Statistics seem to show mixed feelings about the war in Iraq. There’s no argument that we all want our troops home. We don’t however want to empower terrorists by giving up, nor do we want to leave the country to melt down in a massive bloodbath upon leaving. So Americans are confronted with this dilemma, and we all know the President is as well. We all know plan A doesn’t always work and we will be patient as long as we see plan B being put into effect and plan C being prepared. We all know that few of the major milestones in our country’s history were plan A's (e.g. dropping the bomb on Hiroshima or the assault on the beaches of Normandy) and that sometimes it takes getting to plan B, C, or D, before you find what works. Even if we are not out by ’08 if the American Public can see an improvement, they will be gracious to the Republicans running for office. What the American public would see as an improvement would obviously be less killing, but it would also be seeing an improvement in the Iraqi people’s lives.

If we saw a huge hospital being built in the green zone that would have Sunni, Shiite, and Kurdish doctors and patients. Perhaps an orphanage that would serve all three of these groups. This is the most important point: The American public has to see these positive things happening. That means two things. First they have to happen! Second, we need to do an incredible media blitz so that we can see that they have happened. Why is it that we don’t think any positive thing is happening in Iraq till we talk to the troops who have just come back from there! Al Gore is using a documentary very effectively to promote his message. Why can’t Bush’s people make a documentary about our efforts in Iraq so the public can see the good we’re doing there. If the media doesn’t want to promote it, he could put it on the web and talk about it the next time he makes an important speech that he knows will be covered. This is the first thing the president could do to keep the American people from wanting to punish the Republicans again.

The second thing the President must do to keep the party from either a “protest vote” or a “no-show vote” scenario is that he needs to make a “we got the message” speech pertaining to illegal immigration and outline a plan demonstrating that he really does.

We all know that two very critical things have to happen. We must first plug the leak so that as we bail water our efforts are not futile as the water continues to stream in. If we saw the President double the fence to 1500 miles, funded it, designed it for the most critical areas, and actually built it, a lot of our confidence would be restored. The American public doesn't want to be duped anymore. We don’t want to get all excited that a measure passed, but was not funded. We don’t want to see 700 miles of fence out in the middle of nowhere while people are streaming in from populated areas. We don’t want to see a cheap fence that is easily climbed or cut through. The American people want to see something in place that is actually working !!! The American public would then feel like the President is serious about stopping this onslaught that continues to cripple so many of our infrastructures (e.g. crime, education, and medical care to name just a few).

The second thing that we absolutely must do on the immigration issue is to have mandatory registration of anyone here illegally, with enforced penalties for anyone who does not register. From a security standpoint we absolutely have to know who is in our country! We must increase penalties and enforcement for anyone trying to circumvent United States laws by using fake or other people’s ID’s including Social Security Numbers, Tax ID numbers, Drivers licenses or any other official identification method. . When someone uses these methods they are taking their lawbreaking a step further than just coming into our country illegally.

From the standpoint of our economy, suggestions to send illegal immigrants back home have been met with catastrophic scenarios of sending 30 million of our country’s workers back to their homelands. It seems like an all or nothing mentality has prevailed among those debating the issue.

Why couldn’t we reduce the illegal population by a minimum of 5% a year. To be fair and to keep any group of legal citizens from feeling targeted, reduce the population of all the illegal nationalities here by 5% (make it clear that we may go higher if the economy dictates for example if we have high unemployment). Once everyone is registered, this could be done by first asking those here less than a certain number of years (2 years for example) to go back home (with no penalties). The remainder who don’t voluntarily go back home when caught would be deported with some kind of penalty (jail time or fines).

The other methods we know work (e.g. reducing the available work by targeting employers, etc.) could be utilized to make sure we at least meet the 5% that those volunteering to leave, or being required to leave doesn’t reach.

Starting out our enforcement efforts on those that have been here the shortest amount of time is compassionate to those who have lived here and become established here 10 to 20 years or more. The longer one has lived here (those we would want to have the most compassion on) the longer it would take to get to. By the time we get to the people who have been here the longest we will have a lot less of a problem and they’ll probably not have to ever leave.

Announce an abandonment of any idea that includes permanently legalizing anyone without them going back to the end of the line (including any “guest worker” program). Institute a hard core NO CUTS policy.

Declare English as the official language of our country.

Recognize that it has only been our prosperous times that have kept this incredible influx of people from crippling our job market and that during downturns in the economic cycle when jobs are scarce, the resentment towards illegal immigrants (and unfortunately towards legal immigrants by association) will grow exponentially. This resentment will make it more difficult for the legal immigrants to assimilate into our society and to feel included in it. Instead, the schism already felt by differences in race, or economic levels will be magnified, resentment and anger fueled, and that obviously causes all kinds of other problems.

To assume record (or even exceptionally low) unemployment will continue is naïve. We have become acclimated to a great unemployment rate, but the unemployment rate fluctuates, and will at some point not be as ideal as it is now. When people can’t get work because someone who shouldn’t be here is working a job they could be doing, things can get ugly very quickly.