{"id":2522,"date":"2013-02-14T13:46:42","date_gmt":"2013-02-14T18:46:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/live-immigrationreform.pantheonsite.io\/?p=2522"},"modified":"2016-02-23T13:47:41","modified_gmt":"2016-02-23T18:47:41","slug":"is-marco-rubio%e2%80%99s-immigration-plan-a-blueprint-for-smaller-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2013\/02\/14\/is-marco-rubio%e2%80%99s-immigration-plan-a-blueprint-for-smaller-government\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Marco Rubio\u2019s Immigration Plan a Blueprint for Smaller Government?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In his response to President Obama\u2019s State of the Union Address, Sen. Marco Rubio talked about limited government, lower taxes, reduced spending, private sector growth \u2013 all things that resonate with conservative voters, including moderate Democrats.\u00a0 But ticking off a list of focus-group tested talking points does not a conservative make.\u00a0 Both John McCain and Mitt Romney learned that turning out conservative voters takes more than a few passing references to the Ole Gipper<\/a>. \u00a0Many conservative voters did not trust McCain and Romney\u2019s bonafides because both men had political track records that were not, to borrow Mr. Romney\u2019s term, \u201cseverely conservative<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sen. Rubio has the rhetoric down pat, but he, too, has a political past that will get a lot more scrutiny as he positions himself for a run at the Presidency in 2016.\u00a0 And that record<\/a> makes Senator Rubio look very much like an establishment Republican.\u00a0 Rubio\u2019s political pedigree will likely help him attract the support of Super PACs<\/a>, but it also may make it difficult for him to attract the conservative base voters he needs to win the Republican Primary, and ultimately the White House.<\/p>\n

Now, political conversions do occur, and Sen. Rubio is working hard to convince the American people that he sees the light on government overreach and overspending.\u00a0 What makes it hard to take him at his word is his stance on immigration \u201creform,\u201d i.e. his support for amnesty and <\/em>major increases in legal immigration and<\/em> increased numbers of guest workers.\u00a0 Granting amnesty and access to entitlement programs to millions of low-income individuals, displacing millions of American workers and suppressing the wages of millions more, while providing big business with a steady supply of cheap labor subsidized by American taxpayers does not seem like a recipe for a smaller government that spends (and taxes) less.\u00a0 And when did the \u201crule of law\u201d and national sovereignty cease to be hallmarks of conservatism?<\/p>\n

In D.C., where even Grover Norquist<\/a> can pass himself off as a conservative, Sen. Rubio can easily assume that mantle.\u00a0 When it comes to convincing conservative voters across the country of his dedication to conservative principles, Sen. Rubio is going to have to explain why his opposition to amnesty lasted only long enough to get him elected to the U.S. Senate.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you grant amnesty, the message that you\u2019re sending is that if you come in this country and stay here long enough, we will let you stay. And no one will ever come through the legal process if you do that.\u201c Marco Rubio, November 17, 2009<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAs far as amnesty, that’s where [Charlie Crist] and I disagree. He would have voted for the McCain plan. I think that plan is wrong\u2026if you grant amnesty\u2026you will destroy any chance we will ever have of having a legal immigration system that works here in America.\u201d – Marco Rubio, March 28, 2010<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cEarned path to citizenship is basically code for amnesty. It’s what they call it.\u201d – Marco Rubio, October 24, 2010<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In his response to President Obama\u2019s State of the Union Address, Sen. Marco Rubio talked about limited government, lower taxes, reduced spending, private sector growth \u2013 all things that resonate with conservative voters, including moderate Democrats.\u00a0 But ticking off a list of focus-group tested talking points does not a conservative make.\u00a0 Both John McCain and<\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[5,3,1513,11,6,4,10,7],"tags":[33,109],"yst_prominent_words":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2522"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2522"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2522\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2657,"href":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2522\/revisions\/2657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2522"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=2522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}