This DREAM could be your worst nightmare

FRANK MIELE

If you ever wondered what it would be like to live in an oligarchy, you can stop wondering.

We have met the oligarchy, and it is us.

Well, not exactly us, but the small part of ?us? that we call Congress.

Oligarchy, in case you don?t remember your high school history classes, is a fancy name for rule by the few ? government by an elite segment of society which considers itself best qualified by education, experience, and family connections to make decisions for the rest of us.

You would not think that would apply to Congress, which is supposed to be a representative body answerable to ?We the People.? But if you really think that Congress ? or your individual senator or congressperson ? is answerable to ?You the People,? then you haven?t been paying attention.

Consider this: According to a recent poll, Congress as an institution currently stands at 11 percent in popularity among the American people. That?s right. Approximately one in 10 of us feel like we are being properly served by the people who are making all the laws that govern us.

Can you imagine a CEO who enjoyed one-tenth support from the board of directors of a major corporation? OK, it?s a trick question. You can?t imagine it because it is impossible ? a CEO with 10 percent support would have been fired long ago!

But then there is Congress.

If we forget about the president for a minute (and I know some of you would like to), Congress in essence is the executive director of a corporation called ?We the People,? making decisions every day that affect our prosperity, our safety and our survival. And the board of ?We the People? consists of the citizens of America. We are the ultimate boss; Congress works for us.

So, if only about one-tenth of the citizens of the United States think Congress is doing a good job as executive director, what happens?

If we were truly a ?representative? democracy, or even a constitutional republic, that body known as Congress would have been reshaped long ago to more accurately ?represent? us, just as an incompetent CEO is politely told to scram (often very politely, but that is another story!) The incompetent Congress doesn?t go anywhere. The names change ? slightly. The leadership changes ? slightly. The party in charge changes ? slightly. But nothing really changes. Bad government goes on year after year, and incumbents get re-elected over and over despite the fact that they don?t really represent anyone except themselves and the special interests that support them.

Thus, my conclusion that we are ruled by an institutional oligarchy.

How this plays out in the legislative process is obviously complicated, but essentially Congress makes the rules not just for the country as a whole, but also for Congress. That means, over the years, multiple safeguards of congressional power and authority have been built into the system. That ensures a certain arrogance as well. Things get done when it benefits Congress; and things stand still when it suits Congress. The people be damned.

If you had reason to doubt the arrogance of Congress, you might ponder again the issue of illegal immigration. Here you have a case where the fundamental and paramount birthright of the American people ? citizenship ? is being auctioned off by Congress to the highest bidder. At least, it would be, if there hadn?t been a peaceful uprising of voters this summer that got the attention of at least some senators.

But remember, those same voters were insulted and denigrated by the powers that be as racists, nativists, haters, fear-mongers, you name it. The proponents of ?comprehensive immigration reform? used subterfuge and deceit to try to convince the American people that illegal immigration is such a mess that we ought to just pretend it doesn?t exist. Or maybe they really believe that.

And so it is not surprising, in the wake of the defeat of the immigration bill in June, that some senators hope to slip through yet another amnesty program for illegal aliens before anyone notices what they are doing.

Sen. Dick Durbin has been trying to drum up support for getting the DREAM Act passed as an amendment to the pending defense authorization bill. That?s DREAM as in ?your worst nightmare.? The ultraliberal senator from Illinois wants to make sure there are no sad little illegal immigrant children falling through the cracks of our mean-hearted society. That?s why he wrote the bill, whose full title is the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act of 2007.

At least, that?s supposedly why he wrote it. But you don?t even have to read the fine print to spot the flim-flam in this bit of legislative sleight-of-hand. Just start with the title. The bill is supposed to be about helping ?Alien Minors,? but that is a complete falsehood. George Orwell, meet Dick Durbin.

In fact, the bill actually benefits almost exclusively illegal immigrant ADULTS who first entered the United States before the age of 16, then lived in the United States for at least 5 years continuously, are under 30 years of age at the time of application, and most importantly, have been ?admitted to an institution of higher education in the United States, … earned a high school diploma, or obtained a general education development certificate in the United States.?

That?s right. The ?Alien Minors? that Durbin is taking pity on are actually high school graduates or at the very least people who have a GED degree. Probably at least 95 percent of them will of necessity be adults at the time they apply. The only time they were a minor was when they snuck into this country illegally.

But even if the law did target those younger than 18 years of age, it still would be fundamentally flawed. Its purpose is to grant ?conditional residency? (aka amnesty) to millions of illegal immigrants, each of whom would then be entitled to have the conditional status removed if they completed two years of college or two years of military service. Are we making U.S. citizenship contingent on college attendance? Or even on military service? Or is this just a convenient ploy to argue that these illegal immigrants are worthy of U.S. citizenship because they are such hard workers and so dedicated to improving themselves and helping the country they broke into.

Democrats object to having their Iraq policy called ?cut and run,? so I won?t call their immigration policy ?bow and grovel.? Instead, we can call both policies by a plain-spoken word that is simple, direct and accurate ? surrender. And, of course, there are plenty of Republicans who are happy to throw up the white flag, too. This is not a partisan issue; it is a survival issue.

Don?t take my word for it ? read the DREAM Act of 2007 for yourself at www.numbersusa.com/PDFs/DurbinSA2919.pdf and then call your senators to let them know you don?t want them promoting a path to citizenship for lawbreakers. It?s possible this could come up for a vote in the coming week, or it may go back under a rock until darkness falls.

My guess? Darkness is not far away.