Utah Upheaval: A Cannon Shot Across The Democrats` Bows Too

The defeat

by 20 percentage points of

Chris Cannon, though a Republican, had better
get serious attention from my fellow Democrats,
particularly those in Congress.

If we Democrats think that this
rather
shocking loss by a six-term Congressman assures that
our party is about to win a landslide victory in
November, we better not get too cocky.

Cannon,
according to many observers, lost because of his
stance on open borders, his willingness to sell out us
citizens to anyone with a bill that would give an alien,
legal or illegal, a chance to come to or stay in the
United States.

And Cannon didn`t lose to a big
name person. I am sure Jason Chaffetz is well regarded
in seriously Republican Utah, but he is hardly a
household name. Yet Mr. Chaffetz thrashed the
incumbent—and remember, incumbents win reelection to
Congress well over 90% of the time—by stressing his
stance on the need for real patriotic immigration
reform, not the amnesty package which

Cannon,

McCain and

Bush (and too many of my fellow Democrats) have
tried to ram through Congress under various guises for
years.

I see this defeat as having strong
bi-partisan potential to bring down those who obstruct

real immigration reform. The average American
citizen sees the elites, not only in Congress, but in
business, religion, and even in some labor quarters, as
willing to sell us out for tenure, power and privilege.

The two major Presidential
candidates have been vying to see who can best appease
the growing

Hispanic minority, as represented most vocally by

LULAC and  La
Raza, both advocacy groups lushly funded by the

business community which favors the flow of

cheap labor.

Most literate Americans now know
this, see this and are repelled by this kind of wanton
opportunism. For that matter, a

very sizable percentage of
American citizens of Hispanic origin are

equally repelled. America`s principle of the

Rule of Law means something, yet has been torn to
tatters by the very people who must swear to uphold it
when they enter high office.

According to all the polls, the
opinion of John and Jane Q Public of this Congress is
lower than their opinion of President Bush, who has
already taken over the place in the firmament of Past
Presidents formerly occupied by

James Buchanan.

Yes, as a Democrat, I write hoping
that my party will listen. We are right on so many
issues—reproductive
choice, the need to withdraw from Iraq, and the need
to focus on domestic problems such as

infrastructure and education. Action on so many
urgent priorities has been diverted in this past eight
years by the present Administration.

But for Democrats, this immigration
issue should also be a top concern. For example, key
sections of the

Mexican border fence are now being built. However,
that fence is only a partial stop gap measure. The
fence, which is needed, along with better border
monitoring by the

Border Patrol and the

National Guard, ironically symbolizes the failure of
Congress to force strong enforcement, particularly
emphasizing

employer identification which would lead
automatically to

attrition of

those here illegally.

The June 26, 2008 Salt Lake
Tribune story which covered the Cannon defeat,  Incumbent
fear: Cannon loss sets off wave of worry  noted
that

"With
gas prices soaring, immigration issues unsolved and
crushing federal deficits looming, voters are giving
Congress some of the lowest approval ratings ever.
Cannon is the third incumbent – and the second
Republican – this year to get the boot. Maryland Reps.
Wayne Gilchrest, a Republican, and Al Wynn, a Democrat,
lost in February battles for their parties` nominations.
Some pundits predict a Democratic wave may wash out more
incumbent Republicans in November."

Yes, I agree my party will get more
seats in November. But if a Democrat Congress with real
power to enact reform legislation instead defunds the
building of the Mexican border fence, this, my fellow
Democrats, will simply set the stage for our downfall in
the next cycle.

Remember when Herbert Hoover got
the blame for the

excesses which led to the 1929 crash? Could it be
that we Democrats will get the credit for bringing
America to a worse state? True, it was disastrous
Republican leadership that spent us into bankruptcy and

plunged us into an unwinnable war. But if Democrats
take control, will we
persist in driving America onward into a

border-less,

rule of law-less, leaderless collection of

disparately acculturated people?

Key to taking America back on the
correct path will be: controlling our

ports and

borders, identifying who is here legally and
illegally; taking action to regulate under

presently enacted laws the future of those people
who are not here legally.

And then making sure we don`t keep
importing more people than needed from a world that has
already reached finite limits.

Will my party be such a leader, as
it was

when FDR was elected, or will we follow the dismal
trend of the past eight  years?

We have heard a Cannon shot over
the bow of our ship of state. Am I right that it is a
non partisan shot? Stay tuned.

Donald A. Collins [email
him], is a freelance writer living in Washington DC and a former long time member of the board of FAIR, the Federation for American Immigration Reform. His views are his own.