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Faith & Cultureby Rod D. Martin
May 12, 2006
In today’s column, “Reverse Amnesty: Mexico’s Drug Legalization Cannot Go Unanswered”, I assert that if anything will get Washington’s attention regarding border security, Mexico’s new drug law is it.
Well, no sooner do I speak it than this crosses the wire: “MAY SWEEPS: BUSH PRIMETIME SPEECH ON IMMIGRATION. SOURCES: BUSH PLANS NATIONAL GUARD ON BORDER…”
So what no President has been willing to do, well, ever, happens within one week of the Mexican Congress becoming Public Enemy Number One in the war on drugs; and before that new law goes into effect.
Mexico is a horribly dysfunctional, dystopian mess. It needn’t be that way. But it always has been. And it can afford to prop up its horribly corrupt elite decade after decade because it has the safety valve of America right on its border.
Well, immigration is wonderful, and I’m all for taking all the honest, hard-working Mexicans — or anyone else of like character — we can get. Our immigration quotas are ludicrously low, especially on science and technical people, and we’re idiots for not taking in all the smart industrious people we can. They will not “take our jobs”: they will create vast new wealth — American wealth — while taking strength from the lousy societies they left behind. It has been this way since Jamestown and Plymouth Rock, and it will always be the same.
But illegal immigration — actively aided and abetted by a corrupt kleptocracy shooing away its best people so the rest won’t ask too many questions — is just crazy. We have to control our borders or the word “nation” loses its meaning. We also have to be able to say who comes in and who doesn’t: 9/11 taught us that. And so long as Mexico is broken (read, “horribly twisted and deformed”), we are all poorer and we are all faced with problems which just shouldn’t ever be.
Now Mexico has gone off the deep end, forcing George Bush’s hand. Let’s see how he plays it. But as of today, it’s looking a lot better indeed.
Rod is one of our nation’s leading minds. He’s smart, original, and very committed—a combination that one rarely finds.
Rod Martin and [former Howard Dean campaign manager] Joe Trippi are America’s two foremost experts on online politics.
Rod Martin is a Reaganite-Thatcherite conservative…[and] a man who has spent much of his life ministering to and working for the benefit of others. I know Rod as an advocate for freedom, a leader who understands the real changes we need in Washington, and who has the drive and ability to make those changes happen.
Rod Martin is the kind of dynamic leader who has the knowledge, ability and experience to lead us successfully into the 21st Century. His vision for America is compelling.
Rod Martin literally wrote the book on excellence. Humble yet brilliant, a man of love and compassion, with penetrating clarity he illuminates the world around us, and we are both stirred and enlightened.
Rod Martin is a born leader and an outstanding political mind. Anyone who takes him on is going to have a serious fight on their hands.
Rod Martin is a man of uncommon vision and character. Ever since I first worked alongside Rod in the early days of PayPal, I’ve been struck by his powerful vision for the future. Rod understands the intersection of technology, politics and culture in a way that few others do.
Rod Martin wears with uncommon grace an uncanny ability to link his vigorous faith to the practical challenges of both the business world and the political arena. Yet the respect he shows for others carries a warmth and modesty that are both too rare among those who are strong advocates of feisty positions.
America badly needs more leaders who really get the future. We need more Rod Martins.
Rod Martin is a modern day philosopher-statesman. He is a capitalist intellectual, a conservative iconoclast, a gentle adversary and a kind prophet. He inspires us towards a fresh national vision built upon the original founding principles.
Rod Martin is not only effective and efficient, but he is also perceptive, wise and gracious. He gets things done. He is a great friend and a great ally.
Rod is one of the sharpest, most gracious men I know, and one of the most gifted political thinkers today. His ability to analyze issues and communicate thoughtful insights on them have earned him the respect of people across the political spectrum.
I am proud to have been Rod Martin’s friend for a quarter century, and I can tell you that he is one of the finest men and most outstanding leaders in our church and in our country today. He has a knack for turning everything he touches to success.
Rod Martin is a cornucopian entrepreneur and eutropic thinker whose influence radiates through an array of companies, institutions, movements and churches. A renaissance American, he is also a prolific friend of freedom and faith around the globe.
If Rod Martin represents the next generation of leaders, America has nothing to worry about.
A leader and a servant, in public life and in private, Rod Martin strides at the top of his profession, and has nowhere to go but up. He is in the truest sense of the word ‘outstanding’.
Rod Martin is undoubtedly one of the most accomplished thought leaders today. He is a wonderful mentor, a humble role model, and a deep inspiration for the next generation of scientific innovators and entrepreneurs.
Rod’s achievements pale beside his character and his brilliance. He sees what others can’t. He leads when others won’t.
Rod Martin is one of America’s finest young minds.