Politicians are uniquely gifted in their ability to create, foment and exploit non-issues for the purpose of political expediency and maximum calculated effect. In American politics there are more non-issues than one can shake a stick at. A Non-issue is a subject for which people have strong feelings, but in the grand scheme of things only have the slightest of impacts overall, affecting only a small portion of the population. Such issues include: abortion, the Ten Commandments (and other religious displays) in public buildings, gay rights, and immigration. In the examples cited, the American Right has staked out hard-line, though seemingly popular, positions on such issues in the hopes of drumming up support at the ballot box.

The left, however, is not immune from this phenomenon, if anything the use of non-issues to create political capital is very much a creation of leftist political strategists. Non-issues are popular with politicians across the political spectrum because they distract from issues of genuine importance such as the growing failure of public education in America, the growing budget deficit, the impending financial collapse of Social Security and Medicare, or the inescapable energy crisis. These are issues, which have or will have an affect on most Americans. These issues also require the greatest amount of commitment and stick-to-itiveness in order to solve.

Lacking the political will or desire to tackle relevant and important issues, politicians chose the path of least resistance…the non-issue, to convince their constituencies that they actually have come to Washington to tackle the difficult problems, while in reality they are do-nothings. At any given time there are a number of non-issues that abound in Washington and in the various state capitols, one such issue is illegal immigration. Is illegal immigration a problem? Most certainly, but then again so too is drunk driving, yet more Americans are up in arms over the fact that a home builder may be employing illegal immigrants than they are concerned by the fact that over 90,000 people are killed every year by drunk drivers. More than in Vietnam, Korea or both Iraq wars combined!

Yes steps should be taken to confront the problem of undocumented, illegal aliens from entering this country, but should it dominate political debate from Sacramento to Austin to Nashville to Atlanta? Are there not more pressing issues that should command our attention? Some argue that the presence of illegals in this country harms competitiveness or has adverse affects on the economy, such arguments, however, lack empirical evidence to support that claim. Some argue illegals are taking advantage of government services, placing strains on the economy. In reality, our own domestic poor, who seem averse to hard work at any costs place far more of a strain on our economy than the few instances where illegals exploit socials services. Actually, most illegals shun such services.

Our porous border is a problem, yes to be sure, it is a fundamental weakness, just waiting for the likes of Al Qaeda to exploit. Those illegal immigrants who presently reside in the US, however, are not our principle enemy, yet their very existence has dominated political debate in this country for some time. Why is it the same people who are so fearful of Jose and Ricardo taking their job, why is it they can’t seem to muster any interest in imparting good work and study habits in their children? Why is it they seem uninterested in the financial debacle that is Social Security? Why is it that they care nothing of the fact that Islamic tyrants prosper as we consume ever-increasing volumes of foreign oil? Why is it that these issues are seemingly ignored on a consistent basis? Jose is not America’s problem, ignorance is….a fact politicians exploit with the shrewd skill of a master puppeteer.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/13997660.htm