Red lights are flashing across the battered landscape of American civilization. They are political, economic, technological, constitutional and cultural in character—and collectively they illuminate a dangerously polarized society sliding toward the precipice of irreversible decline.
As crises multiply across an increasingly destabilized world from Ukraine to the Middle East to the South China Sea, it is very evident to thoughtful observers, enemies and allies alike, that the United States unlike times past no longer has the economic resources and the political coherence needed to sustain its far-flung global obligations while simultaneously facing a rising tide of fierce discord within its homeland.
Today the United States is confronting a galaxy of profound challenges both foreign and domestic unlike any seen since the calamitous era of Vietnam and Watergate. The crucial difference between these two periods is that now America's relative economic and military might is vastly diminished from what it was half a century ago.
At present among the many volatile issues competing for public attention, one in particular has risen to become the voters’ highest priority—immigration reform. The dramatic rise of this issue, and the likelihood that its impact will only intensify from now to the November election, strongly suggests that both political parties have a powerful incentive to align themselves with a dramatically different approach to border security and immigration reform.
Having participated in and observed many immigration forums over time, I would like to suggest such an approach that—while not easy politically, given the extraordinarily high stakes involved—could be achieved, thereby providing a much-needed healing moment for our sorely divided country.
The needed bipartisan legislation would have three required elements: 1) a merit-based point system, resembling that which exists in all other English-speaking countries, to replace the hodgepodge of existing law that has bred only confusion and massive abuse 2) a comprehensive address to regularizing the status of the 10 to 20 million undocumented immigrants now residing in the US, and 3) a definitive securing of the southern border that would deny entry to all immigrants save those applying from outside the country and gaining admission under established process and law.
For the USA the best model is Canada, which has a long-established “Comprehensive Ranking System” (CRS) that grades applicants on a scale of 1 to 100 in six categories which evaluate the individual's potential to make a positive contribution to Canadian society.
The categories are :1. Age (example applicants between 18 and 35 can receive up to 12 points). 2. education 3. occupation 4. work experience 5. language skills and 6. documented relatives living in Canada.
Success in addressing the undocumented absolutely requires that we know who they are, where they are, how long they've been here, and what they've been doing ( including interaction with entitlement programs). Once known this information would be used to establish a Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) to determine eligibility for permanent status (e.g. Green Card, pathway to citizenship ). Like Canada, individuals with serious criminal records would be excluded and subject to deportation.
For this key element to work it would require a national photo identification card which exists in many countries (eg. France, Germany, Japan). At present 233 million Americans routinely carry such a card in the form of a driver's license. This “ national passport “ would also protect multiple state and national service agencies against fraud and abuse (e.g entitlements, work permits, law enforcement, voting).
The American people have no confidence in a government that has long falsely claimed that the border “is secure” or “ is not a crisis.” Today the metastasizing chaos at the border and its malign consequences across the country are regularly decried by mayors, governors, and congressmen of both parties, all demanding swift action.
History, recent Israeli experience, and common sense all testify that walls, fences, and National Guard deployment rigorously applied do succeed—and nothing less than such measures pursued with a Manhattan Project-type urgency can persuade the American people that it has a government fully committed to the principles of national sovereignty and the rule of law.
Once introduced, this reform legislation addressing the issue voters have clearly identified as their highest priority will become the centerpiece of both presidential and congressional election campaigns. Either party opposing it while the other party embraces it will be courting political disaster. The greater likelihood is that it will become a bipartisan consensus resulting in a historic law that will not only believably address a crucial national problem but represent an unprecedented act of patriotic unity—and who can tell what other hopeful events might flow from that.
William Moloney is a Senior Fellow at Colorado’s Centennial Institute who studied history and politics at Oxford and the University of London and received his doctorate from Harvard University. His articles have appeared in the Hill, Wall Street Journal, USA today, Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer, Washington Times, Denver Post and Human Events.