Don't mistake my call for more stringent controls on our borders as a call for infringing on the rights of true Americans. In the emotional aftermath of the September 11 attacks, we have to guard against the inclination to trade off constitutionally guaranteed liberty in return for the illusion of government-promised security. Any such trade would be a serious mistake, regardless of the threat of terrorism.

My call is one for control of non-Americans coming into this country, not infringements on Americans traveling in, around, and out of this country. The two can be separated without requiring national ID cards.

If you come into or leave the country, you already need a passport. So, why not make use of passports? What purpose would a national ID card serve other than to be used later for some freedom-grabbing scheme? Additionally, if man can make ID cards, man can counterfeit ID cards. They therefore become only a greater restriction on and potential threat to law-abiding citizens.

If you are an upstanding American citizen, you should be free to come and go with your existing passport. If you are not an upstanding American citizen, you should not be as free to come and go. That simple philosophy alone would reduce our exposure substantially.

The key is to do our best at preventing undesirables from entering the United States in the first place.

Up to now, foreigners have been able to get into this country, legally and illegally, with all the restraint afforded by a bottomless sieve. And we've seen the results.

Thousands of illegal aliens and undesirables invade America every day. Our security is so lax that it permits terrorists into the United States, using student visas that can be had for an application fee of $45, and obviously with inadequate or nonexistent background checks. When the student visas expire, there is no effective tracking-down effort conducted. All this is more than enough confirmation for me that our entire border state of affairs is a dangerous pox on America's future.

We have now seen the results of the U.S. government's negligence in our overall approach to border security. This problem, which is symtomatic of a much larger problem that threatens the bigger picture, is not the result of U.S. border patrols, being as they are doing their best with the resources they have been allocated. The larger problem is the dangerous weakening of America' foundation when the federal government's primary mission is not adequately accomplished.

The federal government's primary mission in preserving security is to provide for the common defense against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Anyone who holds federal office, joins the Armed Forces, or generally serves the U.S. government is expected to be dedicated to that principle. A national government that cannot control and properly secure its own borders has failed in that mission, and puts its own people at real risk, as we have tragically seen. Our borders must be secured against invasion, whether by military or non-military forces, and whether by terrorists or illegal aliens.

Our national government, through a strong military, has been admirably successful at protecting us against conventional military invasion. However, the government has failed to stop the unconventional invasion--the invasion by illegal aliens and foreigners with ill intent.

We have now tasted the poison fruit of relatively open borders. Unfortunately, that fruit was thousands upon thousands of dead and billions upon billions in destruction.

Bowing to Liberal pressures, we show more concern over lawful citizens who want to exercise their constitutional right to buy a gun than we do about foreigners who want to enter the country! And while we continually heard and considered proposals from the political Left to register and track loyal Americal gun owners by name, number and finger print, we heard calls from that same camp crying for amnesty for illegal aliens! Could it now be clearer how upside down modern American Liberalism is in its priorities and political thought and how inanely accepting of it many non-thinking sheeple are?

To put it quite simply, this Liberal attitude that appears more concerned over the welfare of foreigners than the welfare of Americans has created an environment which has left us extremely vulnerable to attack. And that's the stark truth of it.

How did we come to this situarion? When people are driven by an insatiable desire for power, they start to pander for political gain, votes, acceptance and recognition, and quickly lose touch with honest American values. They become more focused on the superficial than on the factual--all to the detriment of the common good, jeopardizing our future as a free and independent country.

So, where do I stand on preserving this foundation stone of America?

Concerned Conservatives have been warning about the dangers of increasingly open borders and underresourced border security forces for years, but Washington saw fit to throw in with the Liberal side of the aisle. Every time we have compromised solid Conservative values in a misguided attempt to "get along" with the adherents of Leftwing Liberalism, America, without fail, has paid the price. This time, the price was a heavy one. Now more than ever, we must stop compromising Conservative principles!

What do we need to do?

Seal the borders tight, using our military forces. If we consider border security of such critical importance that we readily send our troops around the globe to defend foreign borders, why can't America's own borders take priority in defense of our very existence?

Come down hard on illegal aliens. Prosecute them when appropriate, deport them as soon as possible, and send a bill to their country of origin for our trouble and expense in proceeding against the illegals. If the government of that country ignores the situation, impose a few very painful sanctions on it until it gets the message--the message that that country's government must be part of the solution and not part of the problem.

The ability for any non-citizen to enter this country must require a much more stringent screening process. For example, further issuance of student visas should be halted and current ones immediately revoked, since we don't know much, if anything, about those currently here on those visas.

Background checks on anyone wanting to enter the United States must be thorough and detailed. If doubt or holes exist in their record, entry should be denied until the background check is finalized and doubts resolved, period! If, in the process, we happen to insult some along the way and are accused of racial and ethnic profiling and insensitivity displayed toward foreigners, that's tough! As far as I'm concerned, the golden goose has been slain.

From this day forward and without compromise, American interests must come well before the concerns of any foreigner. If that means political heat, I would gladly accept it if it resulted in more secure borders and a more secure country.

Legal Americans, regardless of race, skin color, ethnicity, national origin or religious background, come first and foremost in my mind. They always have, and they always will. If that offends anyone at all, that's too bad!

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