Judicial activism & immigration -- a combustible mix

In a Feb. 22 column by Phyllis Schlafly, yet another outrageous example of "judicial activism on parade" is spotlighted. Ever hear of Flores v. Arizona? Probably not unless you live in Arizona. No matter where you live, however, it is this kind of jurisprudence that could affect you.

According to Schafly's column, plaintiff's filed the case in 1992, purportedly on behalf of 160,000 children of illegal aliens. (Does anyone find that a staggering number?)

These plaintiffs lawyers, besides looking for a handsome financial settlement from the state so they can buy that house in Vail or get that tummy tuck they've been hankerin' for, are trying to force taxpayers to foot the bill to get these children up to speed on the English language. Estimated bill for this little escapade? $192 million dollars.

Does anyone else find this more than a little outrageous?

First of all, I went to school with plenty of immigrant children -- grew up in the heart of Los Angeles -- and every single one of them, aside from charming accents, spoke English better than many of the USA born children. In fact, many of the children from other countries wound up at the top of the class in grades.

Why? Simple, friends. Because their parents took it as a source of pride to 1) become citizens; 2) have their children learn the language, and; 3) study, read and learn. To fail was an failure not just of the children but a blight on the family name. They might not have much, but they had their name and the shame that went along with failure was the ultimate punishment upon a family. Shame is a commodity that liberals sought to eliminate and unfortunately, they were successful in doing so. They sue over getting their feelings hurt so clearly shame had to go.

Imagine what we, as a country, could have learned from the cultures in which shame was a valuable deterrent. Clearly, many Asian cultures still value this, but rather than understanding their success, we tend to dismiss it somehow.

Given the sorry state of public schools today, it is clear that the main goal of liberals continues to be "evening the playing field." That sounds so nice, doesn't it? But a by-product of this is not to bring children up to the level of expectation that hovers around "excellent", but to lower those expectations to "just adequate" which does a serious disservice to the children who do not have the God-given, parent-enforced drive to succeed.

Newsflash to liberals: children rise to and usually exceed the level of expectation placed upon them. To do anything less for children is to create a person unable to cope with the smallest challenge thrust upon them.

Here's the controversial part, so get ready. Children of illegal aliens should not have an absolute right to attend our public schools. Chances are pretty good that the parents are not paying taxes to pay for those schools, so how is it fair to the people who are?

It didn't used to be the case that our schools were flooded with illegal immigrants. What in the world happened? Clearly, the immigration process in this country is set up so that those who come here seeking a better life have an opportunity to do so. But something has broken down to a point where the system is hopeless.

So what is the answer?

Open borders can't be the answer. Although that seems to be the system now, frankly. The liberals didn't like the Bracero program in California decades ago, but apparently LOVE the Bush Administration guest worker plan now. And it really isn't a good plan to enrich more plaintiff's lawyers. (Don't worry, they are hardly starving.)

I keep coming back to the fact that any immigrant from another country has the opportunity to go through the legal process of becoming a citizen. I just had a good friend from Honduras do exactly that and it was clearly the proudest day of his life.

Ah, there's the rub. We seem to have gotten rid of shame -- and at the same time, liberals have attempted to disperse "pride" in buckets labelled "self-esteem" apparently not knowing they are not the same thing. (Pride is not always a bad thing -- the Bible does talk about pride going before a fall, but that is never correctly understood. As Christians, we should not internalize our successes without acknowledging where the credit for all wonderful things are due.....to the Almighty. If we do not seek the Lord in all things, then we will no doubt have a fall without Him.)

The self-respect side of pride from a job well done should be something that children learn loads about. Instead, they have gotten downright silly about this on the left, even demanding that soccer teams abolish trophies, for heaven's sake. Some colleges don't have grades and the trend is moving towards elementary, middle and high schools as well.

So we are back to what should be done about this? Frankly, I'm not sure. But the answers that are currently on the table don't seem to address the real problem, do they? I'd be interested to hear from you all on this one.