Is Linda Chavez a Good Samaritan or an Evil Lawbreaker?

Thoughts From the Libertarian Party and Links to Other Articles

 
Linda Chavez's only crime: She's not a preening hypocrite like other politicians

WASHINGTON, DC -- Linda Chavez should receive a profound "thank you" and perhaps a special Congressional award for her personal efforts to help a penniless immigrant -- instead of being forced to withdraw her name from consideration as the next Secretary of Labor, the Libertarian Party said today.

"By sheltering a destitute, battered immigrant woman in her
home, Linda Chavez showed what real compassion is, and set a shining example for all Americans," said Steve Dasbach, the party's national director.

"Ordinary Americans might describe Chavez's behavior as a
selfless act of charity. Unfortunately, many politicians call it a
crime. Only in Washington, DC, could being a Good Samaritan be considered a liability."

On Tuesday, Chavez abruptly withdrew from consideration as U.S. Labor Secretary in the wake of revelations that she invited an undocumented Guatemalan woman, Marta Mercado, to live in her home in the early 1990s.

According to reports, Mercado had been beaten and badly abused by a boyfriend and lived temporarily in a shelter for battered women before being taken in by Chavez. In gratitude, Mercado performed some minor household chores and was given some spending money by the Chavez family.

Critics described Chavez's actions as "exploitation," a violation of the Immigration Reform Act of 1986, and a possibly illegal employer/employee relationship.

But Libertarians ask: When did compassion become a crime?

"When it becomes a crime to shelter an impoverished, abused
woman -- regardless of where she came from or how she got here -- it's the politicians who wrote the law that should be put on trial," said Dasbach.

And even if Chavez did technically violate the law, it simply proves that the United States has too many laws, he said.

"Why should it be the government's business whom you take into your home?" he asked. "Why should it be the government's business if you shelter a refugee? And why should it be the government's business whether or not you pay that person to do chores?"

In fact, if Chavez's version of the facts is correct, said Dasbach, then the country needs more people like her -- and fewer politicians who confuse their favorite government programs with real compassion.

"Unfortunately, most politicians think that casting a vote for a new government program and spending other peoples' money makes them compassionate," he said. "All it does is make them hypocrites. They get an opportunity to preen in front of the TV cameras, and brag about how full of compassion they are.

"But if politicians genuinely want to help the hungry, the homeless, and the desperate, Libertarians challenge them to do what Linda Chavez did: Take a poor person into your home. Make them feel welcome. Give them clothing. Give them support. Give them money. Give them love.

"Until they do that, politicians have no right to criticize Linda Chavez for helping another human being in need."

Praise for Chavez's personal behavior aside, the Libertarian
Party is not saying that she should have been appointed Secretary of Labor, noted Dasbach.

"President-elect George W. Bush likes to talk about compassionate conservatism," he said. "From what we've seen, Linda Chavez can do far more good being compassionate than she can as another big-government conservative, running an inefficient, wasteful, unnecessary government department."

Transcript of Chavez speech http://www.foxnews.com/politics/010901/chavez_transcript.sml

http://www.cnn.com/2001/ALLPOLITICS/stories/01/09/bush

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Lou Rockwell on the Chavez story: http://www.lewrockwell.com/rockwell/chavez.html

How Washington turns virtue into vice
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by Edward L. Hudgins
Using really bad labor, immigration, and tax laws, Washington
turned Linda Chavez's acts of virtue into vices. (1/10/01)
http://www.cato.org/dailys/01-10-01.html