While campaigning over the past three years, some of my most inspiring conversations have been with naturalized U.S. citizens -- people from other countries who have gone through the process of learning our language, studying our Constitution and system of government, and understanding the history and shared struggles that have brought our country to the present.
These individuals understand that our country is not perfect -- far from it. But they understand that relative to other countries, the ideals of our Declaration of Independence are unique: every individual has God-given, unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Rights are not "privileges" to be dispensed or limited by government, they are innate human rights. Government is formed to protect these rights, and government must be inherently limited -- specifically, our federal government is limited by the Constitution.
Quite often, naturalized citizens understand better than native born citizens just how far we have strayed from the ideals of our founding documents.
It's been said that "A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury." Many of our elected "representatives" treat our government as a totalitarian democracy (as opposed to a constitutional republic) -- they believe that whoever gets the most votes in Washington can make promises to redistribute wealth, centrally plan our economy, and promise "benefits" to the voters seemingly regardless of the our ability to pay.
It's also clear that continuing down this path of increased government control is, as F.A. Hayek noted, The Road to Serfdom. We must fight against this dangerous trend, and take power away from those who would abuse it.
Just this weekend I attended an event in Durham that illustrated a fundamental problem with the debate surrounding illegal immigration, amnesty, and a "path to citizenship". The event was the statewide convention of the NC Latino Coalition, and it brought 1,505 delegates (as reported at the convention) from across the state to lobby candidates and elected officials.
Attending this event was extremely educational -- the speakers on the program represented the AFL/CIO, SEIU, NAACP, and a variety of religious and business organizations. The dialog at the event -- conducted entirely in Spanish -- was filled with talk of fairness, justice, and immigrants' willingness to work, but never mentioned the responsibilities of citizenship, the value of limited government, and the importance of economic freedom, entrepreneurship, and private property as key ingredients in our national prosperity.
It became clear during this event that the forces driving the amnesty movement are not interested in discussing naturalized citizenship, or its responsibilities. It's simply about big-goverment politicians and union bosses accumulating more power.
What happens if 12 million illegal immigrants receive amnesty and owe their citizenship and right to vote to the AFL/CIO, SEIU, and Democratic party? Are those new voters going to appreciate the ideals upon which our country was founded, and the imperative to embrace a constitutional federal government that lives within its means, and its mandate?
On June 30th, David Price voted with Nancy Pelosi to