The Republican Presidential Debate

And here I thought Senator Tancredo opposed illegal immigration. But in this debate he came out squarely against a national ID card. And that's exactly what it will take to expel the illegals already here; to keep illegals from getting jobs here; to identify them when they try to get taxpayer-funded services. Nothing short of that will make a dent in the problem.

It doesn't matter what you say you're for or against--unless you're willing to put your money where your mouth is.

In the business classic In Search of Excellence, Peters and Waterman discuss visiting companies where the the CEO declared himself firmly in favor of product quality. But then later the middle managers would tell Peters and Waterman that the other 364 days of the year the CEO talked about cost cutting.

Tancredo isn't in favor of controlling illegal immigration unless he's in favor of measures that will actually control it. A fence is good, more border guards is good, IDs for legal aliens is good. But none of that is sufficient.

Here you see the shadow of the far right falling over the GOP's president wannabes. The far right doesn't want a national ID card, just as the far left doesn't either. Ideologues tend to be paranoid, don't they?

But we all must sacrifice aspects of our privacy in order to live in a lawful society. Today a single individual with a suitcase full of anthrax can wreak more damage than a whole army could in the 18th century. Our privacy is worthless if we aren't safe. We should demand as much privacy as is compatible with being safe, and as much safety as we can hope for without sacrificing too much privacy.

Any ideologue should agree with that last sentence, but the problem isn't with the general principle; it's with the specific proposals you endorse that will effect that principle. And the ideologues' values haven't kept up with history. The current world situation requires taking our ability to identify people to a new level.

Tancredo is close to being a one-issue candidate, yet even on this one issue he falls short. I'm guessing it's out of fear of the legendary "Republcan base" -- the same folks who to this day believe Saddam co-planned 9/11...and have at least contemplated wearing foil hats to keep Martian thought control rays from penetrating their brains...

I'm disappointed. I like Tancredo. He's always articulate, never hateful. And yet...