[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 38 (Thursday, March 30, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H1323-H1324]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           IMMIGRATION REFORM

  (Mr. FLAKE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. FLAKE. Mr. Speaker, as Members of the House of Representatives, 
we are aware of the awesome power that we have to make laws under which

[[Page H1324]]

we all are governed, but we are also uniquely acquainted with our own 
limitations. Polls may indeed show that a majority of our constituents 
today would simply like to see our current immigration laws enforced, 
but we are in a position to know that such is unreasonable.
  Deciding whether our role is to lead or to follow is not a new 
conundrum. During the Constitutional Convention in 1787, George 
Washington counseled: ``If to please the people we do what we ourselves 
disprove, how can we afterwards defend our work?'' It might be 
comfortable in an election year to warm ourselves by the populist fire 
that we ourselves have stoked, but it is not leadership.
  Leaders appeal to the better angels of our nature rather than bow to 
the manifestations of our baser instincts. The standard bearer of the 
modern conservative movement, Ronald Reagan, understood this very well 
when he talked about the shining city on the hill. In his farewell 
address he described this, ``a city with free ports that hummed with 
commerce and creativity, and if there had to be city walls,'' he said, 
``the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will 
to enter.''
  I hope that that is how we see it today.

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