More on McCain/Kennedy...

Dear Mr. McCain,

I am a life-long republican...though I am not a contituent of yours. My family have been republicans back to the founding of the party in the 1850's in Michigan and Ohio. I live in a "blue" state and thus have no real voice in the matter at hand. Additionally, I too am a veteran of the US military, though of the USMC, not the Navy.

I recently found an excellent quote in a blog I found online. This is the address of the quote:

http://www.riehlworldview.com/carnivorous_conservative/2007/05/a_republican_la.html.

The quote is as follows,

"It's not a complex problem. Build a physical fence all along the southern border. Spend enough money to condemn and purchase the necessary land, and to erect an effective fence. If that's 10-million dollars a mile, we're looking at about 20-billion total. Chump change.

Make illegal entry into this country a felony.Round up and deport illegal aliens. Verification of immigration status can be made a routine part of every traffic stop. Deny federal funds to any municipality that calls itself a "sanctuary".

Make knowingly employing an illegal alien a felony with mandatory prison time...When the jobs dry up, most illegals will deport themselves.Problem solved.

All these steps are "do-able". We just need to to them. The president will need to go on television and say, "All those pictures the media is showing you of train-loads of weeping, miserable people being taken to the border? Those pictures are a great deterrent to future immigration criminals. We will persevere."

Additionally, herein follows the text of an email that I sent to my own senators,

"Dear Ms. Mikulski,I am a member in good standing of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiner, Local 1694, Mid-Atlantic Region. As such, I have very strong feelings upon the impending bill to legalize 12-20 million illigal aliens.

I and many of my brothers in the large union shop that we work in (Washington Woodworking, Inc, of Landover, MD) are STRONGLY against such a legalization. We DO NOT agree with the leadership of our union upon this issue. Illegal immigrants have had a large, and negative impact upon the building trades.

I believe that our border must be secured first, then existing laws enforced, along with much higher penalties for employing illegal aliens. Only then, should a "guest worker" program be implemented, but such implementation should be if that individual returns to country of origin and THEN applies for a visa. In other words, NO AMNESTY!!!

I firmly believe, that if you were to actually speak to blue-collar workers, and NOT those who are carefully culled by your staff to only say what they believe you want to hear, you would vote against ANY compromise. I will be calling your office in the next several days to reinforce my opposition to the McCain/Kennedy immigration bill.

Sincerely,
Richard A. Vail, Ph.D.
Baltimore, MD USA "

While I firmly understand that as a practical matter, you don't really give a flying f--- about my opinion as I don't reside in your state...you may wish to give serious consideration as a prospective presidential candidate to what working middleclass Americans honestly think. I am sir,

Your Ob't Servant

Richard A. Vail,Pikesville, MD USA