If I Were Writing His Speech

Tomorrow evening, President Bush will address the nation on the illegal immigration mess. If I were writing his speech, I would talk about three distinct yet linked arenas that must be addressed. Of course our president would not be able to say all that follows. But I would hope that the thinking behind his statement and his position would reflect the main ideas in what is below:

1. We must close our borders.
A few weeks ago I penned and published an article titled Gates and Doors. In that piece I explained the importance of entering and leaving in the proper way. Borders are boundaries that exist for a reason.

Games in sports have boundaries. A baseball diamond has two foul lines, left field and right field. Football fields and basketball courts have out-of-bounds lines. So do soccer fields. Likewise, games have rules of play. In baseball for example, once a player is removed from the game, they cannot return. In football and basketball, teams can be penalized when players commit fouls.

In short, there are places you can go, and places you can't. There are things you can do, and things you cannot.

Life is like this too. The Ten Commandments create borders or boundaries for us. We cannot steal. We cannot commit adultery. We cannot murder. When we do, there are penalties to be paid. When we break these commandments, not only have we violated God's laws, but we have also invited chaos into our world.

Our open and uncontrolled border with Mexico has invited chaos and disorder into our American culture. Think of it as an NFL game with no referees and no rules of play. There is chaos and disorder all over the field. Think of it as the church opening communion to non-believers. Chaos and confusion would result. Who's in? Who's out? I would be joined at a special table of intimacy by someone not yoked to the same Christ as I.

We are bleeding. First we must close the wound and stop the flow.

2. We must right our economic ship.
Undocumented workers are doing jobs that Americans don't want to do because they are accepting less pay than we would. And the reason this works, though not in a healthy way, is because we have artificially propped up those on the lower end of the economic scale with government entitlements. And in many cases, these entitlements are benefitting illegals as well as Americans.

How can illegals afford to live on a lower wage? By cramming two or more families into one house. Unlike most of us, who have a mximum of two incomes per family, illegals often have five, six, or even more incomes providing one roof over many heads. You can get by on a lot less that way.

Illegals take advantage of American generosity in many ways. Hospitals must treat patients whether they can pay or not. Extra personnel must be on hand to help those who do not know our language to fill out forms and to communicate with nurses and doctors.

Public schools must at least attempt to educate those who come through their doors whether they be illegal or not. Special programs must be provided to help the youngsters learn the language so they can become mainstreamed into classes. Teachers must slow down their curriculum so they don't leave some behind. And schools also sometimes provide free breakfasts and lunches for those in certain economic categories.

Police departments and other public offices must maintain interpreters. Literature must be published in two languages.

All of these special efforts cost money. Who pays? You and I do of course. The good old American taxpayer. And often, when money is exchanged under the table between employer and illegal, nothing goes into the government coffers to help offset the cost of the freebies.

If government largesse were not so large, our taxes would be lower. If our taxes were lower, we could accept less pay and businesses could afford to pay us more. Our illegal immigrant-fed economy would eventually right itself.

Enforce the laws on the books. Punish companies who hire illegals. After all, they ARE breaking the law! Make it more difficult for illegals to find work. Once the word begins to spread that it isn't so easy anymore, people won't be so eager to break in to our country, and many will go home. It's called attrition.

It isn't rocket science as they say.

3. We must assimilate and enculturate.
If steps one and two are followed through, I believe that things would slowly begin to right themselves. It will take time of course, such things always do. But if we begin to do the right things now, we will eventually get back to where we should have been all along.

Yet even with these measures, there will be some remnants of the alien culture left in ours. The first step to end this "two-nations-within-a-nation" trend we see today, is to make English the official language of the United States.

Language unifies a culture. Multilingual nations invite chaos and confusion. It is diffcult to discuss culture without discussing language. They are inextricably bound together. A single culture cannot long remain while two, separate and distinct languages are alive within it.

The push by some toward an official, multi-lingual society, must be stopped. A bill has been introduced into Congress (HR997) which would make English the official language of the United States. Polls show there is heavy and widespread support for this bill, and yet the proposal remains bottled up in Congress.

Final Thoughts
Of course President Bush will not be able to say things quite the way I have here. But I hope his message embodies these three points somehow.

And oh yes, there is one other thing the President should say Monday night. He should say, "I apologize to the American people for being so slow to deal with this problem."