged attack on people trying to defend themselves — and taking measured steps to do so — at least have the courtesy of reading the damn law (a courtesy which our esteemed, but intellectually challenged, Attorney General, Eric Holder, did not extend before challenging the legality of Arizona’s law — what a buffoon). But I forget, these are lefties — they don’t require authority for launching a critique; all that they have to have is just their opinion (although, in all fairness, they are not entirely alone in their criticism; unfortunately, some equally irresponsible commentary is coming from some on the right — demonstrating that the left, while typically uninformed, doesn’t have a monopoly on ignorance). Once having undertaken such a seemingly reasonable effort, you will find that the law does none of the objectionable things that its mindless critics have suggested that it does. Or, at the very least, you will have demonstrated that some thought, no matter how inadequate, went into your critique
As noted, it does not profile; all that it does is allow an officer of the law, who has detained a person suspected of a completely independent violation of the law, to ask the detainee for his papers. It does not allow any type of fishing expedition based solely on the officer’s suspicion that someone who is not guilty of an independent infraction may be an illegal alien. That said, I am both amazed and appalled by the reaction on the part of people who should really know better, or at least should act like they know better, for example those who preside over the City of Los Angeles, i.e. L.A.’s Mayor and the City Council, both of whom immediately jumped on the idea of boycotting Arizona. And, if anyone should be an authority on the law — this law or any other — it should be the mayor of Los Angeles; after all, Villaraigosa flunked the California Bar Exam 4 times, before finally giving up, thereby establishing his legal credentials.
Pushing chutzpah to almost unnatural extremes on this issue is the outrageous behavior of Mexico’s president, Felipe Calderon, protesting Arizona’s simple act of self defense. Here you have a leader, whose country is the unique source of the problem, protesting the problem’s victim in its effort to protect itself. Mexico, an impoverished narco state which is virtually run by its narco terrorists who have taken their violence to, and across, our borders, is now upset over one of our State’s efforts to respond to the problem which his country has created (with plenty of help from our country, to be sure). Perhaps Calderon would be well advised to mind his own business and tend to the chaotic state that exists in his own country, reducing it to a gangster state. Possibly, since he seems incapable of addressing his own country’s serious problems which he should control, he is more comfortable addressing Arizona’s serious problem which his governmental impotence has greatly compounded.
This reminds me of the good ‘ol Bush era when Bush’s alleged buddy, Vicente Fox, then president of Mexico, was not only not offering any help with respect to our illegal alien problem, but was actually subverting any effort to do so by providing written guides on how to illegally penetrate our borders - and thereafter offering matricula consulares as a way of staying here. Maybe one of our presidents ought to talk to one of these guys and tell them that we are not happy with their effort to palm their problems off on us — we have become Mexico’s welfare system.
Finally, it is worth noting that national polling shows that 70% of the people polled agree with the law. Perhaps more to the point, polling indicates that Arizonians — you know, those guys being killed, kidnapped, and otherwise victimized — support the law. And more revealing still, polling reveals that almost 60% of Arizona’s latino population supports the measure.
Perhaps the rest of us should mind our own business and let Arizona deal with Arizona’s almost existential problem — particularly since the only help offered by the federal government comes in the form of amnesty.