Other side of the coin

Submitted by James O. Hacker (United States), Jan 7, 2004 at 14:05

Mr. Pipes,

Your commentary, as usual, is insightful, thoughtful and focused. I enjoy your columns, and greatly admire your work. I'm a 17-year veteran of the Army and I've traveled throughout the Middle East. I've met some wonderfully warm and peaceful people, and I've also seen some of the most vicious, brutal and bloodthirsty men to walk the earth. I always compare places like Pakistan and Iran to petri dishes frothing with dangerous and deadly disease: you can contain it, but if you are not very vigilant and careful it'll infect you and may kill you.

I believe most of the machinations of the democrats are purely political. Everything the democrat leadership does is a counter to Pres. Bush. They're appealing to a segment of America that rabidly hates Pres. Bush. I don't think it's a large enough segment to elect a democratic challenger, but that seems to be the tactic.

Pres. Bush's administration has, on balance, done a masterful job with the war on terror. But on the issue of illegal immigration and our mindbogglingly porous border with Mexico, the administrations policy makes no sense to me. Now we are looking at a serious effort to grant another amnesty to illegals currently in the U.S.. If it happens it'll be disastrous for this country.

What, in heavens name, is the Bush administration thinking of? Is it just pandering for the Hispanic vote in combination to pandering to business who depend on this cheap labor?

This mess, and it is a mess that continues to pile up, is our own fault. Businesses all over this nation are dependent upon this cheap labor to do 100's of jobs that Americans just don't seem to want to do. The job has still got to be done, so thousands of illegals stream in to do these jobs and don't seem to have tremendous difficultly finding work and surviving. Yet we have a substantial problem with unemployment in this country??

Thinking about it is headache inducing. I've told my children that if they want to be competitive in the job market in 15-25 years, they better learn Spanish. Right now in EL Paso, where we live, if you are not bilingual, you will have great difficultly finding employment of any type.

Cordially,
James O. Hacker

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