Rush Limbaugh has been criticized for raising the issue of whether or not Haitians will be subjected to the same kinds of limitations on assistance to be imposed on Americans such as the proposed healthcare review boards popularly referred to as "death panels" because of the powers these regulatory bodies would be granted to deny life-saving treatment to those deemed of marginal socioeconomic utility by government bureaucrats.
Why isnt this question raised by the broadcaster considered a valid concern?
If the first purpose of the United States government is to provide for the general welfare of its citizens however one might decide to define the scope of that notion, shouldnt foreigners irrespective of the desperation of their circumstances be subject to at least the same rigors?
While the victims of the earthquake in Haiti deserve sympathy and charity, engaged patriots must not allow elites to use this tragedy as an excuse to blunt the discerning criticism of good citizenship.
Some might respond that many of the victims of this cataclysm are innocent children. And that is true enough.
It is one thing to allow passage for a given number of youngsters who have caretakers and provision eagerly awaiting their arrival. It is quite another to grant charity willy-nilly without question.
The Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that up to 200,000 undocumented Haitian immigrants would be granted Temporary Protected Status upon application approval. According to the Miami Herald, temporary protected status is reserved for undocumented migrants displaced by natural disasters, armed conflicts or other emergencies; and Haitians seeking this authorization must prove they were in the United States prior to the day the quake struck. read more »