Ralph Peters is the author of the new book Endless War: Middle-Eastern Islam vs. Western Civilization.
~President Barack Obama’s greatest crime against our flag and the republic for which it stands isn’t his administration’s health-care theft bill. That’s mere shoplifting compared to what’s coming next.

Obama and the leftwing of the Democratic Party intend to turn ten to eleven million illegal immigrants into voters as expeditiously as possible, giving them a permanent national electoral majority based upon a beholden Lumpenproletariat. If they succeed, our country will face mob rule.

No individual who broke the law to enter this country should ever be allowed to decide who becomes our president, governor, senator—or town council member. If there is one message patriotic Americans must act upon during the remainder of Obama’s reign, it’s this: No voting rights for illegals.

No other issue of our time matters remotely as much—not our lukewarm struggle with Islamist terror or even our metastasizing deficits. This isn’t about tax increases or where to hold terror trials. It’s about preserving our democratic institutions for law-abiding citizens.

Inevitably, objections to handing immigration criminals the vote will be denounced as racist, anti-immigrant, inhumane and so on. Unable to argue on logical grounds, the left will resort to savage name-calling. And, of course, illegal immigrants will be compared to the legal immigrants of yesteryear, as if our laws are just burdensome annoyances that insist on silly distinctions.

As for the left’s all-purpose charge of racism, any illegal immigrant—Irish, Guatemalan or Nigerian—must never be granted the right to vote in a US election. “Illegal” means “not legal.” It means “criminal.” This is not a matter of nuance, and it isn’t color-coded.

(The single exception I would make would be to grant full citizenship to illegal immigrants who serve honorably in our military for a minimum of five years—but the left would hate that, too.)

As for being anti-immigrant, that’s nonsense, too. Legal immigration remains a great strength of our country (I’ve argued for years for more visas and a path to citizenship for hi-tech wonks and other highly skilled workers). Any immigrant who plays by the rules to enter this country, adjusts to our public values and obeys our laws should be allowed to earn the full rights of citizenship on schedule. But no phony waiting periods, or token fines, or pay-your-back-taxes scams can be allowed to buy voting rights for those who broke our laws to steal into our homeland.

And the “inhumane” charge is sheer hypocrisy. If the Democratic leadership and its organized protest mobs (such as the hate-group La Raza) genuinely cared about the plight of illegal immigrants, they’d argue only for a form of residency. Illegals themselves aren’t the ones demanding the vote. They’d be delighted just to be able to stay here. It’s political activists who claim to speak for them who make voting rights “a test of our nation’s sense of justice.” Playing the pity card, they pretend that legalization is all about keeping families together. It’s not. It’s about eleven million bought-and-paid-for votes. Anyway, millions of illegal immigrants weren’t worried about the unity of their families when they abandoned their homes for the USA.

But reason won’t matter. Anyone who challenges the free gift of voting rights to illegal immigrants is going to be charged as a bigot by the left. It’s an accusation that those who love our country will just have to shrug off.

Conservatives and independents are going to have to decide with precision what they’re going to fight for in this struggle. That means starting out by recognizing that we’re not going to line up eleven million illegals in a column of fours and march them back across the border. They’re here. Most are going to stay.

The crucial fight ahead is over those voting rights. Every other question arising from this issue is trivial in comparison. Those who love this country must focus on that single mantra, repeating it until the votes-for-illegals snake is dead: No voting rights for illegals, no voting rights for illegals, no voting rights for illegals.

The importance of this iron focus can’t be over-stressed, because left-wing activists in the administration and in Congress will try to lure our elected representatives into arguments over secondary issues, pretending to compromise on minor matters. There’ll be discussions over the deportation of criminal aliens, back taxes, waiting periods, health-care liability, fines and fees, and any other distractions that can be tossed into the mix. We must not let ourselves be drawn into debating such details as if the overall legalization process is a forgone conclusion.

What’s the right answer to the illegal-immigration crisis our government’s neglect has allowed to grow to such destructive proportions? Congress needs to create a new class of US residency for those illegals with no further criminal records and who can document a history of employment. That residency would provide basic social and economic rights. It would not give illegal immigrants the vote.

There is no reason, constitutional or moral, why Congress can’t do this. There are already multiple classes of non-citizen residents, from temporary workers to refugees. Of course, the Democratic leadership will howl and claim that anything short of full citizenship is an unacceptable injustice. But what would be unjust about allowing eleven million criminals (and yes, they are criminals, every one, by virtue of breaking the law to enter our home) to remain on our soil, with all of the daily privileges and protections accorded full citizens–except the right to choose those who govern the rest of us? Families (except of those who broke additional laws) would remain united. Workers could work openly (and pay taxes honestly). Children could go to school and apply for scholarships. They just couldn’t force their political prejudices on us—although their American-born children would acquire full voting rights, when of age.

This is a practical, ethical, patriotic and sensible approach. It will be attacked savagely by those who care more about blocks of votes than about the quality of human lives.

Born in 1952, I’ve lived through many national crises—more than a few of them exaggerated in their proclaimed importance at the time. But I view the question of voting rights for illegal immigrants as the most critical issue of my lifetime, as regards the protection of our republic. We had the American Revolution, not the French Revolution. We never have been, and never should be, ruled by mobs. But mob rule is the goal of today’s corrupt Democratic Party leadership. They view power as an end in itself. And they will do virtually anything to sustain, deepen and guarantee that power.

After a recent interview on security issues with talk-show host Laura Ingraham, we discussed this issue off-mike. When I said, “No votes for illegal immigrants,” Laura gave me that piercing look of hers and completed the line for me: “No votes for illegal immigrants—ever.”

This is the crucial battle of the Obama era. Independents, Republicans and Democrats of conscience must set aside all personal
hobby horses and secondary issues, and avoid seductive compromises. To preserve the United States we love and revere, we must concentrate ferociously on one clear goal as the left attempts to subvert our future elections through the gift of votes to eleven million illegal immigrants: No vote for illegals—ever!