Pubdate: Sat, 10 Dec 2005 Source: Dallas Morning News ( TX ) Copyright: 2005 The Dallas Morning News Contact: http://www.dallasnews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/117 Author: Joe McCarthy TWO TRUE REFORMS I have a serious proposal to alleviate the budget problem for members of Congress: 1) Eliminate the war on drugs. Legalize the less-harmful and currently illegal substances, such as marijuana, in the same way we legalized liquor. This program is hugely expensive at all levels of government, it is not cost effective, it has not proven that it stops addiction and/or use and it just adds layers of ineffective activity through government. 2) Open the borders. This is another lost cause. With the world getting smaller with faster, more efficient modes of transportation and technology developments, our borders are not just land lines any more. They are also not just sky and sea lines. Every U.S citizen profits from the legal and illegal presence of immigrants From those who wash your car to your taxi drivers, teachers, professors, doctors, nurses and hospital workers of all skill levels, they all provide useful and much-needed service. When I go to the store and when I am in the hospital, it never occurs to me to ask if the service and food providers are legal or illegal residents. How many people ask? "No, I don't want that doctor; he may be an illegal." "No, I don't want that head of cabbage, it may have been picked by an illegal." "No, I will just sit in this bedpan until a true legal resident comes to help me." Yeah, right. As our population ages, we will need more and more of these people with their skilled and unskilled talents. I truly hope that they will still want to come here. Of course, if Congress truly wanted to control illegal immigrants, it would punish the employer. But lacking any statesmanship at any level of government, that will not happen. Get rid of these two ineffective programs. Let the Alaskan bridge- building carry on. Immigrants in. Labor costs down. Economy up. Revenue up. Taxes up. Good for all. Joe McCarthy, Frisco - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake