Monday's debate between Gov. Martin O'Malley and former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. was quite instructive, and no more so for me than when Mr. O'Malley used the term "new Americans" to describe illegal aliens not only residing in Maryland but throughout the nation and his support for a "comprehensive" solution to the problem favored by the Democrats and the Obama administration. Leave it to a Democrat to get it wrong on essentially all levels.
So, according to Mr. O'Malley and Mr. Obama and "Democrat logic," anyone arriving in our country by hook or by crook is automatically a "new American," and that designation is rationalized by using the tired and boring saw that, hey, we're all immigrants, in fact we're a nation of immigrants.
As usual, Mr. O'Malley is wrong. We're not just merely a nation of immigrants. Rather, we're a nation of legal immigrants. That's a huge distinction. And under what circumstances should people be allowed to become legal immigrants? As the late, great, economist Milton Friedman said, you can't have open borders in a welfare state.
The immigration boom in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the period from which most of us Americans can trace our roots, was far different than the situation today. When our relatives came to America they had four choices after getting off the boat at Ellis Island. They could work, or be supported by relatives and friends, or return to their native country, or roll up in a fetal position and die. That was it.
That is decidedly not the case today, especially for illegal aliens living in Mr. O'Malley's Maryland, where supporting the illegal folks living in our state cost taxpayers for medical, education and judicial services. That's money that should have been used for the citizens of Maryland as well as the legal immigrants that have moved here. That's true compassion. That's Mr. Ehrlich's style of compassion, trying to make the treasure of our state available to those that belong here, not those who do not.
Here's a simple rule of thumb to determine the true motives of our Democratic leaders like Mr. O'Malley and Barack Obama. How long would it take them to close the American borders if those illegals streaming across would likely be voting Republican instead of Democrat? Draw your own conclusions.
Joel Rosenberg, Ellicott City