Restore the process of assimilation of immigrants to preserve the benefits of an advanced educated and prosperous society.  Rescind Maine’s sanctuary State status. No amnesty, no benefits, no citizenship -ever- for anyone in the country illegally. Arrest and detain, for a specified period of time, anyone here illegally, and then deport, period.

I am conflicted about immigration.  We cannot tolerate open violation of the laws.  I recall a immigration seminar for lawyers I attended several years ago.  The speaker was finishing up with questions and one question from another attorney was in effect what do I tell my client and what if the client won’t do it?  Am I liable or ethically compromised?  The seminar leader essentially said you have to tell the client the penalties but you are not obligated to check behind or turn in the client.  It was obvious to me that his client was knowingly hiring illegals and the lawyer knew it! 

I also am concerned about the illegals who seek a better life for them and their kids.  Cong. Paul says that if you subsidize something you get more of it.  We subsidize illegal immigration through non-emergency health care, free education and willing employers who look the other way.  They sometimes pay under the table and avoid payroll taxes and regulations.  Of course illegals are exploited and their families too.  They are here seeking that better life.  I respect that.  Probably most illegals are “law-abiding” other than those laws incidental to their status.

Not ALL illegals were or are Hispanic.  I recall a young lady selling some sort of item to my employer, an attorney, many years ago.  She caught my eye immediately as a well-curved, curly haired blonde from a Northern European country.  (I was still single at the time.)  I asked her out for lunch and the curvy gal surprisingly said yes.  When we went to lunch, she candidly said to me (why I do not know nor do I know why she did not seek the dorky lawyer for a green card marriage I can only thank the Lord Jesus for His protection!) that she came on a tourist visa and stayed to work in the USA.  I was astounded.  I was to see her again (she was after all a curvy blonde!) but when I tried to visit her employer a week or two later, I got two streets mixed up and ended up in the wrong part of town.  When I called the work place several days later, she was not working there.  Was she ratted out?  Did she decide to go home?  I wonder what happened to her and still do.

As a follower of Christ I am not unaware of the many exhortations in the Bible about taking care of the foreigner and the widow and orphan among you.  How does this play into the illegal immigration debate?  I think it means love them in the Name of Christ and minister to their needs.  It does not require evangelicals to support amnesty.  But I am not entirely comfortable with the alternative:  Forced deportation or denying benefits like education to kids of illegals.  I also am opposed to discrimination and profiling of Hispanics or anybody else. 

So, I cannot support the Maine platform in this situation.  But something must be done.  Something that upholds the law, secures the border and is humane.  But people are fed up with illegals being encouraged to come here and then they get unfair benefits such as tax free (illegally tax free of course) income and free benefits some hardworking citizens and LEGAL immigrants are not eligible for.

The article by Peter Wehner and Michael Gerson examines the GOP fall and institutional reasons why Democrats have some advantages: 

Over the past five presidential elections, Brownstein writes, Democrats have built a “blue wall” consisting of 18 states and the District of Columbia; these account for fully 90 percent of the electoral votes needed to win the presidency.

The solution is to turn to innovative new leaders (emphasis added):

As it happens, the GOP has successful reformers to whom it can look to and learn from, including popular governors or former governors like Mitch Daniels, Tim Pawlenty, Bobby Jindal, and Jeb Bush.

Wehner and Gerson also discuss the issue of immigration: 

No national party can hope to succeed in the long run without broad support among immigrants and the children of immigrants—particularly, these days, Hispanics and Asian Americans.

Governor Jindal’s immigrant, Asian-American background and record of accomplishment will be attractive to many people, without sacrificing his staunch conservatism.  Wehner and Gerson restate the point:

To succeed, the Republican argument requires communicating that growing ethnic diversity does not undermine but rather strengthens the American ideal.

This Governor Jindal can do.  He also has stated (in that infamous speech that nobody liked but me!) that government tends to stifle innovation and drive.  Wehner and Gerson agree this issue is crucial for Republicans:

It is, in, fact, vital for Republican leaders to press the case for economic growth in general. Americans achieve their dreams not through the redistribution of wealth but through the creation of wealth.

Governor Jindal can speak to another issue important to Wehner and Gerson – social justice:

In this respect, Republicans would be well advised here to borrow a page from David Cameron and Iain Duncan Smith in their revival of the British Conservative party. These leaders have emphasized a range of issues that directly influence the quality of life in community: homelessness, addiction, prison reform, family breakdown, long-term unemployment.

I would suggest that as Governor of Louisiana, Jindal has made major changes that will improve the quality of life:  Ethics reform, encouragement of businesses to come to the state, prison reform, tax reform.  Jindal helped bring back a chicken processing plant to Monroe.  Even less obvious issues like speed traps are part of this new thinking.  Of course Louisiana has to be concerned about weather-related preparedness.  I think we’ll see more innovation. 

Finally, Wehner and Gerson speak of returning the GOP to what Senator Moynihan called a “party of ideas.” 

In the 1980s, one of the Republican party’s main sources of attraction to younger conservatives—we are thinking of our younger selves, among legions of others—was its growing reputation for intellectual vitality. “Of a sudden,” wrote Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a Democrat, in 1981, “the GOP has become a party of ideas.” Restoring that reputation, to be earned now as then through carefully argued and compellingly articulated programs of reform, is a central challenge.

Governor Jindal clearly has the intellectual capital to enage that debate.  He can shape the debate on many issues.  I believe that he will be a great candidate and if elected a great President – whether in 2012 or beyond. 

Finally, there are other leaders with ideas in the Republican Party.  Gov. Mitch Daniels has a stellar record in Indiana and Governor Pawlenty likewise in Minnesota (a blue state that can and does elect conservatives).  Former Governors Huckabee and Romney have must to admire.  Sarah Palin has been vilified in the press but she can be a spark for the party and cna connect with ordinary people – the exact reason so many liberals are afraid of her.  There are others in Congress and state houses with new ideas.   Finally, Congressman Ron Paul, my other political hero, has changed the field of play for ideas and expanded the GOP’s potential reach. 

Having said that, I still believe that Governor Jindal may be the answer to a party looking for new ideas and a new package attractive to Republicans, many independents and conservative Democrats.  Keep an eye on Louisiana.