20060403
Keeping track of the things that affect us all:
Immigration and Border Security
    The debate over immigration reform and border security only stands to get more vociferous over the next several weeks as competing House and Senate bills make their way to vote and approval. At the core of this debate is the question of what to do about the over 11 million illegal immigrants already in the US.
    The problem that the US faces is twofold. First, there can be no doubt that some significant part of the US economy is quite literally supported by the constant influx of inexpensive labor, especially from Mexico, yet this demand has to be balanced against the need for secure borders and national sovereignty in this age of international terrorism.
    The answer lies in a careful balance of the considerations of security and economy, but the solution must be one that rewards those who chose to enter the country legally and creates an ongoing penalty for those who violate the laws of the United States. Further, the solution must also deter the illegal access to the US currently so readily available.
    Ultimately, this problem will not be solved simply by Congress passing a bill. There must be a national consensus on the reality that there is a problem, and that consensus must include the desire to enact a solution that works for both security and the economy.
Government in Iraq
    Iraq is rapidly closing on the make or break point for the final formation of a government. There can be little doubt that the delay in forming a government lends strength to the ongoing sectarian violence that has plagued the nation since the bombing of the al-Askari mosque, and as that strength increases the risk of a deeper, ongoing conflict grows.
    The divides that prevent the formation of that government are the same divides that fuel the sectarian violence that has shed so much blood in recent weeks around Iraq. These are divides of religion and ethnicity that are far deeper and older than Iraq or the events of the Saddam Hussein regime and the US-led invasion.
    Truthfully, overcoming those divides represents not only a test of the will of the Iraqi people to set aside differences, but also a test as to whether the divisions that have separated the peoples of the region for hundreds of years can be bridged for mutual self-interest. Failure to overcome those differences and bridge those divides will have a lasting impact on the region and the world, and that impact may very well be far worse that anything the world sees right now.
