IT'S THE IMMIGRATION ISSUE, STUPID

"Let me put this bluntly. On no issue have a Republican administration and a Republican House and Senate more blatantly or more cynically sold out the conservative movement and our country than on immigration. Their inaction on this issue -- or worse, actions that would make the problem even worse, like the administration's proposed amnesty for illegals -- are a scandal and a disgrace. Conservatives should be hopping mad about it, mad enough to tell Republicans that they will not have our votes unless they change. I would rather stay home on Election Day than vote for someone who believes in open borders."

- Paul Weyrich of the Free Congress Foundation

Now my two cents worth: I am not interested in closing the borders, but I think as Americans we have the right to know who is entering our country. And I'm not necessarily talking about terrorists! I think it just makes sense to be concerned with those who are coming into America to work and to send their pay back to their home country. While for a good cause in itself, these same people are availing themselves of services that we are paying for through our tax dollars. Many of these illegal aliens are day laborers, meaning that they are paid in cash at the end of the day. No taxes are paid to the government.

The tax issue could be solved if we could ever get the Fair Tax passed. It wouldn't solve the immigration problem, but illegal immigrants would pay taxes just like you and me and relieve you and me of some of the tax burden of millions of illegal immigrants, be they Mexican, Canadian, from Central or South America or from another country altogether entering through either Mexico or Canada.

To me, it's sort of like people walking through your house. It doesn't matter if they aren't there to blow your house up, murder your family, or clean your house. If they aren't invited, they are in your house illegally, no matter what the reason.

I honestly don't believe it's asking too much to require people who want to live in this country, or at least earn a living here, to obey our laws by first entering legally and then pay taxes.

Unlike Mr. Weyrich suggests, I won't sit home on Election Day. I propose that you support the candidate who best represents your views. If that's a candidate from another party, then so be it. Only if no candidate represents your values, your morals, your ethics, then maybe you should consider staying home.