Put me down as an unabashed Sarah Palin fan because she’s one of very few Republicans out there with the courage of her convictions to speak the truth, and she’s absolutely right about the GOP establishment’s mishandling of the issue and blowing a great opportunity to define what the Party really ought to be about: respect for the rule of law, reducing the size and scope of the federal government, lower and simpler taxation, and personal freedom. I think Hot Air’s Allahpundit nails it about the opportunity being lost by a Party so eager to take the easy way out instead of doing the hard work that would really help folks in a hurting economy that no one seems to want to talk about:

This amnesty charade is simply the GOP’s way of dressing a gaping economic wound that cuts across racial demographics by putting an identity-politics band-aid on it, as if legalizing more cheap labor to make things even harder on working-class Americans doesn’t make the problem worse. The real reason to despair and start thinking third-party isn’t the amnesty bill itself, it’s the fact that this is what the party feels compelled to resort to now in lieu of building a better economic agenda. If they can’t figure out how to talk to people who aren’t entrepreneurs about pocketbook issues, then why keep donating to them and organizing for them? They’ve flunked politics 101. We’re pumping a dry well here.

Related story: my landscaper Carmelo and I were surveying the back yard the other day and discussing some new palm trees we’d like to put in around the pool area to replace one of the queen palms that died and fill in a little empty space to make it more “tropical” when the subject of immigration reform came up. He thinks the support for legalizing the undocumented workers amongst Hispanics is overblown by the media – lots of them work low-end jobs and introducing more competition into what is already a competitive and challenging work environment doesn’t do them any good. Besides, he said, many undocumented workers actually prefer it that way because they’ve got the best of both worlds: access to lots of local services while still being able to work under the table and not have to pay taxes.

I think Carmelo’s right here – this whole “comprehensive immigration reform” effort is nothing more than yet another cause (just like gay rights and gay marriage) being pushed by the progressive wing of the Democrats and their partners in crime in the mainstream media to shame Republicans (not conservatives) into pushing their hot-button agenda items into the fabric of American law and life. Fact is, if the folks in Washington would only enforce the laws that were already on the books, the illegal immigration issue would dry up and die on the vine. But that’s not what liberals want – they despise the rule of law only when it suits their purposes of expanding their power and voter base, and that’s all this is about. The real shame is that Republicans seem to have forgotten all about what the Party used to stand for, and I can see a real split coming in the next few years that will assign the GOP to the dustbin of history.

I’m actually ashamed to call myself Republican and plan on changing my enrollment back to independent since I can no longer support a Party so detached from its base. Long live the Tea Party!