The term “Native American” is a misnomer. There are no “Native Americans,” as the people who call themselves that (American Indians) are descendants of people who migrated to this country from Asia over the Bering land bridge that existed during the Ice Age. They probably killed off the real “Native Americans.”

Ronald Reagan signed an amnesty bill, quite happily, and would not, were he alive, look kindly upon immigration hawks

Actually he did that in exchange for border security that he never got, and he has said it was one of the biggest mistakes of his administration.

I am sure the Native Americans felt the same way about us.

Then give your land back to them.

1. He has pledged to secure the borders first. Now, there are a great many times I can recall McCain doing the wrong thing, and a great many times I can remember him pissing me off, but I cannot recall any instance of him lying to us. Perhaps I’m forgetting something, but he at least appears to be a man of his word. No?

2. Quite frankly, you are reading things into his statement that are not necessarily there. This is an election year, hispanics will play a large role in choosing the next president. Candidates would do well not to piss them off. You say, I’n gonna be tough on immigration, you lose the hispanic vote. And while phrases like “God’s children” and “trest them humanely” could mean amnesty, it’s also possible he’s trying to tread carefully on the issue.

I see no reason to round anybody up. It’s ineffective. If it were up to me, we’d be enforcing workplace laws and punishing employers who employ illegals. They can’t find work, they go home. This is what Eisenhowerd did, and it worked fabulously. And I see nothing inhumane about it.

But even if McCain intends to offer some sort of “path to citizenship,” I can live with that if it means the fence gets built and the borders enforeced. And I believe he means it when he says hes gotten the message that Americans want the border secured first.

Obama and Democrats on the other hand, will not only not build the fence, and not enforce the borders, they will grant amnesty and do everything they can to increase immigration because they see that as cementing their power permanently. And they’re likely right.

2. Screaming about “amnesty” is stupid, and alienates what is the fastest growing demographic in the nation. All this talk about Democrats’ getting the Hispanic vote is a self-fulfilling prophecy, as long as immigration hawks keep flapping their jaws. Ronald Reagan signed an amnesty bill, quite happily, and would not, were he alive, look kindly upon immigration hawks, no more than he did in the 80s.

3. While we have troops overseas, I couldn’t care less about illegal immigration. I certainly wouldn’t consider stabbing the military in the back by “sitting out” the Presidential election, or voting for some third-party idiot, and I see no difference between those who would and Code Pink.

Politicians (both left and right) do not understand that compassion is NOT spending other people’s money. Compassion would be pushing the Mexican government (for a start) to begin necessary reforms. Compassion would be having a serious debate on what to do about OUR drug problem that fuels narco-terrorism to the south that make meaningful reforms impossible.

It’s my bet that our politicians and businessmen don’t deal with the day-to-day consequences of their efforts to import voters and cheap labor.

Let’s set the number of illegals at 12 million, just for the sake of getting on with the argument. Let’s further stipulate that the vast majority of these illegals are Hispanic.

Now, let’s have a go at how many of these illegal Hispanics have blended into our productive society. That is to say, they are not drawing welfare or overburdening the schools or hospitals or committing crimes. The resultant number must be in the millions, but I am only positing a guess.

We have two choices that make efficient sense: 1.) issue a national identity card and impound everyone who can’t prove his legal status, or; 2.) act on our best information and round up everyone we suspect of being illegal aliens and release those who are legal after giving them a legal identity card.

Neither of these suggestions is practical or, to many Americans, palatable.

What is most often suggested is the idea of the legal alien biometric identity card. That leaves us with tracking down the illegal aliens. A certain number will “self-deport” under the pressure of exposure. But the whole process is rife with “profiling” charges and charges of “police state” tactics.

The amnesty idea is that these “others” will come out of the woodwork and follow some set of rules in order to stay.

Most conservatives I know believe that there is no will to do the follow up work that is necessary and we will declare amnesty and blow off the rest of the necessary work.

We should not have let the green card system go to pot. The fact is, we do need “guest workers” and there is no reason not to have a system that allows them. But, like stripping the military, we have put immigration on the back burner.

We also have illegal aliens who are trying to live here as good members of society. Being an illegal alien is no more than jaywalking under our laws, so the threat of deportation is slim. Furthermore, the states have no reason to “enforce” a law when the federal government won’t even respond. Why should a state spend the time and cost of arresting someone when the feds are just going to ignore them?

McCain has no heart for this mess and he knows that the liberals are going to fight it and drag it out forever. McCain never fails to mention that he got the message on the border fence, but he does fail to mention any effort he is making to get the darn thing built.

On the other hand, we can absolutely count on Obama to start a dialog with illegal aliens, followed with some special programs to help them engage in the dialog and feel better about being here illegally.

Someone needs to step forward with a workable, enforceable, fundable plan for stopping illegal immigration, confronting criminal activity among all aliens and sorting out the whole deportation conundrum.

McCain could get a lot of my respect if he campaigned on appointing an “Immigration Czar” who would enforce current laws and oversee rehauling the system. This position should have a sunset clause so that it does not morph into another big government cash cow with unionized employees.

Either McCain leads the charge, or he promises to appoint a general who will.

I think what will end up happening for me is that I will be voting AGAINST Obama, not FOR McCain.