A nation, that is any nation, is defined by three things at its core. It borders are the most obvious. We define a space of geography bordered by legal meridian lines that are generally accepted by other nations. The second is by its language. Although many nations use several languages as a purpose of commerce, each nation has a primary language that the bulk of it citizens use. The last thing that defines a nation is its laws. Everyone within a nation agrees to live by a certain set of rules or precepts that best represent the needs of its people.

All three of these things are threatened by illegal immigration.

By the government's own estimates as of 2006, there may be as many as 11-12 million illegal immigrants living within the US at any given time. Of all the nations in the world, as a percentage of its population, the US may have the highest amount by percentage of its population here illegally, as well as by the raw number. Some estimates suggest that as many as 2-3000 illegals a DAY cross the Arizona border - possibly more.

The big question is why? 

Well, conditions in many countries outside the US are very poor. Mexico has become over the last 10 years extremely violent, and the opportunity to improve left there almost nonexistent. It's no wonder they are climbing over fences, crossing deadly deserts and facing huge adversity to get to the US. And for years, once here, by and large, authorities looked the other way. Employers took advantage of the cheap labor, as well as average citizens just looking for labor for the day.

You can't blame illegals, particularly Mexican immigrants, for WANTING to come to the US. Things are very bad not only in Mexico, but in many other third world countries. Violence and poverty are rampant. Compared to the US, most of the rest of the world lives in darkness.

But the problem is, if you start off on the wrong foot, you cannot hope to take advantage of the true value of the United States- namely, to better oneself to the point that you can live something more than a simple subsistence lifestyle. 

For one thing, an illegal immigrant cannot achieve much more than a simple labor existence in this country (there are exceptions of course). This means a lifetime of lower wages, lower living conditions and, most importantly, lowered expectations of personal wealth and standard of living.

Thus, by allowing large amounts of illegal immigration into the country, you allow the growth of economic and social cancer in the country. With illegality comes poverty, and with poverty come sickness, slums and crime. While many illegal immigrants work hard, and contribute to the growth of a society, it is growth and a society built on sand rather than bedrock. You have mass amounts of people that never fully integrate into our society. They don't assimilate into the language or culture of the nation, they aren't able to fully enjoy the fruits of the labor they put in when coming here. Although they may live in bad conditions here, it is a far better existence than they were living in other countries, in most cases.

And this is the real tragedy- that people who seek nothing but to better their own existence, become in effect, the very problem they are seeking to run from.

There is another factor as well. It is very difficult to have respect for our laws and customs, if you break the very first law of the land, namely, you must be here legally. It's hard to explain the importance of having a legal driver's license, to someone who climbed over 10 foot fence with 3 children in tow. Without legal documents, it's unlikely they will own businesses, join organizations, or become a larger part of the most important part of being an American citizen- that is, doing more than simply earning a living here. It's hard to make the country a better place to live, when you are constantly avoiding the legal authorities and systems we have in place.

It is immoral for our country to continue to accept inexpensive labor and massive illegal immigration just so our heads of lettuce at the supermarket will cost less. 

This is the central argument of those that support illegal immigration. You have heard the protesters- 'we will boycott', 'if you do this you will cost your businesses money'. The argument isn't about fleeing crime or murder is it? It's about 'we will hit you in your pocketbook'. This to me is a fairly weak argument. Bank robbers buy goods with stolen money and feed their kids with the cash they have- should we let them rob banks too? What about crooks like Madoff, that spent loads of money on endless luxury goods with the money he scammed from his victims. Should we let him off too, so some yachts builder won't have to raise his prices?

This is the premise of the DREAM act, and executive action of issuing visas to those who illegally arrived here.

Another factor to be considered are all the sob stories we are hearing about kids being separated from their parents and teenagers who are American citizens possibly being deported back to Mexico or Guatemala. The moral crime here is not the deportation however; it’s the implicit allowance of illegal immigration to continue. The state didn't put those kids in that position, the parents did. Yes, it’s tragic, but the state cannot be responsible for the illegal acts of those that choose to cross into the United States without proper procedure.

Our country simply cannot absorb everyone that wants to come here.

This is why there are limits to legal immigration; this is why we need to enforce our borders. We cannot say that we will not enforce our laws simply because they may be people who will benefit. For every story we hear about an innocent caught in the dilemma of improper immigration and the net of the law, there are a dozen stories we do not hear about of people being injured by those by illegal immigration. These are the stories of kidnappings, stories of murders, cops being shot in the line of duty, and the myriad of people who live their entire lives hiding in poverty and in desperate fear of being caught.

This is why we must enforce the law of legal immigration.

Looks like it's time for another article on that most elusive of Democratic dreams, a blue Mountain West.

"It's just a different world," said Bill Carrick, a veteran Democratic strategist in Los Angeles who has worked widely in the region. "Nevada became the next California and now Arizona looks like it will become the next Nevada. ... It's just pushing the West further and further from Republicans."

Arizona is the next California? Really? Let's look at Nevada's Presidential voting history:

And California's voting history,

And finally, Arizona's voting.

Just for grins, let's look at Utah's voting history.

Ok, remind me again how Arizona is the next California?

If anything, it's getting worse for the Democrats as their statist, tax-and-spend pipe dreams come crashing to the ground in California, Illinois and New York, leaving the rest of the country shaking our heads at their folly.

And it goes downhill from there for Dems in the west as the last 8 years has seen the decline of "moderate" Blue Dog Democrats most likely to thrive in these climes. The wide streak of independence that we in the west hold so dear is the mortal enemy of the big-city machine politics that has taken over the Democratic party . It can be argued that Ron Barber/Gabby Giffords (let's face it, they're one and the same) were/are two of the last moderate Dems in Congress, but they'll stay in Congress only until the State legislature can correct the mistakes that the "independent" re-districting commission made two years ago.

If (and and I say, "if"), the Republican brand name is in decline in the Mountain West it's not the Democrats that are raping the benefits, it's the Libertarians.

"The West is the most American part of America," said Dave Kopel of the Independence Institute, a libertarian think tank in Denver. "It is a place where you have much more respect for individual choice and you have more ability to be who you want to be."

The Democrats know this, and are trying their level best to jump onto that bandwagon.

"The libertarian thing is no longer about property rights or gun rights," he (Democratic operative Carrick) said. "It's now about letting people live their lives as they choose."

Except it IS about gun rights and property rights and lower taxation and a smaller government footprint on our neck. The Democrats are racing towards more and more government control of our lives, and can't and won't relinquish their dream of using government as an instrument of moral guidance in our lives.

And that is why, try as they might, they won't won't turn Arizona blue.

Yesterday, President Obama called for the end of the United States of America. Oh, I know it was supposed to be a speech about immigration and a call for reform, but really what he was call for was an end to the nation as defined by our Founding Fathers.

Supposedly a healing speech, talking about bipartisanship, it really was a call to end our borders and change the character of a nation that has stood a beacon of hope for the rest of world for over 230 years. Once again, as in the rights of guns, Obama has asked us to give up our constitutional rights—in this case, a national border and residence, to please a minority or constituent.

You see, that’s the big flaw in this ‘no border’ concept of immigration. The rest of world flocks to our shores wanting to live in a prosperous and free nation, yet they support the concept of tearing down everything that makes this nation great and making it just like the horror of a third world nation that they came from.

He called for getting in line for most illegal aliens, yet he fails to mention you have to staunch the flood of people getting on line otherwise what you have is a mob. He talked of learning the language and background checks and paying taxes, fees and penalties to become a legal citizen. Well I got news for you Mr. President, we have that-- its called the citizenship process, and the way you determine who gets into that process is called a border, not everyone just bum rushing the counter where they issue green cards.  Everyone did play by the rules sir, and you just tossed the rules out the window

Furthermore Mr. President, you referred to legal citizens as not Native Americans, further blurring the line (intentionally) between right and wrong, legal and illegal, so that most people don’t know which end is up anymore. I am Native American as much as any man, I was born here same as my parent and my parents’ parents.  I am a Native American, and stop saying I'm not.  Being a native born American doesn't mean I have to live in tee pee or on a reservation to be legitimate.

Yes, Mr. President, this is our land and to be forced to share it with those that did not earn it, or gave it up willingly, is betrayal. Every bit of American territory came to us from legal means, despite La Raza's and other groups claim. No matter how much you they howl or pitch a fuss, nothing can change that fact. The way I see it, people that say that Americans killed to get the land, simply got the raw end of a business deal and now are sore that it went badly. For thousands of years they did nothing with the land, whereas we built it up in less than two hundred years, and now they want it back.

To that I say, “Nuts”.

Take for example the island of Manhattan, which they claimed to have gotten snookered on by selling it for 24 dollars. The Canarsie Indians, who sold it to us, were merely trading on Manhattan, which made it necessary for us to buy the island again from tribes near Washington Heights. The Raritan Indians, for the record, show that Staten Island was sold by these Indians no less than six times. So please don't tell me we are not entitled to the land. We bought it, paid again for it with our blood, and delineated legal borders.

It’s outrageous that you have such an ignorant knowledge of our history. Worse you perpetuate the myth that America is not ours. You claim that we have no right to define borders and say who can live here and who cannot. Thousands of Texans died in their fight for freedom of tyranny against Mexico, just so 150 years later our President could tell them that the land they died for is really someone else's. Billions were spent on land from Louisiana to Alaska with money earned from the sweat and brow of hard working settlers who risked life and limb to make something of a barren prairie just so you can be big man with foreigners and tell them they can share in it too?

And to the GOP who support this nonsense, to hell with you too. We didn’t elect you to capitulate our nation to people that do not want to be Americans but rather to plunder our land’s wealth and to make our great nation look like their miserable third world countries that they fled. Obama we know is a leftist and it’s expected for him to say such things, but for men and women who supposedly support the ideals of the Founders, and then sacrifice that to protect your own political skins you should burn in hell for all eternity.

This isn't a presidency, it's a destruction derby, and it’s too bad that the GOP doesn’t recognize this.

The wealth and power of America is not its banks, or businesses,  but its ideals which would be given up to the gods in the name of political correctness and for a few lousy votes by leaving our borders open while providing a legal path to amnesty.

Shame on you Mr. President, and shame on the GOP for forgetting our national identity and the blood that was shed to earn this land.

There are some of us who will not forget.

I was talking with a friend about illegal immigration and its effect on the costs of public health care the other day, and he gave me the usual argument that they should be rounded up and deported because of costs etc. but there's a more important issue at stake here that only a few in the media have spoken about.

It is wrong to allow illegal immigration because it exploits the poverty stricken.

I don't blame immigrants who desire to come to this country by either by hook or by crook. America is a great nation, and is the only country I know of that has to patrol its borders and provide law enforcement to keep millions from swarming in. Interestingly enough, it is also one of the only countries that still maintain a strong capitalistic and free political system .The admission process into the US is a difficult, arduous and expensive one, and those that are poverty stricken and desperate see illegal immigration into the US as their only way out.

However, most people miss the point. By allowing illegal immigration and not taking an aggressive stance to close the border and enforce the law, you effectively allow those that are here legally to exploit vast pools of cheap labor, and disallow those that are doing a share of the work of building the economy in the vast benefits of being a citizen.

Now, those that want more open borders will make the same argument. But their solution is to not enforce the law and look the other way. This is not the spirit of a properly run nation. A nation defines itself by its borders, its language and its laws. To ignore the enforcement of those laws is anathema to building a functional society.

Too many interests want the illegal immigration in this country for their own profit. Large corporate farms, construction companies and other labor intensive industries see it as a way to access cheap labor. Unions want lots of illegal immigration because they know eventually they will either get some form of amnesty or their children will be legal as ‘anchor babies’, and eventually be union members (as lower income people typically enter the blue collar force first). Political parties see it as not wanting to alienate a significant part of the voting bloc.

To continue to allow a relatively open border policy though is tantamount to a form of class slavery, however. It forces people into a living situation where they cannot reap the benefits of the work they perform. In essence, you begin to have a labor class, composed of the illegal immigrants combined with the lower educated, as well as the victims of those that make poor life decisions (such as felons and the addicted), and you have a wealthier upper class that benefits from cheap labor at the expense of the labor class.

We must close those borders. We must close them so that the working wage in the country will begin to rise again for the labor class. We must close them to provide millions of jobs to those that are out of work. We must close them to prevent massive amounts of the population ending up on state relief, such as in LA County were reports are that 1 in 4 families are on some sort of government dole. We must enforce the immigration laws to control the expansion of drug gang related crime into our neighborhoods- gangs that prey on the weak, the poor and those that are afraid to seek the protection of the law. We must have a working class that is part of society, not living below it, and a working class that has hope for a better future for not only their children but for themselves.

We must close the border because to protect a balanced society, and the integrity of our legal foundations. 

How can you expect someone who crossed into this country illegally to be a part of a functioning society, when they break the very first law of the land? 

Companies will argue, 'well we need that labor because no one else will do these jobs'. No one else will do those jobs because of the low prevailing wage. If that pool of illegal immigrants were not in the labor pool, the prevailing wage would be much higher, as competition for labor became more difficult. Yes, prices would rise, but so would wages and the standard of living for all. 

You can't get there by granting amnesty either. It is the same as telling a child you can sneak cookies out of the cookie jar because eventually one day you will be old enough to buy them on your own. The laws of the land must be enforced so that both the forces that seek illegal immigration get the message that laws in this country are enforced, and so illegal immigrants respect the new country they seek to make a home in.

The more we allow illegal immigration, the more we keep a portion of population living in the nether world of 'migrant worker' the more our country will begin to resemble the third world nations they seek to free themselves from. A nation where the law is applied unequally, where large portions of the population live in slums and the elite benefit from their labor, is not a nation that America was built to be.

Close the border- not just build a fence. Man it. Light it. Patrol it. Have those that are caught here illegally immediately deported. We don't need to house them in large compounds rebuilt from nursing homes, we need to push them back through the gate to where they came from.

It’s the only moral decision an enlightened person can make.

Several months ago the Obama administration declared that dealing with the dangers of an armed society will be one of the top two priorities of Obama’s new term as President in January of 2013. Yet if truth be told the ground work for the final power struggle with the American people and their beloved Second Amendment has already been laid. Long before Sandy Hook or even before Gabby Gifford’s fateful Congress on Your Corner event took place, Obama and the left were ever so quietly and intently setting the plan in motion. This plan is something so evil and vile and so very stealth that many Americans are totally unaware of what is about to hit them within the “privacy” of their Doctors office. A few years back Americans were written a prescription for gun control and it is called Obama care. All that was needed was a way to sell it to the strong yet soft hearted American people.

As the dust was beginning to settle from our latest mass murder by yet another mentally disturbed individual at the Sandy Hook Elementary school and the media was drying the last of their crocodile tears, as if on cue it was announced that Obama was ready to make his move with sweeping new gun control measures that would prevent any more innocent children from being harmed by reckless and thoughtless gun owners. Much to my dismay way too many American’s let out a collective sigh of relief after hearing all 23 Executive orders and finding comfort that they did not hear any bold announcement of a total ban or confiscation order. A chill went down my spine as I was able to see past that and could see the plan laid out right in front of our faces yet not obvious in that moment to very many. I have to marvel at how quickly Americans forget the way communism creeps into societies.

Sadly what made the moment so chilling is the fact that we in all honesty cannot disagree with Obama on the issue of mental illness being a problem when mixed with guns and indeed our mental health care system is broken. Undeniably something must be done about the total incompetence of those in charge of America’s mental health, yet somehow admitting to this injustice that is running rampant in our society is now being used to close the deal with the devil himself. The much needed sale has been made.

One of Obama’s executive orders that I find quite significant if not alarming is that he is directing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study the ways in which to reduce gun violence as if gun ownership is a disease or sickness within itself, maybe a mental condition. Yet interestingly they ignore studies on the psychiatric drugging up of America’s population which has been clearly linked to every shooting to date! This mass drugging of America includes our children as young as 3 years old as defined in another case study by the CDC in October of 2011 that reports antidepressant use in the United States has increased by nearly 400 percent in the last two decades!! This is astounding and now antidepressants are said to be the most frequently used class of medications used by Americans ages 10-44. Even as far back as 2007, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that Antidepressants were the most frequently prescribed drug reporting that doctors racked up 118 million prescriptions for antidepressants in 2005 out of a total of 2.4 billion prescriptions!

Maybe you are saying so what? What does that mean? What this means is that General practitioners are becoming way too comfortable prescribing dangerous mood altering drugs to the American public with no follow up or therapy to help with any real mental health issues. Studies are showing that 80% of patients on antidepressants are being treated by doctors other than psychiatrists. Also being shown is that people are taking these drugs for anything from sleep issues to fatigue and back pain. I remember many years back when my daughter was in second grade she couldn’t get rid of a bad virus. I could not get an appointment with my regular doctor so took the one that was available so my daughter could be seen that day. The doctor gave her a quick once over and proceeded to tell me that she was struggling getting better because she was most likely depressed. I was shocked as he then tried to prescribe her antidepressants to which I got angry and refused. I immediately got another doctor to examine my daughter and as it turned out she was then diagnosed with asthma and was in dire need of a breathing treatment and antibiotics. No need for the antidepressants the other doctor had tried to push onto us. This leads me to ask the question; why are we seeing a huge push towards medicating the population with these mood altering pharmaceuticals? 

Are the people being drugged up and dumbed down on purpose? We are raising a whole new generation of children who cannot cope with the reality of life without the help of such prescription drugs yet this is exactly what the new background checks on gun purchases will be looking for. We will have our doctors releasing any and all personal information to the government in the name of “back ground checks” to see who is competent enough to purchase firearms. Our mental health records in many cases will be done by doctors who know nothing about treating mental health other than recklessly prescribing the medication and acting as snitches to the Obama care regime who then in turn will decide who is crazy or sane enough to have the new privilege of owning a gun.

Ask yourselves these questions; how much is “big pharma” gaining by the over selling of prescription drugs to Americans? Who benefits? Are they in this alone? Will our doctors be forced into becoming the new snitches to a communist regime that decides who is competent enough to own a gun? Is the desire to own a gun a disease? Are Christians crazy? Who is the enforcer of Obama Care that will now enforce who can own a gun? Can you say the IRS? Can you see where we are going? I can, just please don’t call me crazy!

Leon Panetta’s announcement that women are now allowed to serve on the frontlines of combat will probably invoke some 1960’s feminists to dust off their keepsake burned bra and wave it all around again. Don’t light the fire to the straps yet ladies because I don’t think this is anything to really celebrate and it has nothing to do with erring on the side of male chauvinism. It’s simple, there are places women should and should not be. The frontline of all out war against a barbaric enemy is not one of them.

No, I have never served my country but I absolutely admire the women who do. They are truly some of the most precious gems this nation has. However, my grandma was a nurse in WWII and both my grandfathers served in combat during WWII. I wish they were alive today to ask them what they think about the changing of the gender guard in the military. Although, I can surmise from the combat stories they told me and based upon the way American culture was in their days that they too would disagree with Panetta’s decision.

It’s evident there’s a cultural difference between my grandparent’s days and now. The role plates between men and women have shifted. Over the years we’ve seen an increase of men staying at home raising the children while the mother works the nine to five to provide. Is this bad? No. Families are struggling in this economy and if the roles are forced to reverse in order to provide then it leaves a family no choice. However, these role reversals shouldn’t be first choice. It comes down to the fact that women and men are indeed equal but our innate design is distinct. Am I saying a single father can’t be the provider and the nurturer to their child or that a woman can’t be both? Absolutely not. Although, when we adhere to the design we were intended to be, it’s more advantageous to not only our families but society as a whole.

The issue of women on the frontlines of combat isn’t solely about gender roles or physical strength but about safety. Our enemies are the epitome of ruthless, barbaric animals. The world saw what the Muslim Brotherhood did to news correspondent Lara Logan in Egypt during the ‘’peaceful’’ Arab Spring. We know how our enemy treats women even of their own kind. So how can one think that these thugs won’t make an effort to capture, rape and brutalize American women for the world to see? I know that women are already serving in the military in other capacities and the danger presently exists as we saw with the capture of Jessica Lynch in Iraq of 2003. But why increase that danger for women in combat against an enemy who salivates over hurting women? It’s my fear, we will see American women being captured, rapped, brutalized and tortured on our TV screens because what better victim could a terrorist want?

The women’s movement was great in terms of equality. However, too many women turned an issue of equality into an issue of identity. Many women used the movement’s result as a means to flex their feminist muscle in order to prove that they can do anything a man can do. The truth is, we can’t and even if we could, we don’t need to.

Women must stop trying to prove their equality by putting themselves where they don’t belong. They don’t need to be filing lawsuits in order to compete in an all male golf tournament that has always been a guy’s tournament. We don’t need to be pulling a two-hundred-twenty pound man from a burning building. We don’t belong doing activities that are clearly more inclined to require a man’s strength and fortitude. This includes being on the frontlines of combat.

Men often say there’s nothing more attractive in a lady than confidence. That confidence only exposes itself when we are comfortable as is. Acknowledging our innate design as a woman isn’t accepting inequality, it means accepting our quality. That is true confidence. There’s an old saying, “boys will be boys.” Ladies, it’s time we let them be boys.