The American Blog

The defeat of the recent Senate immigration bill, designed to deal with illegal immigration and which had bi-partisan support, is an example of the power of democracy.  Americans were outraged by what was being proposed and they rose up and convinced their representatives not to support the bill.  The country would be stronger and safer if we did this more often!

Unfortunately, the death of the immigration bill seems to have also been the demise of further attempts to fix the illegal immigration malady.  Many outside of goverment have proposed immigration reform plans of their own.  Here are elements included in many of these plans and which are needed to end illegal immigration.

1.      Establish a private-sector-based  group to draft legislation for ending illegal immigration
Congress is not capable of developing immigration legislation in the best interest of the citizens of the U.S.   They are too beholden to special interest groups.  Thus, Congress needs to “outsource” the drafting of immigration legislation to a private sector group whose only interest is the citizens of the U.S and not to any special interest groups.  The U.S. has an enormous amount of private-sector talent in the form on consulting firms, think-tanks and executives.  A representative from the House and Senate can participate and be responsible for getting the proposals passed in their respective legislative bodies.  This can be done in 3-4 months.

2.      Secure our borders
Congress needs to pass legislation and work with the states to ensure that our borders are secure – meaning unauthorized individuals cannot get into our country.  The means to do this are of secondary importance.  It can be accomplished through a combination of Federal, state and local law enforcement, the military, fences, and technology. 

3.      Enforce Our Existing Immigration Laws
Congress needs to pass legislation that ensures that our immigration laws are enforced by Federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.  These laws need to mandate that when an individual is found to be in this country illegally, they are either immediately deported or jailed or given some other strong incentive to never come back to the United States .  Individuals who enter the country illegally should never be given a visa or put on the path to citizenship.  This legislation needs to ensure that employers who hire illegal immigrants are severely punished economically and/or criminally.  The legislation needs to ensure that entities such as churches and cities that provide sanctuary for illegal are charged with a felon.  Individuals who have overstayed their Visas need to be identified and removed from the country.  By enforcing our existing immigration laws, most illegals will go home voluntarily because their isn’t work for illegals and because they pay a high price for being caught. This effort must start immediately to gain the confidence and trust of the American people.

4.   Clarify the law so that children of illegal immigrants are not US Citizens.
To reward someone who enters our country illegal by making their children citizens of the United States is an affront to everything we stand for.  It hurts the country and provides an incentive for illegals to have children once in the U.S.   The parents don’t even need to be married!  The law needs to be changed even if it takes a Constitutional Amendment.

5.      Stop giving illegals access to our social services
Currently illegals have access to our social service programs like welfare and food stamps.  They are also given free health care, free school lunches and breakfasts, free school bus rides and free or highly subsidized access to our colleges and universities.  They get many things most Americans don’t’ get!  These free services are one of the reasons illegals are able to live in the country and work for the low wages they do.

6.      Develop a system for uniquely identifying each individual in this country
Congress needs to develop a system whereby every American and every non-American in the country can be uniquely identified to minimize identify theft.  The technology exists.

7.      Have every illegal alien register themselves.
We need to know who is here illegally.  We can’t make informed decisions about a guest worker program until we know who, how many and what type of work they are doing.  The incentive to register would be that failure to register would mean automatic and immediate deportation with no hope of ever being able to return to this country as part of any guest worker program or other program developed to deal with the large number of illegals already here – see below.  Until a guest worker-type program were put in place, these illegals would be allowed to stay here.  They would not be able to receive free social services like medical care or free school tuition or lunches. 

8.      Develop a guest –worker program
Contrary to what some say, illegals don’t do work that Ameircans won’t do.  Illegals do work at wages Americans can’t afford to do the work at. Having said that, there may be situations in certain seasonal industries such as agriculture or other industries where needed labor is short , where it makes economic sense for the country to allow individuals into the country to supply this labor on a short-term basis. The American people are a generous people.   And once our borders are secure and we are enforcing our current immigration laws, we will put together a guest-worker program that takes into account many factorsand is fair.

How can Americans have war fatigue?  What could we be so be tired of?  We haven’t been asked by our so-called ‘leaders’ to help or make  sacrifices in the war effort.  And few of us have done anything on our own. The only Americans fighting and impacted by the war in Iraq and Afghanistan are the American military and their families.  The lives of most Americans haven’t been affected at all.  

We may be tired of politicians and the media talking about how we are losing.  Although one wonders what they base this conclusion on.  We should be glad they weren’t around during the Civil War, World War I or World War II.  The outcomes might have been quite different!

We may be tired of being reminded that there are radical Islamic groups who want to annihilate nations that treat women like humans; that allow freedom of expression, religion and assembly; and that are governed  by the rule of law and not by intimidation and retribution.

We may be tired of hearing that over 3,000 Americans have been killed fighting to protect our freedoms and safety. Yet have we forgotten that more died on D-Day during World War II than have died in the entire effort against terrorism?   Is there is a magic number of deaths beyond which we stop fighting for our way of life?  Or a magic number of days beyond which we give up and say we’ve lost?  

Many Americans have reasons for not being in Iraq.  Some believe we shouldn’t have gone in the first place. Fine. Some believe the Iraqi government and citizens aren’t pulling their weight.  Fine. Some believe we are in the middle of a civil war. Fine. Some don’t believe in war at all.  Fortunately for them, they are those who will fight to protect themselves.  But war fatigue? No way!

War fatigue is what Americans must have felt during World War II when most were involved in the war effort that lasted 6 years and resulted in 500,000 American deaths - and 59,000,000 deaths worldwide!  

What we seem to have is a combination of guilt fatigue and a desire for the issue of terrorism to go away. We don’t want to continually feel bad furiously ”pursuing our Happiness” while a small group of Americans fights for our freedom (Liberty) and safety (Life). Terrorism is getting in the way. 

Unfortunately for us, our enemy doesn’t have war fatigue nor any guilt in slaughtering anyone who gets in their way.  There are some who say the President is trying to scare us or that the war on terror is a  bumper sticker or that we can simply leave Iraq and it will all go away.  It’s like “What part of beheading don’t we understand?”

If we have “fatigue” now, wait until the next attack on US soil.  Wait until school buses blow up, airliners are shot down and there are suicide bombings at malls, cafes and sporting events.  Wait until our food and water supplies are contaminated and infrastructure damaged.  Wait until a dirty bomb destroys part of one of our major cities. Fatigue won’t be an issue then.

For this country to confront this threat, each American needs takes this threat personally and becomes part of the war effort.  The longer we wait, the more pain will be inflicted on us.  It’s the old Midas Muffler slogan - “Pay Me Now or Pay Me Later”.  

Certain groups want to destroy our country. They have told us and shown us. They fly planes into buildings, behead individuals and broadcast the killings, and blow themselves up in places that will kill as many as possible. They brainwash their youth to hate.

They believe we don’t have the will to stop them. They count on our unwillingness to take time away from our “pursuits of Happiness”, our willingness to see others being slaughtered but not act because it isn’t affecting us - yet, and our willingness to be intimidated. They count on our misguided sense of how a civilized nation should fight a war. The reality is a civilized nation does whatever is necessary to survive even if that involves actions the nation doesn’t embrace under peaceful circumstances. The British learned this when they thought the civilized way to fight a war was to wear red uniform coats and line up in rows when attacking. 

200,000 Americans are fighting these groups abroad and here at home, but it’s not enough to defeat this threat. Their sacrifices and their family’s sacrifices are enormous. No country should ask only some of its citizens to fight a war for its existence.  However, 300,000,000 Americans can defeat this threat. In a democracy of, by and for the people, each citizen must to do things to protect the nations “life” and “liberty” as the Declaration of Independence calls our “security” and our “freedom”.

Here are 9 things each of us can do to help fight terrorism.

Save Gas and Energy
There are a myriad of ways to save gasoline and oil many of which will also save you money. The Progress Reports website - www.progress.org/2005/energy44.htm - has many fuel savings tips which include keeping your vehicles as light as possible, keeping their tires properly inflated, and keeping them tuned.

Write a note or send a care package to troops
Knowing Americans are thinking of them is so important and there are many organizations that make it so simple! Here are some of them.
• www.americasupportsyou.mil
• www.anysoldier.com
• www.operationgratitude.org
• www.soldiersangels.org

Divest yourself of stocks or mutual funds of companies that do business with states that support terror and don’t use their services or products.
Many state, public and private sector company pension portfolios contain stocks of organizations that do business with states that shelter or actively support terrorists. Contact the organization that manages your 401K and ask them to divest themselves of these stocks. The Divest Terror Initiative part of the Center for Security Policy has a “dirty dozen” list. http://www.divestterror.org/dirtydozen.html.

Don’t buy the products or use the services of companies that do things that lessen our security.
This includes churches that harbor illegals, media outlets that report in a way that makes us less safe, financial institutions that allow illegals to open checking accounts and get credit cards, companies that hire illegals, companies that put profit ahead of integrity.

Notify the police when you see something suspicious.
Each of us is part of the nation’s law enforcement capability. We need to be the eyes and ears of the country and let law enforcement know of situations or individuals that seem suspicious.
(March 2007)

A more sobering story would be “What are the citizens of this country doing to protect it?”  Two hundred thousand solidiers can’t protect this nation but three hundred million citizens can. Each of us needs to be involved in the defense of this country. No nation should ask only some of its citizens to fight for its existence.

If the country isn’t safe, then we can’t have the freedoms we enjoy. And, if we aren’t free, we can’t “pursue our Happiness”. We take our safety, freedoms and way of life for granted and aren’t making the sacrifices needed to keep the country strong and thus free.  We may be Americans but we aren’t necessarily effective citizens. Only involved citizens can keep a democracy free. (August 2004)

Is there any doubt that the biggest issue this country faces is a lack of an involved citizenry? (September 2003)

Over time however, Americans have focused on their “pursuit of happiness” and not paid enough attention to issues that keep us free (i.e. Liberty) and protect us from our enemies (i.e. Life). Special interest groups have filled the void.

The result has been that our freedoms are eroding and we are becoming more vulnerable to outside influences. And, we have become a SIGocracy - a country “of, by and for special interest groups”. (July 2003)