So Be It

On Monday's program Rush Limbaugh was discussing the new law in Arizona allegedly intended to address illegal aliens in the state. The law allows the police to charge individuals with a crime if they are suspected of being in America illegally and cannot provide documentation proving their innocence. (This is my interpretation, not Rush's.)

Rush cited a poll that found 73 percent of Arizonians in favor of the law, with 53 percent stating that some civil rights violations were likely. Leftists, Rush said, found this contradictory and cited it as evidence that the poll is flawed. But there is no contradiction, as Rush pointed out--Arizonians are unconcerned with violating civil rights. And Rush concurred, saying that if we must violate some civil rights to enforce immigration laws, so be it.

So much for Rush Limbaugh as a defender of individual rights.

At the moment, the law is aimed at an unpopular group--illegals. However, many laws are initially aimed at unpopular groups, and then expanded to the rest of the citizenry. If an individual is considered guilty of a crime until he proves his innocence, that principle applies regardless of one's immigration status or anything else. For example, the police could demand that Rush prove that he didn't rob a bank last week, wasn't speeding on the way to the golf course, or any number of things. The Arizona law sets a very dangerous precedent.

Obama has promised to challenge the Arizona law, citing potential civil rights violations. Rush declared that this was simply coded language for minorities to get riled up in protest. What he, and other conservatives, fail to realize is that the individual is the smallest minority. And this law is an attack on individuals.

Underlying Rush's position is altruism--the belief that morality consists of self-sacrificial service to others. Some individuals, he declared, must give up their rights for the "greater good". Some individuals must endure unjust arrest because it will promote the "general welfare". This is the same premise embraced by the Left in promoting ObamaCare, cap and trade, and every other statist policy.

Conservatives have long embraced the same moral premises as the Left. They are powerless to stop the Left's steady push to drive us into tyranny. They bicker over details while conceding every major issue. and in the end, when the Left demand more control over our lives, all they can say is: So be it.