OPINION:
Education Secretary Arne Duncan obviously favors providing in-state tuition to the children of illegal aliens (“Education secretary defends tuition breaks for children of illegals,” Web, Nov. 7). Perhaps Mr. Duncan also favors taking my car and giving it to someone else.
Assume for a moment that a father steals my car and gives it to his daughter for her 16th birthday. Also assume that then this innocent young girl does everything right: She somehow titles the vehicle at the Department of Motor Vehicles, has it inspected and buys insurance. She does all the scheduled maintenance and promptly makes repairs. She parks the car in a garage, lovingly washes and waxes it every month and drives it in the absolute safest manner at all times.
Let’s say that two years later, I run into this young lady driving my car and demand that she return my property. But this is her car, and she needs it to drive to her job so that she can pay for college next year. If I take “her” car away, I’ll destroy her life. She didn’t do anything wrong, so why am I punishing her? Using the logic of people like Mr. Duncan, I’d have to let this young woman keep my car even though her father broke the law when he took it from me. The fact that this young woman was innocent and had done nothing wrong is irrelevant. She has no right to my car. The reality is that my property was stolen, much the same as the fruits of my labor are being stolen when my tax dollars are used to fund the college education of the children of illegal aliens.
PATRICK MCGINN
California, Md.
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