Illegal Immigration and the Hastert Rule

The Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives is being criticized for implying that he would invoke the “Hastert Rule” before allowing a vote on the universal illegal-immigrant amnesty bill that Democrats are so anxious to pass.

The Hastert Rule, named after former Speaker Dennis Hastert, requires that a “majority of the majority” approve a bill before it is brought to the floor for a vote by all the members.

This ensures that the minority cannot pass a bill with a few dissident members of the majority voting with them. Democrats, controlling the Senate, executive branch, federal bureaucracy and winning most Supreme Court cases (Obamacare), are now demanding that the House of Representatives bow to their wishes.

The Founders created a divided government expressly to deal with situations like this.

Democrats, exploiting their monopoly of the media, throwing money at potential voters and intimidating those who publicly oppose them, have created an illusion that the American people want to grant amnesty to millions of felons (illegal entry into the U.S. and avoiding taxes are felonies).

Boehner needs to invoke the “Hastert Rule” to prevent the Democrats from this deliberate plan to destroy America’s borders, language and culture.

The “Hastert Rule” says in effect that nothing will happen in the U.S. House of Representatives unless a majority of the majority party supports it.

This isn’t majority rule by our elected House of Representatives. It’s minority rule by a piece of the majority party – essentially disenfranchising any true majority formed by the whole of the body.

In theory this would allow 26 percent of the House to control the whole show.

This minority couldn’t pass anything, but they could block everything. That’s tyranny of the majority party.

Further, it’s tyranny by politicians elected largely from gerrymandered, safe districts that do not reflect the viewpoints of the nation as a whole. These gerrymandered districts, be they Republican or Democrat, are often so “safe” that they are not truly competitive in the general elections so that whoever wins the majority party’s primary is all but guaranteed the seat.

To retain the seat all they have to do is keep winning the primaries, which are to a large degree controlled by party activists and large donors – increasingly with “dark”, anonymous money.

This can lead to a purging of moderates in favor of those who can be counted on to do the bidding of their anonymous donors. This is unhealthy and ill-advised. It flows from weak and irresponsible leadership, and it is a threat to our democracy.