Macon Telegraph

August 23, 2016

OPINION

A respectful reminder for Rep. Allen Peake

Macon’s Republican state Rep. Allen Peake is one of the most intelligent, sincere and genuine thinkers in state government. As a long-time but reluctant denizen of the Gold Dome, I hope he has a long and bright future in public service ahead of him.

In publicly expressing his reasonable concerns about supporting Donald Trump, Peake has made it clear that he worries about the “extinction” of his political party. It seems he is concerned that Trump’s stated position on immigration enforcement has driven Hispanic voters away from the Republican Party.

Addressing the deceitful immigration fairytale endlessly offered up to decent politicians like Peake from the anything-for-a-buck, globalist propagandists, a respectful dose of reality to all concerned: Lawlessness and a repeat of the “one time” immigration amnesty of 1986 would not create a great wave of Republican Hispanic voters.

Proof? Two short years after Ronald Reagan was persuaded by the Chamber of Commerce wing of the GOP to sign the ’86 amnesty bill, Republican presidential candidate George H.W. Bush received just 30 percent of the Hispanic vote — putting him in the John McCain (31 percent) and Mitt Romney (27 percent) range. McCain had promised legalization “on day one” in the White House. Romney took the pro-American “enforce the law” position.

Neither does advocating for an increase in legal immigration result in a Republican advantage. About 80 percent of all new immigrants want even more services and bigger government — and they vote Democrat to that end. So would legalized illegals. We are importing about a million legal immigrants every year, most of whom are poor and low-skilled. That fact should be discussed.

It is important to acknowledge that Hispanics are not a monolithic voting bloc. The proud Hispanic board members of our America-first, pro-enforcement effort here support Donald Trump and sanity on immigration.

Peake’s common-sense plea to fellow Republicans for a platform of smaller government and more personal responsibility should be matched with a well-informed position on immigration and recognition that Georgia has more illegal aliens than Arizona.

The Democratic-media complex will stop at nothing to inspire Trump’s defeat. We hope Rep. Peake will ignore them and stick with Donald Trump. We are.

D.A. King
Marietta
President, the Dustin Inman Society, for the board of advisers HERE