Few in Bermuda dispute that Bermudians who are qualified for particular jobs should get them before a non-Bermudian is considered for the post.

And few fail to recognise that Bermuda must have non-Bermudians in the workforce – there are simply not enough Bermudians to do all the jobs that the economy requires to afford the vast majority of Bermudians a standard of living that is the envy of most of the world.

Similarly, few would argue with the notion that because of Bermuda's limited size, that land and homes cannot be made available to anyone who can afford it, regardless of nationality, and that Bermudians who can afford it should have a chance to own their own homes.

By the same token, most people accept that the heart does not recognise nationality when it comes to love and marriage, and as Bermudians increasingly study, work and travel abroad, their life's partner is less and less likely to come from these 21 square miles. When this happens, most would agree that the Bermudian has the right to bring their spouse home to build a family and life together.

The problem comes when all of these certainties come together, since they are not necessarily reconcilable, or so it would seem based on the current controversy over the rights of Bermudians married to non-Bermudians to own property.

Some years ago, concern over the practice of "fronting", in which Bermudians "owned" property" on behalf of non-Bermudians and concern over just how much land non-Bermudians owned, resulted in the Government deciding to restrict to one the number of homes a Bermudian and his or non-Bermudian could own.

At the same time, all non-Bermudians were required to get licences for the properties they already owned, including those who were married to Bermudians, provided they either contributed to, or benefited from, ownership. The licensing requirement was largely sought to get an accurate fix on how much land non-Bermudians owned.

However, restricting non-Bermudian spouses from owning properties will do nothing to prevent "fronting" and may contribute to it. And restricting Bermudians who happen to be married to non-Bermudians from owning more than one home, and requiring them to pay for a licence is, quite simply, discriminatory. It is amazing that no one has challenged it in court.

At the same time, this issue appears to have become inter-mingled with other controversies over non-Bermudian spouses, including the requirement that nationals from the Philippines, Panama and the Dominican Republic must now get visas before coming to Bermuda.

That policy is based on two concerns. One, that women from these countries, and especially the Dominican Republic, are coming to Bermuda to work as prostitutes, and secondly, that Bermudian men are marrying women from these countries and bringing them back to Bermuda, only to have the marriages founder.

It is not at all clear how widespread either of these problems are, and Sen. Burch did not say, but at the very least, this approach seems to be of a piece with the restrictions on property for Bermudians married to non-Bermudians; that the many are being made to suffer for the failings of the few.

It would seem reasonable to assume that there are other means of policing and investigating these issues than laying down blanket restrictions and labelling whole nationalities as prostitutes or mail order brides.

Instead, these sorts of restrictions may accomplish the opposite of the intent; driving Bermudians out of their own country so they can marry whom they wish without being made into second class citizens.