A VIEW FROM THE WEST: It's About The Law

As I continue to cipher through the musings of Governor Martin
O'Malley during his Washington Radio Week recently, I have to bring up
this tidbit from his appearance on "The Politics Hour with Kojo and
Jonetta" which is a fine program heard each week on WAMU (88.5FM).

On Immigration:

"I think nationwide we have to push back against the ugly rise of
nativism that we have going on in our country. The reason were a
strong country and an innovative country is because of our diversity
and I think that when we bash immigrants and people because of where
they come from, we damage the very fabric and the best value of our
country and we need to get over this."

I believe that the
governor is thinking of RACISM. Racism is when people bash other
people based on where they come from. The immigration fight from the
right is not about nativism or racism, it's about legalism.

America,
with all of it's wonderful diversity, is still a nation of laws. Many
immigrants that came here through the proper channels want other
immigrants to come here, but through the same channels. Many
Americans want companies in the nation to play by the rules. That is
why the Queen Anne's County Board of Commissioners issued a resolution
to forbid the county to do business with vendors who hire illegal
immigrants. Simply put, Commissioner Gene Ransom (D-Dist. 3) said that
while it was a federal issue, it's about laws being broken and the
county had to make a stand.

Ransom is correct on both accounts.
Immigration is a federal issue that the last two congresses (possibly
three) have failed to do anything that carried a grain of common
sense. Above all of that, as I stated earlier, it's about the law.
Americans have to follow the laws of other countries should we choose
to move to those lands, we should expect those who want to move to
America to follow the same rules.

Racism (or any variation of the word or definition there of) need not apply.