Personal political profile regarding positions on immigration and private property

By Jim Killebrew

[February 24, 2014]  This is the fifth article in the series of personal political profiles where we are examining the positions taken by the liberal perspective and the conservative perspective regarding various issues. To better understand the positions each of the candidates hold as they give their speeches and campaign for their specific office, we need to have an idea of where their party affiliation stands on the issues. By reviewing some of the issues from the perspective of the liberal and conservative, we can better understand how that candidate will develop and implement policies and regulations after elected to the office. Today's article will focus on two issues: immigration and private property.

Immigration

Liberal perspective

The liberal perspective supports legal immigration, but also seems to support a fast track to citizenship for those who are already in the United States illegally. The liberal group supports amnesty for those who reside in the U.S. currently as well as those who will continue to enter illegally because of a porous border.

The liberal position believes that people who enter across the Southern border should not be termed illegal, rather the preferred term, "undocumented immigrants" or "undocumented workers." The liberal perspective believe those who have entered illegally maintain some of the same "rights" that American citizens have. Namely, the liberal group believes the "undocumented immigrant" has a right to all the educational and health benefits that citizens have. The liberal group believes the undocumented immigrants have rights to American financial aid, welfare, Social Security and Medicare. Even though the illegal immigrant has not paid into the entitlement systems that citizens receive, the liberal group believes the illegal group should benefit from those benefits as a condition of their being in the country. They believe the illegal immigrants have the same rights as American citizens. Since there are millions of people who have entered illegally, the liberal group believes it would be unfair to arrest them now, especially since they have lived in the country for so long.

Conservative perspective

The conservative group supports legal immigration only. They believe it is unfair to those who have entered the United States by following the immigration laws to be forced to the back of the line for citizenship and benefits. The conservative group opposes amnesty for those who have entered the country illegally. The conservative group believes if individuals have broken the laws of immigration by entering the country illegally, they should not have the same rights as those who have obeyed the law and entered legally.

The conservative group believes the current laws on the books regarding immigration should be enforced. They believe the first order of business is to secure the borders of the United States to stop the flow of immigrants coming into the country illegally. After the borders are secure, the conservative group believes there should be a discussion and decision regarding how the current illegal immigrants should be dealt with.

Private property

Liberal perspective

The liberal group believes that Americans who own private property should be held to the law that gives the government the right to seize the property for the "common good" of the public and that this should continue as the government sees fit. The law known as "eminent domain" allows the government to take private land and property away from private citizens if the government believes the land would better serve the public at large.

One criterion the government uses to seize private property is its value to the common public. For instance, if a piece of land owned by a private family would better be served by someone who would build a factory on the land to provide jobs and a broader tax base for the government, it can be taken from the family and given to a corporation to develop to achieve the higher tax base for the government.

Conservative perspective

The conservative group believes that all private property should be respected by the government and ownership should remain in the hands of private citizens who own the property. Even with compensation to the owner, the private property being seized by the government in most cases is wrong. To take someone's property and give it to a developer is to trample on the rights of ownership and take away the rights of the individual citizen in America. The conservative position believes that even though corporate development may increase the tax base in a community, the seizure of a citizen's private property is a disregard of that individual's rights.

So, as with the issues discussed in other articles, these issues of immigration and private property add to the voter's personal political profile and will help guide the voter through the election. Each candidate will be examined regarding their standing, not just on their political party affiliation, but how they stand on the issues of abortion, energy, gun control, economy, healthcare, immigration and personal property. The candidate who matches the voter's personal perspective will win the vote from that person. Again, this is very important not just in the general election, but in the primaries as well. During the primary cycle there is usually an array of candidates from the same party, but with differing viewpoints regarding how they will approach solutions for any given issue. So look for discussions regarding more issues in the next articles.

[By JIM KILLEBREW]