Evasive action

By Bob Myer

Listening to Senators Lott and Feinstein talk about immigration "reform" on Fox News Sunday yesterday, I was amazed at just how much these two seem to believe that compromise and bipartisanship are more important than doing the right thing for America. Both of them have said that there are things in the immigration "reform" bill each of them does not like. Therefore there must be some compromise for there to be any movement on the issue because, presumably, there is such a difference of opinion between sides of this debate.

And yet when Chris Wallace put forth the position that among the American public there is great support for border enforcement as a single issue, both say that the immigration issue - really the illegal immigration crisis - is a more complicated issue than can be addressed with border enforcement alone.

More complicated indeed. But with Congress suffering a lower approval rating than even the much-maligned President, there can be little doubt that Americas have a diminished faith in their government. And it's not just Iraq that is lowering those numbers, as Feinstein would have the FNS viewers/listeners believe. It is the severe disconnect between the government and the governed - on ethics, on Iraq, on illegal immigration, on education, on energy, and on and on and on.

And that is why, I believe, there must be a simple, single-step approach to slowing illegal immigration. If the federal government can find the resolve to accomplish the singular task of securing the borders of the United States - a seemingly straightforward requirement of any sovereign government - then perhaps the governed will have a little more faith in the legislative and executive branches. If the federal government cannot, or chooses not to, accomplish this task, then asking for the faith of the citizens governed, American citizens, is simply out of place.

Bob Myer blogs at http://www.mindofflapjack.blogspot.com/.