Post blogger Mike McGarry, co-founder of the Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform, wants to stop the madness that comes when laws are not applied to all. "In former days," he blogs, "aliens were required to demonstrate “good moral character” to qualify for citizenship, but not any more. That’s because we now live under the tyranny of a two–tiered system of laws, one that gives a pass to foreign criminals and another that holds citizens legally accountable for their actions. I have had official documents in my hands that showed that a convicted criminal alien who served time in prison for child molestation was rewarded with U.S. citizenship. It’s the New American Dream."
Post blogger Mike McGarry has more than a few words to say about the impact of that other language on the erosion of American culture. "During the final days of his presidency, Bill Clinton signed into law Executive Order 13166. Under that far-reaching order, any entity that receives federal funds, including state, county and local governments, must provide translations upon demand in any language a person wishes to conduct business, with the costs of translators and translations carried by the providers, private and public,..." he blogs. There are 6,800 languages spoken in the world, 41 versions of Arabic, with nearly 20 percent of U.S. residents speaking a language other than English at home. The Bush administration refused to repeal Clinton’s pernicious order. Some believe out of that order we could see demands for, say, the complete works of Shakespeare in, oh, how about a Bantu dialect."
Post blogger Frosty Woolridge says illegal immigrants constitute a demographic "tsunami" of diastrous proportions. "What about our overloaded cities?" he blogs. "Overwhelmed schools? How about our water, farm land, energy, air quality, food sources, species habitat, and dozens of other issues? Is there any way to stop it? Does anyone understand the ominous consequences?... The first question we must all ask ourselves is: can anyone name a single advantage to adding 100 million people to America in 33 years? What will it do to our society? Do we want to grow to 1 billion people? Why? If not, at what point do we stabilize growth?"
The best thing about Aspen Post as it rounds the corner toward its second year is not the snot of unsubstantiated personal opinion or the occasional railing against the snot-nosed richer than thou. The best thing about Aspen Post, without a doubt, is that we have been able to keep the tone on the level of civil discourse, to borrow a phrase from the Aspen Institute.
All but all of us who have written or commented on or about the blog you now hold in your hands have managed to get in our two cents without descending to the level of he-sucks/she-sucks. That's not just an achievement--that's a miracle, and not a small one.
Something small stuck with me after someone had something to say the other day about Missouri Heights. They said that people who live in Missouri Heights at night still turn their house lights down to a minimum so as to see the stars above in all their brilliance.
God, I hope that's true.
Can it be true that a small outpost of people in the United States of America in the 21st Century would care so much as a group about the natural world that they would adjust their habits just to see the beauty of nature?
