Huckabee Weak on Illegal Immigration

Have you ever wondered why Mike Huckabee, a former Baptist preacher, isn't doing better with Christian voters?

Below is an excerpt from a PBS interview with Mike Huckabee dated Oct. 12:

Now I hear some of the so-called Christian leaders say, "Well, we love Huckabee. He really agrees with us, and he's one of us in terms of views. But, you know, we're looking for somebody that we're confident is going to win." Well, two things. First, a lot of these people if they would get behind me I'd be winning right now, and I think I will ultimately without them. But secondly, if they really are principled, it's not about who might win, it's about who stands with us. And, frankly, it's a little disturbing, if not frightening, that some have forgotten the essence of what Jesus taught, and that is if you gain the whole world but lose your soul what does it profit you?

I couldn't agree more with Huckabee's intent when he says, "...if they would get behind me I'd be winning right now." A candidate will never win if the people who support him don't believe he can win. Bellyaching about how the candidate you like can't win doesn't do anything for you or him--you have to get busy helping him win.

However, there are some other reasons why support for Huckabee among Christian conservatives might be a little lukewarm. I've looked at some of those reasons here and here. But there's even more than that.

Last week I learned that Huckabee opposed legislation that would deny government benefits to illegal aliens, something that should be a no-brainer (if they're here illegally, let's send them home). I read about it from the Arkansas News Bureau and Diggers Realm has an excerpt from a no-longer-available-online article from the Arizona Republic, and OneNewsNow is also talking about it today.

An English language advocate says former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is worse than his GOP opponent Rudy Giuliani when it comes to the issue of illegal immigration. Huckabee even labeled an effort to crack down on illegal aliens in Arkansas as "inflammatory and race-baiting."

Here's part of what the Arizona Republic excerpt says:

Huckabee said the bill, seeking to forbid public assistance and voting rights to undocumented immigrants, "inflames those who are racist and bigots and makes them think there's a real problem. But there's not."

There's not a problem with millions of illegal aliens coming across our border? I beg to differ, and based on the beating the public gave the amnesty effort a few months ago, I don't think I'm alone in seeing a real problem.

Jim Boulet, the English advocate quoted above, expresses my sentiments as to why I have a hard time supporting Huckabee:

"I don't see anywhere in the Bible where it says the way God wants us to help the poor is to lobby for the government to spend money on them," says Boulet.

Indeed. Contrary to government helping the poor, the Bible makes it pretty clear that people are to help people, not government. There's no blessing for anyone, no expression of love and concern, no sense of community, and no helping a person permanently out of poverty when all that's involved is a government check.

This is one of those areas where theological imbalances can have "real world" impact. Huckabee's disregard for the rule of law regarding illegal immigration, in addition to constitutional limits on spending and government, may stem from his theologically unbalanced "I'm a 'grace' Christian, not a 'law' Christian" outlook. Grace is ever so important to the Christian (to all of us, whether we realize it or not), but grace without law is license.

For all Huckabee's good points, his theological and Constitutional misunderstandings (which also spills over into other areas of unnecessary and un-Constitutional spending) give me serious pause about supporting him.

If it comes down to Hillary or Huckabee, the choice will be pretty simple for me. But I'm not looking for a candidate who is "better than Hillary;" I'm looking for a candidate who will champion life, the family, the law and the Constitution.

We don't need another big-spending "compassionate conservative." We need a candidate who will respect and abide by the Constitution, and if he's a Christian, he should understand that God called people to help one another, not government. If people look to government to have their needs met, government quickly becomes their god...as it already has for many.