Jun 01 2007
The New Litmus Test: Immigration
We all have a new litmus test on the right, amongst conservatives. It is what side you chose on immigration – and it will define who is in and who is out in the GOP. And by defining who is in, it will define whether the GOP can create a governing coalition or become a minority party again for decades to come. The immigration issue has created a fissure because the far right, who have a lot of what they want in the Bush bill, will not allow anything other conservatives believe are valid and valuable elements in the bill. They have nothing but hysterical ‘what if’ scenarios which refuse to address what if things do work to some degree as advertised. But they have made it clear only their wishes can be passed – no one elses.
The hypocrisy is ripe with the immigration hypochondriacs. For years they have touted one story after another about crimes committed by immigrants (legal and illegal). This bill finally makes deportation a punishment for committing violent crimes, including DUI’s. Right now you cannot deport someone for the commission of a violent crime. You can only deport them for being here illegally. But that process is slow, rife with holes and clearly doesn’t work. The Bill fixes that – but the hypochondriacs resist the fixes. In fact, the hypochondriacs would let the status quo remain, with criminal immigrants staying in country, because they want more punishment on those workers who do not have a criminal background. They are willing to live with the violent criminals so they can get more flesh out of the non criminals. That is so screwed up it is scary.
Right now we cannot hold employers accountable to any real level because there is no repository to check if a worker is a valid immigrant worker. People who over stay are impossible to identify since they have some of the paperwork (like SS cards, etc) they had when they were legal. There is no tamper proof ID with a expiration date. The bill would fix that. The hypochondriacs oppose it. Therefore the immigrants will keep working here and therefore staying here.
And the best aspect of all is the guest worker program – where not a soul is elligible to become a US citizen. Not one. That is much better than the current practice. Come, work, stay a while. You will never vote. What is the response of the immigration hypochondriacs? No way – we would rather do nothing at all.
One of my readers who has commented many times he would rather leave things as they are than pass all these great ideas add the gall to claim he was putting security of this nation first. It was such a hypocritical statement I had to post one more item on this matter. Those of us who, like Bush, support the guest worker program and Z-visas do so because it expidites sifting the hard working, good immigrants from the criminal element – and all of them from the terrorist that may be hiding amongst them. It is not a perfect bill – but it does (a) document all the workers, (b) entices them to come forward instead of using law enforcement resources to go after them (all 12-20 million), and (c) allows us to focus our limited law enforcement forces on terrorism – not nannies, landscapers, painters, mechanics, cooks, maids, etc. The idea that we should divert more resources than we have in place today to deal with a population that is primarily made up of hard working people is insanity itself.
This reader was saying securing the border was better than patting down people in airports. He was wrong of course (civilian airliners make massive weapons well beyond anything that can be hauled across the border). I guess for the umpteenth time we have to remind the immigration hypochondriacs that the 9-11 attackers WERE HERE LEGALLY!!! All the border security in the world would have done NOTHING to stop 9-11. The NSA Surveillance program would have stopped it, but not a bigger fence. But the dems these far right allowed into power want to dismantle that. The hypochondriacs don’t care. They would sacrifice our security in a heart beat if it meant one undocumented worker could become documented after paying a fine and back taxes. They don’t think that is enough punishment. So they would rather let things remain as they are than let THAT happen.
The hypochondriacs can pretend to claim they are for security – clearly they are not. They resist all the new security in the bill. It scares them because more people will want to come to our shores. Get a clue, people will always want to come to our shores. Always. The hypochondriacs lamely claim ‘enforce the laws’ – like that has worked for the last 20 years. That is the same as saying ‘more of the same’ or ‘my way or nothing – nobody else gets anything’. Clearly democratic governance in their mind is dictating their views over all others.
I dare Scott Rasmussen to start tracking one questions. (1) If the choice on immigration was the current Bill in the Senate or the status quo, which would you support? I strongly suggest he then ask again what the support levels are for the Bill – because they will go up. Just like the liberals avoided the hard question on Iraq (“do you support surrendering Iraq to al Qaeda”) the far right is missing the point. It is not this Bill or their fantasies. It is this bill or nothing. America will not accept nothing again. Go ahead Scott – prove me wrong. Ask the question. I dare you.
Addendum: As to who will be in or out of the GOP I do not know. I do know this. Any group that is inflexible to compromise our allowing additional features beyond what they support is doomed to minority status. Coalitions are not dictatorships full of ugly sniping when one does not get their way. Coalitions are places were people respect each other, win respectfully and lose respectfully. And when they lose they do not pull their support from the coaition. If everytime a group lost a vote in Congress they seceded from the country we would have no country. Coalitions do not divert debate from the matters being addressed to feign their feelings were hurt when someone said ‘you are wrong’ in too tough of terms. Laura, stop with the feinting spells. Your ideas are not good for America. Even patriots make mistakes (ask Churchill and Roosevelt). I get flak for calling the far right the far right. Well since a compromise with Ted Kennedy is in and by itself not enough to wig me out (I prefer to know what the compromise is) then I am clearly left of the immigration hypochondriacs. Naturally I am, I am an Independent conservative. A Reagan-Bush conservative. I do not bow to the alter of LauRusHannitLevin or the GOP. If the Bush backers win there is a very good chance conservatism will once again overtake liberalism as we head towards a future of new, positive ideas. If the LauRusHannitLevin wing wins then the country will be seeing who races to the bottom quicker – the left or the right – on an endless zero sum game. Can we end the partisanship and get on with America now? That is the big question.
I have read an overview of the bill. Now feel free to ridicule me and call me a liar and a fool or whatever and point out that I did not give detailed answers to all your questions because I am a moron and a tool and unlike the people here who care about America and its sovereignty and have with the help of their mentors on the right discovered that this bill is unworkable farce that will give voting rights to Ms13 and only you can save us all from sad useless idiots with no answers like me.
Viable alternatives that can pass Congress? Who cares about that.?
The important thing is killing the evil bill because it is a threat to our very survival. After all, how will we ever even find these people? And if we did, wouldn’t it be better to just round em up and ship em out? I have thought about that in truth, but then again I know that an army of lawyers would show up and demand that each and everyone of them be processed. So here we are.
The government will not get all these people to come forward, in fact some of them will think it is a trick and will not trust it and some will just go on doing what they have always done. But if that is the case then they will not be getting any visas and they will not be legal and it will become more difficult for them to find work and move about if stricter enforcement is in place. But then again, when people say how will we find them, I wonder…if you want to deport them all, how will you find them then? In either case the people have to be found, located, accounted for and right now there is probably no way you will ever get them all. No bill can do that.
You see this is my point. There will always be questions and issues and there is no way this bill is ever going to satisfy everybody. And most of the people who hate this bill will not be satisfied with any reassurances or answers they get. Before the details were even out people were passing this thing off as a crime against humanity. Of course people are angry, no doubt a lot of them just want the whole thing to go away.
Somethings however, I do think the government can do.
How do you know they can’t do back ground checks in 24 hours? If they want someone’s life story they can not do a background check in 24 hours, but if what they are looking for is a criminal record, they can. They can also track a lot of people with the right technology. But if you don’t do this, they will not be getting criminal back ground checks at all period.
And the bill states that people with criminal records will not be given visas. If you want to kick out every body who has ever been in a gang, then I say try to negotiate that, but considering the fact that if you kill the bill without an alternative bill that can pass, then all the things you are concerned about will happen anyway, so why do you care?
Those gangs are here right now. Today. Some of them have been here for decades in fact. If you do nothing, they will be here tomorrow and I don’t see anyone doing anything that is going to change that. Other than hand wringing that is.
But demanding a 1500 mile fence??? Good luck but there is no way that is going to happen, not with this Congress or any Congress that is likely to come along. That is what people do, they pick the bill apart, find all kinds of things that they just can not abide and then say it is better to sit here and do nothing, maintain the status quo which means more illegals unless I get my impossible demands met.
In the last election, the hardliners were so sure they had a winner when they raised hell about the fence, but their candidates got beat in the election. And elections matter.
I mean this can go on forever and will accomplish nothing. I would rather get a 700 mile fence, which is what the Fence Security Act calls for and try for more than insist on a 1,500 mile fence and get nothing.
You know you can blow off that hispanic vote if you want, but if your last name ends in an ez and you are a citizen of this country and pay taxes having to listen to a lot of snarky comments about refried beans and welfare cheats looking for free stuff is just kind of insulting and it serves no purpose…so why do it? Why not ease up on the unnecessary vitriol?
During the Dubai thing I thought that surely sane people could not be wacko enough to think that Bush, or for that matter any president, would sell ports to terrorists. But once the disease started it spread like wildfire and now people are good at celebrating crippling their own party.Malkin, who knows nothing about port terminals got the ball rolling on that one and the thing just took off. Now it has become normal to be a raving paranoiac.
If people are going to elect someone to office, they want it to be someone who respects government and believes in what they are doing and has faith in their party. What I am hearing from some on the right is that the Republican leadership is trying to ruin America by selling out its sovereignty and no bill they pass will help anyway because the government sucks and can not be trusted and their pulling a fast one and this is just about letting illegals vote and it won’t do any good anyway and everything sucks and our party is the suckiest of them all.
And now donors don’t want to give money….Yayyyy!!!! that will be great news for Hillary. Geez Marie. Hell with an opposition like that the Democrats don’t need friends.
The Democrats meantime will say that government can do good for people. Government can take care of people. Service in the government is honorable and these people can be trusted. And if you vote for us we will make all the bad screaming people go away.
It might be that voters would rather see people who believe in government running government than people who obviously don’t believe in government or their party leaders or much of anything else either running the government. That is what concerns me.
Do you want to treat the Mexicans at the border like they treat people Bikerken? fine go ahead. We can see it on the evening news, it will make the Border Agents look wonderful and the American people will be so proud. That is just what they want.
Now feel free to attack me. Maybe you will run me off. Maybe I will be so rattled by your brilliant cross examination that I will admit I am a fraud and a traitor.
I know I am getting tired of this subject and politics in general. But you know what? I am a good person. I pay my taxes and obey the law and try to do what I think is right. And if that is not good enough for my fan club here, then I guess that is just too bad.
Why will this bill make those “in the shadows” come out? The criminals or those with bad intent won’t necessarily come out since there is little risk of being found anyway. And illegals will instantly become legally resident, thereby making it more difficult to weed out adversaries in hiding. Plus, our agencies have not been able to process and deal with the illegals for 20+ years, so what gives the proponents confidence that suddenly our ill-equiped agencies are ready to handle the 12 – 20 million illegals now?
This is why the so-called hard-liners want the borders secured first. And, yes, status quo is better than this bill in current form. Indeed, the future of repub party will be much weaker with passage of this mess. Number one, most of the instantly new millions of voters will be dems (dem/repub party affiliation is pretty even right now). And second, the repub party will be portrayed as conflicted and in disarray, and going against the base yet again — not smart. Pressure to change & improve this bill, or if necessary to defeat it, is much preferable than letting this current dogpile become law.
We can’t do 24 hr background checks now, let alone for thos ewith no ID or fake IDs.
This is not about feelings, it’s about right/wrong, security, and the long-term interest of the country. And we can’t be ignorant of the past and naive about current capabilities. Our immigration services and border patrols and others involved in this endeavor need help, and it won’t happen quickly, certainly not soon enough to meet the unrealistic demands of this bill. The things that can be implemented soon are precisely the elements that can help secure the border — fence/wall, UAV surveillance & other detection sensors, additonal border agents trained and in the field. And yes, walls do work.
Wiley:
So, if you get pulled over by a cop and he has your name and wants to run you through the system to find out if you have any outstanding warrants or a history of driving like a crazy person etc, how long does that take?
I think that will take more people to do this than they realize, but if they have enough people working on it and the information they need is in a database they can do a summary background check for criminal activity, but that will tell you so much anyway.
And btw, we need to remember that the Congress is controlled by the Democrats and they will not even bring up a bill for a vote if they think it is really draconian. You can argue that draconian is what we need, but the political reality is what it is.
Sometimes wall work and sometimes they don’t
And Wiley, no they will not “instantly” become anything. If they don’t come forward they will not be getting a visa so they won’t be legal. And if they don’t have that card then employers can not claim they did not know they were illegal.
Oh, I give up.
Give me a break on the wall — we’re talking people & motorized transport, not war.
And do you think police will be able to do an instant check on someone without ID? Or find a terrorist-in-hiding by checking a database via their crusiers? Or that illegals with criminal records will volunteer to come forward to be checked? The FBI has been trying to implement a new database for 15+ years, and billions of $ later, are still trying to get the thing working as planned. Let’s get real — this will take work and time to get people and tools in place to implement this bill. We need to start, and we can do so without this bill.
And what’s draconian about controlling (knowing) who enters our country? The majority of voters strongly favor border security first & foremost — the polls are quite clear on this.
You should give up, you’re contradicting yourself — if they come forward they are legal. If not, status quo — nothing changed.
Terrye said –
And Wiley, no they will not “instantly†become anything.
That is not correct. See section 1, page 1 –
SEC. 1. EFFECTIVE DATE TRIGGERS.
(a) With the exception of the probationary benefits conferred by
Section 601(h),
and then see section 601(h)(1)(a thru d), page 268
(h) Treatment of Applicants-
(1) IN GENERAL- An alien who files an application for Z
nonimmigrant status shall, upon submission of any
evidence required under paragraphs (f) and (g) and after
the Secretary has conducted appropriate background
checks, to include name and fingerprint checks, that have
not by the end of the next business day produced
information rendering the applicant ineligible –
(A) be granted probationary benefits in the form of
employment authorization pending final adjudication
of the alien’s application;
(B) may in the Secretary’s discretion receive
advance permission to re-enter the United States
pursuant to existing regulations governing advance
parole;
(C) may not be detained for immigration purposes,
determined inadmissible or deportable, or removed
pending final adjudication of the alien’s application,
unless the alien is determined to be ineligible for Z
nonimmigrant status; and
(D) may not be considered an unauthorized alien (as
defined in section 274A(h)(3) of the Immigration and
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1324a(h)(3))) unless
employment authorization under subparagraph (A) is
denied.
and then see section 601(h)(5), page 269
(5) Before Application Period- If an alien is apprehended
between the date of enactment and the date on which the
period for initial registration closes under subsection (f)(2),
and the alien can establish prima facie eligibility for Z
nonimmigrant status, the Secretary shall provide the alien
with a reasonable opportunity to file an application under
this section after such regulations are promulgated.
So, as you can see, they will instantly be considered legal, because, to quote section 601(h)(1)(d), they “may not be considered an unauthorized alien” and to quote section 601(h)(1)(c), they “may not be detained for immigration purposes, determined inadmissible or deportable, …”
Terrye said –
If they don’t come forward they will not be getting a visa so they won’t be legal.
They have up to 180 days to come forward (Section 601(f)(2)), and during that period they are virtually untouchable (Section 601(h)(5)).
Terrye said –
And if they don’t have that card then employers can not claim they did not know they were illegal.
This only applies to employers who care and it won’t matter if the law isn’t enforced. Which is the current situation we find ourselves in.
Technically speaking, very few would actually qualify for these Z Visas if our Government enforcement existing laws. Why, you ask? Well, because those who are convicted felons are not permitted under this proposal. See Section 601(D)(1)(F)(i). What does this have to do with anything you ask? Because using another person’s SSN or a false/fake SSN is a felony.
http://www.hispanictips.com/2007/05/24/important-notice-about-amendments-immigration-bill-senate/
So if our Government actively prosecuted this law, very few would even be eligible for a Z Visa.
But don’t worry. This is just one of the many laws that our Government will ignore.
Terrye said –
And Wiley, no they will not “instantly†become anything.
That is not correct. See section 1, page 1 –
SEC. 1. EFFECTIVE DATE TRIGGERS.
(a) With the exception of the probationary benefits conferred by
Section 601(h),
and then see section 601(h)(1)(a thru d), page 268
(h) Treatment of Applicants-
(1) IN GENERAL- An alien who files an application for Z
nonimmigrant status shall, upon submission of any
evidence required under paragraphs (f) and (g) and after
the Secretary has conducted appropriate background
checks, to include name and fingerprint checks, that have
not by the end of the next business day produced
information rendering the applicant ineligible –
(A) be granted probationary benefits in the form of
employment authorization pending final adjudication
of the alien’s application;
(B) may in the Secretary’s discretion receive
advance permission to re-enter the United States
pursuant to existing regulations governing advance
parole;
(C) may not be detained for immigration purposes,
determined inadmissible or deportable, or removed
pending final adjudication of the alien’s application,
unless the alien is determined to be ineligible for Z
nonimmigrant status; and
(D) may not be considered an unauthorized alien (as
defined in section 274A(h)(3) of the Immigration and
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1324a(h)(3))) unless
employment authorization under subparagraph (A) is
denied.
and then see section 601(h)(5), page 269
(5) Before Application Period- If an alien is apprehended
between the date of enactment and the date on which the
period for initial registration closes under subsection (f)(2),
and the alien can establish prima facie eligibility for Z
nonimmigrant status, the Secretary shall provide the alien
with a reasonable opportunity to file an application under
this section after such regulations are promulgated.
So, as you can see, they will instantly be considered legal, because, to quote section 601(h)(1)(d), they “may not be considered an unauthorized alien” and to quote section 601(h)(1)(c), they “may not be detained for immigration purposes, determined inadmissible or deportable, …”
Terrye said –
If they don’t come forward they will not be getting a visa so they won’t be legal.
They have up to 180 days to come forward (Section 601(f)(2)), and during that period they are virtually untouchable (Section 601(h)(5)).
Terrye said –
And if they don’t have that card then employers can not claim they did not know they were illegal.
This only applies to employers who care and it won’t matter if the law isn’t enforced. Which is the current situation we find ourselves in.
Technically speaking, very few would actually qualify for these Z Visas if our Government enforcement existing laws. Why, you ask? Well, because those who are convicted felons are not permitted under this proposal. See Section 601(D)(1)(F)(i). What does this have to do with anything you ask? Because using another person’s SSN or a false/fake SSN is a felony.
So if our Government actively prosecuted this law, very few would even be eligible for a Z Visa.
But don’t worry. This is just one of the many laws that our Government will ignore.
tarter sauce. spoiled by the spam filter again.
Wiley:
I am contradicting myself??
I ask people, if you do not deport them all, what will do with them? No one gives me a firm answer. They say everything from ignore them to round them up and ship them out and then when you point out that it is not possible to round them up and ship them out and the American people would not tolerate such scenes anyway they get all insulted that you would suggest they ever said such a thing.
Well what then? People say the illegals have to go, but they do not come up with any realistic plan to make that happen. If you can not implement a program like this, then how do you intend to deal with the illegals here who are the source of all this debate? Are they going to come forward to be deported or detained for months before they are deported? Well then how will you find them all and deal with them? Or just seal the border and allow attrition to do it for you? Which border? The southern border? This is a big country, lots of coast lines, lots of ways in. What if the half that came here another way double in number? What if an entire criminal enterprise springs up whose sole purpose is to get people into this country?
My point is this, not everyone pays their taxes, but that does not mean most Americans are willing to risk legal problems with the IRS just to avoid paying them. There will always be some people who will not willingly be part of society. There will always be people who do not care what the law is.
But most people, in order to function in society will, if given the chance and if the alternative is unacceptable to them do what is required of them.
I heard on some radio news the other day that starting in January a smart passport will be required to legally cross the border with Mexico and Canada. That does not mean the Feds are going to go out and find everyone who crosses that border and force them to get the new passport, it means without one they won’t be able to legally cross. My point is that if they do not take advantage of the program then they will not be able to get the benefits of it. And then they will be right where they are right now. And that seems quite acceptable to the people who constantly contradict themselves and say we don’t need to deport them all, we just need to get rid of them. Or whatever.
And talk about contradiction. I never said there was anything draconian about knowing who enters the country, just the opposite. But on one hand you say it is impossible to do background checks and then you say, we have to do background checks. We have millions of people come to this country every year for all kinds of reasons and from all over the world and are you saying that we can do background checks on everyone on the planet including the ones entering legally? For years the Cubans have not had to do any of this stuff. If you are Cuban and you can get here, we will let you stay. Well, how do we know they are not terrorists? Are we going to do background checks on all the Cubans?
I am not talking about instantaneous checks either, I am talking about flagging certain people with certain fingerprints who have criminal backgrounds. That would not take days and days. How long does it take to get a credit report? I am not saying it would be as easy as that either, but to say that a criminal background check has to take days and it is not possible to get information on people quickly is not accurate. If it takes more people to do the job adequately then they should change that part of the bill to make it more workable, not just kill the whole deal and then let anyone who can sneak in come in while we fight about the details forever.
And another question I never get an answer to, what is the viable alternative? I get all sorts of answers, but all of them ignore the fact that people like Nancy Pelosi run the Congress and will be running it for the near future and if not her, someone like her and these are the people who get to decide what laws even come up for a vote. And then of course there is the whole complicated process of making law where it has to go to conference and what comes out might be very different from what went in. However, to just make a laundry list of demands and then expect with a wave of a magic wand to make it all happen exactly the way you want completely ignores the fact that it will take a certain amount of bipartisan support to get any bill past a Democrat controlled Congress.
I remember reading something years ago about the agrarian populist movement of the late 20th century. They were quite radical in some ways. They went to DC to get results and were spurned and so they turned to the state legislatures and that is where they had most of their early success. In fact women were voting in elections in states like Kansas before they could ever vote in federal elections. The point to that is they did not just sit back and make impossible demands they knew would never be met, they did what they could where they could in their own states and began a movement that spread to the national level. I just don’t see anything like that happening here. Raising hell and killing a bill by scaring people to death does not get people what it is they say they want. It just makes it less likely that people will want to deal with the issue at all.
But you know what? I have come to the conclusion that it is a waste of time to even debate this.
And patrick, if you really believe that we can build a 1500 mile double fence with a road in the middle through all kinds of terrain desert to mountains to rivers in a couple of years, I have some jewelry I would like to sell you. We can not even get New Orleans cleaned up in a couple of years.
You don’t. You let them find you. Raise the number of guest workers to an amount that is determined sufficient to do the “jobs Americans won’t do”, make hiring anyone without the proper guest worker privilege pay a fine more than $250, provide employers immunity from lawsuits for not hiring someone based on improper paperwork and they will go home on their own. It is really not all that complicated. Why do they need a path to citizenship? If we need more immigrants, raise the number we allow in each year, and make them apply just like legal, law abiding immigrants do and wait their turn.
This is the part of the argument I don’t understand. What happens after the bill is passed and we still have millions who don’t come forward? We can’t round them up, because “American people won’t tolerate such scenes anyway” so what then? Will the American people change what they are willing to tolerate in order to enforce the new laws? Or will we just cross that bridge when we get there?
Sue:
At least you are rational. Thank you.
However, if they go to back of the line and pay a $5000 fine and go back to their home countries and ask to re enter legally, I really don’t think you will see a lot of these people go through all that.
I think the thing people consistently overlook is that the Democrats are not going to give conservatives, whether it is Fred Thompson or Tom Tancredo what they want without something in return. Why would they? Unless it is politically advantageous to them or they feel ideologically bound to do it, they are not just gonna say, Sure Fred your wish is our command. Especially if they increase their majorities in the next election and if they win the White House, well then no one will care what Hugh Hewitt or the Corner says.
Sue:
This is the part I don’t understand, what happens if we don’t pass the bill and there is not even an attempt to deal with these people? Nada.
Just a lot of belly aching about the fact that they are here. At least with the bill you might be able to get the deportation numbers down to something you could handle. And will the American people change the laws? Well there are provisions in this bill to try and streamline the process and detain and deport more people, but as a general rule the critics have completely dismissed those changes as uselessor even counter productive. The idea being that it is all a waste of time anyway and nothing will change and they won’t enforce the new laws anymore than the old laws so what is the point.
So nothing changes.
AJ
I know you mean well by trying to discuss immigration reform. Unfortunately, the only “comprehesive” reform this crowd will accept is an “Atlantic Wall/Iron Curtain” in the Rio Grande coupled with fully manned “Einstatgruppen” backed by regional Dachau’s.
Look on the bright side. As a “enforcement first” guy, think how I feel about having my point of view hiijacked by a cabal of Himmlers/Eichmanns/Mengeles!!!
I don’t care what they are saying now. I am basing my opposition on my own questioning of what exactly we are getting. I am not one of the fence only crowd. Tell me something, Terrye, what do you do with the illegals who have used someone else’s social security number while they were employed illegally? Can you predict the nightmare of the situation that is going to create?
Well I wonder if Fred wins and he cuts a deal will they savage him the way they are doing Bush? And if he does not cut a deal and nothing changes will they accept that? Or will they hope that Pelosi and Reid and Kennedy will turn into Tancredo and Sessions and Thompson? Maybe they will, but I doubt that very much. It has not happened so far.
I think the real lesson in all this is that Clinton had the right idea. Just tell people what they want to hear, play to the polls and kick that problem on down the line. It is safer than actually trying to accomplish something.