Small battles are being waged all the time.
In Nebraska, a state hardly known for its controversy, Catholic bishops have launched an aggressive lobbying campaign against the sitting governor, Dave Heineman. I say lobbying, but the bishops are in fact leaning on Heineman and painting him as a villain in their ever-popular war against American "isolationism."
The issue at stake involves pre-natal care for illegal immigrants. As a father myself, I do not support any kind of "fetal mistreatment" nor do I believe that racial prejudice should play any role in medical or government policymaking. The problem from my perspective--and, presumably, from Heineman's perspective as well--is not the fact that these women are immigrants from another country, but that they are illegal immigrants feeding off the American organism without giving anything in return. Offering pre-natal care is a slippery slope that will gradually lead to full medical care and, ultimately, full citizenship.
Immigration, in its ideal form, is symbiosis. That is, both sides benefit from the immigrative act: the immigrant gains economic benefits from his or her new position, and the host country gains economic benefits in return. With illegal immigration, this symbiosis is broken and only one side gleans benefits from the relationship. The illegal immigrant consumes American resources, pays no taxes, and usually sends his or her earnings outside the country.
"But immigrants are the workhorses of the American economy!" somebody yells. "Everything would fall apart without them!"
That is highly debatable and almost certainly incorrect. Even if it were true, the fact is that immigrants only take key jobs in our economy because they are here. If they never arrived--that is, if border control was 100% effective--I have no doubt that Americans would be happy to take these jobs back.
"No self-respecting American would take such jobs!"
I disagree. Plus, I am certain there are many Americans who care much less about "self respect" than they do about providing for their families.
Illegal immigration is a cancer that has eaten our nation for too many years. If the Catholic bishops have their way, the federal and state governments will merely wink at these criminals and grant them the full range of benefits available to law-abiding taxpayers.
And why?
Because this model of society follows the schema of Catholic socialism, and because the bishops know it will mortally weaken America's Protestant- and secular-leaning, capitalist society. As minions of a powerful entity longing for global governance, the bishops want more than anything else to bring our nation-state down from its exalted position.
Make no mistake about it. When it comes to the Vatican's implementation of its long-term agenda, nothing stands in the way more completely than the United States of America.
The article can be found at the Omaha World-Herald.
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Bishops: Support Immigrant Aid
By Paul Hammel
LINCOLN — Nebraska's Catholic bishops are turning up the heat on Gov. Dave Heineman to reverse his opposition to government-funded prenatal care for low-income, illegal immigrants.
In a letter Wednesday to the governor, Omaha Archbishop George Lucas, Lincoln Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz and Grand Island Bishop Thomas Dendinger expressed their “high level of concern and disappointment” with Heineman's position.
“This is an important and urgent pro-life matter,” the letter stated. “Denying prenatal coverage care in these circumstances of family poverty is an affront to human dignity and pro-life principles.”
Last week, Heineman announced his opposition to a bill that would restore government-funded prenatal services to low-income pregnant women who are in the U.S. illegally. He called it a difficult issue but said he opposes government-funded services for illegal immigrants.
Heineman's opposition put him at odds with the state's major pro-life groups, including the Catholic Conference, which lobbies for the bishops, and Nebraska Right to Life.
The bishops' letter pointed out that such unborn infants will automatically become U.S. citizens upon birth. It makes “abundant sense,” the letter stated, to provide such care from a human rights standpoint but also from an economic standpoint because it will head off more expensive health care needs after birth.
“What's worse, the lack of access to coverage ... could be a decisive factor in leading some pregnant women to choose abortion over childbirth, each time a tragedy,” the letter said.
A spokeswoman for Heineman said he was traveling Wednesday and had not yet read the letter.About 31 percent of Nebraskans, according to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, identify themselves as Catholic, the largest single religious denomination in the state.
The prenatal care measure, Legislative Bill 1110, is still being considered by the Legislature's Health and Human Services Committee.
