Arizona's Border Mess

The Federal Government has no interest in protecting our international borders.  For decades, the United States has had a revolving door policy when it comes to people illegally crossing our southern border with Mexico into the United States.

Indeed, it would appear that most of what the U.S. officially does concerning illegal immigration is designed to waste money and manpower.  Republicans and Democrats have each taken no real stand on the issue.  They don't answer the tough questions, they dodge the issue, or they will voice their concern, but never back that up with real action.  Projects to secure the border are started during one administration, and then halted in the next, after millions, or hundreds of millions, are already spent.

In the meantime, the U.S. Border Patrol is stretched too thin, has their hands tied, and all too often Border Patrol officers themselves are charged with crimes when they do take action perceived by critics to be "too harsh".

The citizens of the State of Arizona have had enough.  They demanded that since the Feds weren't doing the job they are Constitutionally bound to do, that they would take it upon themselves to either attempt to clean up the border mess themselves, or force the Federal government into doing it's job.

Arizona, like the Federal Government, is broke.  The difference is Arizona cannot print more money like the Feds can.  The Arizona government has to make it's money the old fashioned way, by taking it away from people through increased taxation, which is something the people of Arizona are simply not in the mood for.  

Imagine:  Mr. Arizona Politician, standing before a packed town hall meeting, explaining to already overtaxed voters that he's proposing another tax increase, because providing health services for non-citizens is breaking the system, and the cost of law enforcement has exploded exponentially because of the additional crime resulting from the spillover of the Mexican drug war into the U.S., which recently resulted in the death of a fellow Arizonian who's family has been ranching in the southeast part of the state for a century.  All this, because the Federal government has refused to do it's job protecting the border.

Now, imagine a lynch mob.

To paraphrase Popeye, the Sailor:  "Arizonans have had all they can stands, and they can't stands no more!"  The Arizona state legislature, in a feat of remarkable speed and efficiency, actually listened to the will of it's citizens and passed legislation aimed at picking up the slack where the Feds have dropped the ball.  Someone needed to start that ball rolling again.  Polls show fully 70% of Arizonans support the measure, and nationwide polls show well over 50% of U.S. citizens nationwide support the measure.  And this with overwhelmingly negative reaction, and sometimes downright harsh criticism, from the usual news media talking heads.  However, once again, our Federal government is remarkably tone-deaf and indifferent to the will of the people.  President Obama has shown little interest in the situation, other than to criticize Arizona for taking action.  Obama's solution is, apparently, to continue to allow the chaos, just as George W. Bush did before him.  There's been no real leadership from either party in Congress concerning the situation.  Arizona Senator John McCain's recent conversion into a strong border control advocate rings hollow to anyone who's paid any attention to John McCain in the past, and his conversion likely has as much to do with conservative J.D. Hayworth nipping closely at his heels in Arizona's upcoming senatorial battle, as it has to do with any real fundamental change in McCain's core beliefs.

Now that President Barack Obama's early pretense of being a "uniter" has been shattered, and his radical idea of change has hit home with a vengance, with unsustainable budget deficits on the horizon, joblessness still high, the economy still sluggish, and with the truth of increased health care costs coming in the wake of "ObamaCare",  a good portion of the nation's populace is on it's last nerve.  We're in no mood for "business as usual" from our government.

Real "change" will be when our government actually listens to the people, and takes action WE request, rather than telling us what's good for us, and doing whatever they want regardless of what we think.  The United States wants the border situation fixed, once and for all.  There is absolutely nothing racist in that.  Indeed, polls show a good portion of U.S. citizens of Hispanic origin support tighter control over the border as well, especially those who immigrated here legally, and who appreciate, and even revere, the U.S. citizenship they worked so hard to achieve.

How about those of us who were lucky enough to be born here try a little appreciation and reverence for the U.S. citizenship we hold by birthright?

Arizona has taken the lead.