Saturday November 13, 2004

Dear Visitor:

The United States of America recently reelected President Bush; yes that is reelected. (He wasn't appointed. What most of the media didn't run is that with the Florida recounts Bush took Florida easily in 2000.) This brings up a few interesting questions.

First, Bush needs to keep his promises to the immigrant communities, or clearly explain why he won't. The largest of these promises was related to immigration reform, worker visas (including for those who come forward who are in the USA illegally). This is rather sticky. In the modern age, countries need borders that are secure, but can allow immigrants and those with appropriate papers (visas, passports, whatever) to pass freely. These documents should be fairly easy to obtain for those who are not terrorists, etc. However, the secure borders and easily obtainable documents, in practice, do not work so well together. Second, there are a lot of people in the United States who believe immigrants take jobs, hurt the economy, etc. To some extent this is true. However, if you find numbers from various sources, including the GAO of the US Congress you will find that much of this is the case due to the fact they are illegal and that makes it difficult for them to grow the economy as economists expect. My advice to Bush on this matter is to really look at immigration reform, in the form of: 1) Convince congress to pass the 245i, preferably permanently. This 245i is not amnesty. It allows families to avoid some headache and possible disruption of the family during the process of trying to correct oversights, mistakes, or flat out illegal entry into the United States. One estimate of the effect of the 245i (since it requires a $1,000 fee) places it making a ridiculous amount of money for the government (upwards of $1,000,000/year). The 245i doesn't allow anyone to stay that couldn't legally stay or return otherwise. It just helps speed up the process and in some cases helps avoid a large period of time that a husband and wife are apart. 2) If it is possible, and appropriate, to do these worker visas, do it. However, make sure the enforcement is in place to deport those overstaying the visa. 3) Put together a SMALL (we don't need more bureaucracy) team to review all of the immigration laws and make appropriate suggestions to congress.

Second, Bush needs to follow up on all of his campaign promises from this and the previous election. 1) The deficit needs to be cut or eliminated entirely; the sooner the better. 2) No Child Left Behind needs to be funded appropriately. 3) The tax code needs a complete overhaul. 4) Social Security needs to be fixed. I do like the idea of allowing a part of the taxes collected from an individual to go into 401k, IRA, or similar accounts. Over time Social Security needs to become a way to take care of those who cannot work, not those who have retired. However, when this happens, people should be required to put away a certain amount into private accounts that they cannot touch, just like Social Security. 5) We need to finish the work in Iraq and get out. 6) We need to work on making our international image and relationships much better.

For the sake of brevity, and because I am sure there are many people advising Bush who are smarter than I, I will only touch on #6 above. I am not entirely sure how we go about doing this. However, it is vital. I am not suggesting a "global test" such as Kerry put forth in his campaign. I think such an idea is foolhardy. However, we have made many mistakes, as a country, in international relations. We need to deal specifically with the perceived pride/hubris issue. It may or may not be accurate, but it needs to be fixed. President Bush, please, make an effort to heal the damage between us and other countries.

As for all of you Kerry supporters who are threatening to leave the US: Please either leave and quiet down, or just quiet down. This is a democracy. It is rare for a president to win by more than a small margin, often they win without the popular vote, due to the way our Constitution dictates the system works. Bush won. It was fair. He won both the popular and electoral college vote. That is rare.

Am I upset that there are Kerry supporters who are frustrated, sad, maybe even a little angry that their candidate lost? No! I may disagree with your values, your choices, etc., but this is America. You have a right to vote. You have a right to speak. In many situations, especially with your elected officials, to an extent you have a right to be heard. However, please do not be violent. Please, do not bash our country. During an election we must show differences, now there are elected leaders who have been chosen by the people. Now, I ask that you write your representatives in government and APPROPRIATELY AND CONSTRUCTIVELY express your views on issues that matter to you. I know this is hard. At times I have been harsh when writing elected officials. Please, try. This is how are system is supposed to work; it is how it must work if America is to survive!

Sincerely, Trever Adams

P.S. For those who wish to know my political stance, I tend to vote Republican more than Democrat, but I am an independent.