ON Huckabee and immigrants...

Huckabee, now leading in some polls in Iowa, has finally drawn scrutiny from some conservative groups, like the Club for Growth (at whom he lashed back by calling them the "Club for Greed"; smooth move, Mikey), and conservatives are less and less happy with what they find.

From his own website, describing the contents of a radio talk show featuring the Guv..

""But the governor did not back down on his positions in support of certain benefits for the children of illegal aliens, such as ..( ).. his proposal to offer scholarships to undocumented children who graduate from an Arkansas high school. (EDITOR'S NOTE: This was not clearly described in the article. Huckabee did not want to "offer scholarships to undocumented children." What he actually supported was allowing them to be eligible to apply for college scholarships if they qualified.)""

The governor doesn't seem to realize that for taxpayer purposes and for citizens' concerns, the two points are the same; Arkansans' children-- whose GPA might be a decimal or two lower than these illegal children-- are going to be missing out on scholarships because they've already been granted to people who are not citizens of Arkansas, or of any other American state-- in this way he punishes innocent young people while claiming he wants to avoid punishing innocent young people. THIS is the point he refuses to grasp.

Huckabee vigorously defends his position, that these children committed no 'sin' or crime and shouldn't be made to pay the price of the crimes of their parents.

Morally, nobody could disagree with this statement. However, it does NOT apply here.

Because the fact is, they do not belong here. If it isn't their fault, then it MUST be admitted that neither is it the fault of the Arkansas taxpayer who must pay the freight for this government largesse, nor is it the fault of the Arkansas student who cannot go to school because the scholarship he needed has gone instead to a student who has no legal right to benefits for American students.

If Huckabee believes that children of illegals should be given things, then he should start a charity and raise funds for these gifts. That is a fine use of his time and passion, and if he is right on the issue, then he should be able to easily raise a lot of money.

But the Arkansas taxpayer is NOT responsible for the financial support of the people who should not be here. Innocent though the young people may be, SO ARE THE TAXPAYERS; but Governor Huckabee does not HESITATE to 'punish' them in order that he might assuage his own guilt over 'punishing' people who belong in another country by sending them there.

Huckabee has the same eye disease suffered by every liberal of good character and decency; all money looks the same to him. He cannot distinguish between taxpayer funds and charitable contributions, and he imputes the moral goodness of charity to a taxpayer who has no say in how his money is used and who may well be in earnest opposition to a particular use.

This taxpayer is not only NOT being charitable, he is being ABUSED.

This nation is the most charitable in the history of humankind. Any real, honestly good cause can find support. It only needs honest and motivated people to speak for it and direct their passions toward its purposes.

But use of taxpayer funds for purposes directly opposed by the vast majority of taxpayers smacks of fiduciary irresponsibility at best; at worst, it is a short step away from democracy, the kind of step which is usually followed by many others.