In case you missed it | Dare to DREAM

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Dare to DREAM

While President Barack Obama continues to compromise — we think a bit too much — on things like the tax cuts for the rich, we haven’t seen the same movement from Republicans.

Right-wingers still feel really threatened by the idea of giving young undocumented immigrants who are in this country through no fault of their own a chance at serving in the military or getting a college education.

It’s a form of amnesty, they say. These forward-minded thinkers balk because of the dated, racist paranoia that continues to gnaw at an alarmingly large percentage of our population, apparently.

Meanwhile, thousands of high school students who were brought to the U.S. by their parents as babies or young children graduate each year with nowhere to go.

Come on people, we have educated them through the 12th grade, and then we desert them? They can’t get into college or get a legitimate job without a Social Security number. Does that make sense? How many of these are really bright kids who could be contributing to getting our economy back on track?

And what’s wrong with letting them serve in the military? Sounds like a good way to boost enlistment rates during a time when the ranks are a bit thin.

We urge Obama to stop bending over backwards to compromise with the GOP until we see the same willingness on their part. We’re with our Congressman Jared Polis, who on Dec. 8 helped lead the charge on the DREAM Act in the House, where it passed before getting bogged down in the Senate.

Giving those bible-beating conservative bumpkins a taste of their own medicine, Polis concluded his comments on the House floor with a quote from Deuteronomy 24:16: “Fathers shall not be put to death for their sons, nor shall sons be put to death for their fathers.”

Don’t ask, don’t think

As if we needed another example of Republicans refusing to budge, even though President Barack Obama has basically given up the farm on the tax cuts for the rich, here comes the non-vote on the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy.

On Dec. 9, Senate Republicans used a procedural move to block the passage of a defense authorization bill that included repeal of the policy that discriminates against homosexuals in the military. Now it looks like the repeal may be reintroduced as a stand-alone bill so that its kiss of death is not attached to other things in the defense authorization bill, like a well-deserved raise for the members of our military.

Hell, even Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has called for repealing the policy before the courts strike it down, so that the Defense Department can have control over the change in procedures.

But no, whisper the old-generation crackpots in the GOP’s back rooms, we’ve got to keep those gays in their place. We wouldn’t want to enter the 21st century any time soon. We’re just not ready.

More of the older ones need to die off first, apparently.

First blow for ObamaCare

A federal judge sent conservatives into paroxysms of bliss on Monday, Dec. 13, when he ruled that requiring Americans to purchase health insurance is unconstitutional. But conservatives might be partying less if they understood that the progressive left also sees this as a victory.

The product of too much compromise and a whole lot of selling out, the Obama administration’s health-care overhaul isn’t what progressives have in mind when we talk about health-care reform. We wanted single-payer health care, not forced-at-gun-point-to-join-Kaiser health care. By requiring American to buy health insurance, “ObamaCare” gives for-profit health insurance a fixed position in our health care system, rather than eliminating it, which is what really needs to happen.

“At its core, this dispute is not simply about regulating the business of insurance — or crafting a scheme of universal health insurance coverage — it’s about an individual’s right to choose to participate,” wrote U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson.

Exactly. Those of us who object to for-profit health care weren’t looking forward to handing our money over to the Blue Cross/Blue Shields of the world.

Sorry, President Obama, but your effort at health-care reform was doomed from the moment you held that first secret meeting with Big Pharma.

Respond: letters@boulderweekly.com