Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Decentralism works!

Here's proof:

Voters in Fremont, Nebraska have demonstrated that local action can be an effective way to control immigration: the only way the American people can enact much-needed border security.

Here is the story from KTPM Fox42 in Omaha:
The ordinance will require employers to check their workers through the federal E-verify database to see if they're illegal or not. For landlords it means all renters over the age of 18 must get an occupancy license from the Fremont Police Department, where their immigration status will be checked.

The votes of the special election will not be made official until Monday. The ordinance will then go through the city council.

Over 45% of registered voters made their way to the polls compared to a 28% voter turnout in the primary election.

Mike Tuggle at Rebellion comments (and I wholeheartedly agree with him):
The high turnout reveals a basic truth: People can make more of an impact where they live. That's where their loyalties lie. And smaller, local governments are more attuned to their friends and neighbors than a distant central government could ever be. That's why political power should devolve down to the smallest possible level.

That's also why those special interest groups who hate and want to transform America, from Neocons to the NAACP to La Raza, all want a powerful central overnment as an engine of reconstruction.

This further confirms an observation I made years ago. City councils see very few professional lobbyists. Why? Because there are too many cities. Lobbyists can't spread themselves that thin. This is the power of decentralism!

2 comments:

PhreedomPhan said...

Harold, I really like much of what you post, but I'm less than thrill with the idea of licensing renters. It smacks to much of the technique of crises creation as an excuse to restrict individual rights. I have to believe there's a better way than licensing of all to control illegals.

Harold Thomas said...

PhreedomPhan:

I understand what you are writing; and there are good reasons to object to licensing of any kind. However, I find it less objectionable because it is imposed on the local level as a response to a problem that the state and federal governments should be, and are not, addressing.

The best way to control illegals, of course, is not to let them across the border in the first place. Since the feds aren't doing their job, the second best is an approach like Arizona's, where an immigration check is applied as part of investigating another crime or obviously suspicious activity.