Explaining our illegal immigration problem is simple, yet few get around to actually doing it. Simply, it is the result of decades of bad border policy plus a few supply and demand realities. Understanding this is the key to figuring out a solution, yet so many get sidetracked by emotional tangents instead.

And with liberals rolling in the aisles watching the Republican Party implode over what are ultimately inconsequential differences around illegal immigration, the Republic continues to burn -- thanks to rampant statism foisted on us by those same liberals.

So perhaps it is time to soberly focus on why we are where we are and realistically what can be done to address it and to do so outside of the utopian visions of fantasy induced purities. And what cannot be done is anything that will at the snap of a finger make 60 or 70 years of mistakes go away. Like mass deportations Rapture style - ala the Left Behind series. This will not and cannot happen under any circumstances - primarily for reasons of logistics and costs - and the sooner we admit that the better. It's ok to want it, just understand it cannot happen regardless of who is in power.

Thus, it is perhaps not all that important to see which candidates would want that. The main reason is because they all know it cannot happen and any notion to the contrary is simply a cynical pander to those who wish upon a star it could.

(Why Newt and Perry clumsily play the emotion card on this and not the practical reality card is beyond me. I am not and will not excuse their insulting and strategically harmful answers in this regard).

But back to reality: what just about all of the GOP candidates do agree on is that the first order of business is to secure the border. They disagree on how best to do this -- as thinking people are wont to do -- but they all agree that this is job one. And in context of the equation above -- only the "bad border" part can be solved relatively quickly. But once it is and the "bleeding has stopped" - then a more systematic discussion can take place on the rest of the issues with a lot of the pressure relieved.

Which brings us to the supply and demand part. Mexico has had a supply of workers and a poor economy with no demand for decades. America has had more demand for workers than we have had supply of willing and eager supply for most of the last 60 years. Thus, with a porous border, economic nature has followed course. It has to. Reality abhors a vacuum. Seal the border, however, and you have a dam against the tide of workers regardless of which way supply and demand would want it to flow.

(Our recession may cure the worker demand part, but that's another issue).

Now of course, another supply and demand reality is that American liberals have made available a supply of free government services for illegals, and this has provided a much more malignant magnet that attracts the worst element of the Mexican demand. Mexico is more than happy for us to serve as a relief valve for their lack of demand. Again, seal the border and this automatically improves, regardless of supply and demand currents touched on here.

In other words, border security is job one from purely a practical standpoint, whether or not sealing the border gives a given person the "closure" they want from the other frustrations caused by illegals. In emergency triage, you have to stop the bleeding before you can begin the repair. You just do. And all the good guys agree that stopping the bleeding is job one.

And no, I do not buy for a second that because a given candidate may not share your view on the existing illegals that they cannot really mean it on the issue of the border. That is an angry emotional response devoid of any intellectual basis. Besides, if 2012 is a GOP year up and down the ballot then it is a fait accompli that a secure border will become a priority. Reality dictates that the best thing a conservative interested in a secure border can do is defeat Obama and the liberals at all levels.

An Obama win means a continued weak border, period, end of discussion.

If conservative voters get sidetracked by issues that no candidate can affect -- like some kind of mass deportation fantasy -- then those voters might well end up slitting their own throats ideologically and practically in the long run.

Consider our equation and what can be done about it - including steps that almost all conservatives agree on:

• Seal the border.
• Deport illegals as they are arrested for other crimes.
• Stop the welfare state benefits to illegals.

These are actually achievable because almost everyone in the GOP can agree on them. And if only those three steps were taken, the most volatile and heated of the issues would solve themselves and probably much quicker than most people think.

It took 5 or 6 or 7 decades of poor border policy plus supply and demand to get us here. We can't solve it overnight. Yes, we would all like to, but we can't. And we have some differences around the edges on what to do about some of the tangential issues, which always happens with thinking people. Thus, those are not quick fix realities.

But we can make tremendous strides on just the few principles we do agree on, which is what will actually improve the Republic and the lives of all those who are in it legally. We can only do that however if we keep our eye on the ball. And that realizing that there is no complete or quick answer for a 70 year problem -- but that defeating Obama and acting on a few things we all agree on would be a good start.