“We have met the enemy and they is us”

Recently Republican House Minority Leader John Boehner said:

"In just the past year, this (Democratic) majority voted to cut funding for the border fence, opened the door to illegal immigrants to receive taxpayer-funded services without showing proof of citizenship and overturned a successful GOP proposal to prevent taxpayer-funded federal benefits from being awarded to illegal immigrants."

To quote the long gone sage cartoon figure "Pogo", "we have met the enemy and they is us."

America today is in the sad situation of having to fight many wars at the same time, and not all are off shore. Some of our worst enemies are right here at home and are led by left-leaning Democrats and their allies in the press, and too many Republicans.

Representative Boehner addressed one of our "wars", the battle for the sole of America and whether we will remain a "melting pot", a homogeneous mass of Americans including immigrants that come to this country, or become a "salad bowl" of ingredients seeking to maintain separate identities.

Since the beginning of our country immigrants were welcomed and played an important role in America’s development. The Statute of Liberty at the long-time entrance to our country reminded the world that as a country we invite immigrants to join us and share in our bounty while making a better life for themselves and their families. Now Miss Liberty no longer stands at the door to the United States, she is merely a memorial to what once made our country great. Democrats are willing carpenters of multiple doorways and creators of lavish gifts to those who flout our laws.

Those of us old enough to still hold in our hearts and minds the memory of times gone by and of "the greatest generation" of Americans who fought and died to keep our country free are saddened by politically correct efforts to turn our melting pot into a salad bowl of mixed loyalties replacing the unity which our founders bestowed upon us. It’s no exaggeration to say that that as we continue down the road Democrats are leading us, one way or another, the perhaps well-intentioned "enemy among us" will succeed in changing the cherished character of America and that will be a great loss not only to its citizens but to the whole world. The loss will be felt around the globe because a strong, vibrant, country dedicated to freedom and individual rights will not be available to fight the good fight in the name of "justice for all".

By preventing our country from determining who may or may not enter and accepting the notion we should be "multinational", we voluntarily remove the ties that bind us together. From failed attempts to restore one national language to lax or non enforcement of our borders, we undermine our national character and unity.

The issue is not whether we should be tolerant and caring of people who come here by any means available seeking to make a better life for themselves, it is that the greater good for our country is to see that we welcome only those whose motivation is to join us and not to simply take advantage of what we have to offer. We can only achieve this end by actually controlling our doorways and removing the incentives that drive the efforts to enter by evading our laws.

It is also no excuse to avoid doing what needs to be done now that there are already millions here because of the failure to deal with this for many years. We have to start sometime and that time is now. Those who are preventing us from taking needed action to preserve what’s left of our national character do a disservice to lawful entrants and to our heritage.