Demagoguery refers to a political strategy for obtaining and gaining political power by appealing to the popular prejudices, fears and expectations of the public — typically via impassioned rhetoric and propaganda, and often using nationalist or populist themes. ...but that skilled demagogues often need to use only special emphasis by which an uncritical listener will be led to draw the desired conclusion himself, seeding a belief that is self-reinforced rather than one based on fact or truth. ...Demagogues may make use of logical fallacies, though persuasion may require no use of logic. While it may not rely heavily upon outright lies, the use of half-truths, omissions, and distortions are what define demagogy — it is, in essence, giving bad-faith arguments for the purpose of political gain.
I am becoming increasingly irritated at those who condemn suggested immigration reform, for example the Bush-Kennedy agreement announced yesterday, as "amnesty". Especially irritating is Neal Boortz, but I digress. Amnesty is an act of pardon plus the obliteration of all legal memory. A pardon forgives the crime and eliminates the penalty associated with the crime. Therefore, if one is granted amnesty there is no crime, no penalty, and no record.
The proposed immigration reform creates special records to identify the offenders, in terms of the Z visa, worker documentation, etc. Requires those who have entered the U.S. without permission to pay a fine of $5K. THEREFORE IT IS NOT AMNESTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The true beef of these demagogues is three fold 1) they want to deny illegal aliens profit from their crime, 2) they believe that proposed deal creates an incentive for further illegal immigration, and 3) they are afraid that most of the illegal aliens are liberals who will swing Democrat if they earn the right to vote.
These may be legitimate issues. But it is important to remember that illegal immigration remains a misdemeanor. It should not be treated like a felony unless its legal status is duly changed by act of congress. Even then, those already here could not be held to the felony statute because it was not a felony at the time of commission.
Let's say that you observe a person cross the street to enter a business. The business has a help wanted sign up, the street crosser applies for the job and is hired. Now suppose that upon exiting the newly found place of employment, the crosser is detained by a police office and cited for jaywalking, a $25 fine. The offender has committed a misdemeanor and the profit is his new job. Should the judge order him fired? I think not. Thus, the profit complaint is a red-herring.
Does the deal create an incentive for further illegal immigration? Only if 1) the pipeline for legal immigration stays small and 2) border enforcement stay lax. But the deal provides for a bigger legal pipeline and stronger enforcement, including the fence (which the aliens are currently tunneling under... ).
That only leaves #3, fear that the illegal alien population is Democrat. I have no data to support a conclusion in either direction.
Here is another quote from Wikipedia on Amnesty:
Often wrongly or purposely used by politicians and/or journalists to denote cases of pardon where offenses are not stricken from the record and individuals proclaimed innocent. Instead, those individuals receive some lesser reprimand or sentence in response to an admission of guilt. Otherwise defined as an act of leniency [1] but not Amnesty per se.
Let's stop demagoguing this issue, if you disagree with the proposed penalty system that is fine... but it is not AMNESTY.
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