What the Tea Party is getting wrong: Immigration

The Tea Party was flawed almost from it's very inception.

I should know, I was there. The backbone of the movement is the Ron Paul supporters who were sadly ahead of their time. After the election of Obama and his massive expansion of the already atrociously huge big government fostered by Bush, our opposition went mainstream, and the Tea Party was born.

Thus the problems began. The only rallying cry everyone could agree on was OPPOSITION. They were unhappy about the bank bailouts (started by Bush), became obsessed with taxes, and coalesced against the insane Obamacare, all the while somehow missing the underlying principal:

Cut spending, cut spending, CUT $PENDING!

Then Arizona just had to pass their anti-illegal immigration bill. Believe me, I understand the reasons, the frustrations, and justifications for the bill. I was even glad when it passed.

But immigration should have NOTHING to do with the Tea Party movement. Why? Because it is an inherent contradiction to the already confused Tea Party platform: it complains the government isn't doing enough.

Yes, it is a huge issue. But all of the solutions presented (Amnesty, guest workers, national ID, border security) are an expansion of government, whereas government has been the problem all along.

A sad truth is that one of human beings principal motivations is convenience. Lets say you have a goal that you wish to accomplish; with one path being legal but inconvenient (time/$$$/consequence/etc) and the other path illegal but much less of a hassle overall. Guess which path gets chosen more? The vast majority of people only follow the law when it is, at most, as inconvenient as breaking said law.

The solution to this crime (like most!) is to LEGALIZE it. Make it AS convenient to immigrate into this country as it is to trek across the 130 degree Arizona deserts (that should tell you something right there). Ten year waiting periods? Employment requirements ahead of time? No wonder people are so frustrated by the current system that they are willing to risk death and deportation to get here rather than absurd bureaucratic ineffectual nonsense. That which is illegal is unregulated.

Additional solutions: Lower the minimum wage (illegals already work for less, brings down unemployment). Decouple health care from employment (legal employees cheaper to higher). Combine slimmed-down immigration offices with border posts (make the maze of bureaucracy a physical one, lasting minutes not years). The real solutions are LESS government.

Sadly, the Tea Party as it is today is incapable of this or any nuance. Therefore, they should just drop the issue altogether, or have a congruent organization rallying around this issue. Combining the messages of 'down with big gov' and 'gov screwing up' are just too confusing and alienate the movement even more.

Drop it, not helping.