Friday, January 31, 2014

Obama Plans One Branch Government



“I can take steps without legislation… that’s what I’m going to do.” – Barack Obama, State of the Union, January 28, 2014

Obama Plans One Branch Government
Commentary by Sanford D. Horn
January 31, 2014

The full content of the above Barack Obama State of the Union quote is no less revealing or demonstrative of his desire and design to not only disregard Congress, but subvert the Constitution as the law of the land. From King George III to Barack Hussein Obama I, the United States of America is about to come full circle as the rule of law is abandoned.

“America does not stand still, and neither will I. So wherever and whenever I can take steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more American families, that’s what I’m going to do,” said Obama during Tuesday night’s speech before both houses of Congress.

Make no mistake, this is  nothing new from Obama. This has long been his modus operandi. The only difference is that he announced it to the entire world that it is his intention to bypass Congress and sign into law legislation he crafts if Congress won’t do it for him. To this public revelation, Obama received a standing ovation from the Democrats in the House Chamber. The GOP membership was not surprisingly silent.

It matters not how well intentioned Obama is with his desire to help American families, although such a claim is highly dubious knowing his track record. Obama can put forth all the legislative proposals he wishes, but it is still the job, as per the United States Constitution, of the Congress to pass or reject such legislation. It’s a system of checks and balances and it has been in place since 1789.

But apparently King Barack I knows better than the Founding Fathers and has been given a green light by the flaccid Congressional membership of his own party. The GOP had better wake up make sure they fight every Executive Order Obama signs. The Republican majority had better not squander their position or they will lose it come this November. In Obama’s case, the pen indeed is mightier than the sword.

“A Republic, if you can keep it,” is the second part and answer of an oft-quoted quip made by Benjamin Franklin at the close of the 1787 Constitutional Convention.

Yet, the question, asked by Dr. James McHenry, a Maryland delegate to the convention, is just as important. “Well, Doctor, what have we got – a Republic or a Monarchy?” queried McHenry.

That question need be asked again, but by the millions of Americans who wish to retain our Republic. In fact, the question really needn’t be asked, but it’s the sentiment that must be demanded by the American people before it is too late.

President Ronald Reagan said “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. It has to be fought for and defended by each generation,” on July 6, 1987 at the Annual Convention of Kiwanis International.

Reagan knew, as millions of freedom loving Americans know, that freedom, like any good relationship, requires cultivation and deep roots if it is to survive. We the people must fight to retain our freedom, for if we lose that fight, the last best hope for peace and freedom around the world – the United States of America, will succumb as well.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN.

Obama Disgraces Officer's Memory with Appointment


Obama Disgraces Officer’s Memory with Appointment
Commentary by Sanford D. Horn
January 31, 2014

Just as jokes about the Lincoln and Kennedy assassinations are still inappropriate, even after 33 years Barack Obama’s nomination of the lawyer who willingly defended the murderer of a police officer in 1981 is just as inappropriate – if not more so as it reopens barely healed wounds of the family the officer left behind.

Proving once again to feed his own progressive agenda, Obama has appointed Debo P. Adegbile to the Justice Department to serve as Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division. Adegbile volunteered to represent Mumia Abu-Jamal in 1981 for the murder of Philadelphia police Sergeant Daniel Faulkner. Abu-Jamal shot Faulkner four times and was slated for death when Adegbile, again, volunteered to fight and succeed in getting the death penalty lifted.

Abu-Jamal was convicted of murder in 1982, having neither testified on his own behalf nor denied his guilt throughout the trial. Abu-Jamal’s own brother William, a witness at the crime scene, also declined to testify during the trial. Additionally, multiple court rulings upheld the murder conviction.

Adegbile, also an NAACP legal defense official, is slated to replace Tomas Perez, now heading the Labor Department in Obama’s cabinet. “Through his extensive work at the NAACP and in arguments before the Supreme Court, Adegbile has made it clear he does not believe civil rights apply to whites,” wrote Katie Pavlich on Townhall.com, January 8, 2014.

While Obama has the right to nominate who he chooses, and Adegbile followed his credo by zealously defending his client, Adegbile did not have to volunteer to take the case, nor did Obama have to nominate such a candidate. Is this the kind of person who should be heading the Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department? Does his background scream open-mindedness and fairness to all? Is this the best nominee Obama could find of all the attorneys in the United States with experience in civil rights?

This appointment is a clear poke in the eye at the memory of Sgt. Faulkner, his survivors, and the law enforcement fraternity in general. Adegbile will face the Senate Judiciary Committee. Should that committee be obtuse enough to approve this nominee, he will come before the entire Senate for a vote of confirmation.

Below is a list of the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Contact them and politely express your outrage at the caliber of this appointment. We the people can, and must, make a difference.

All telephone numbers begin 202-224, with the specific four final numbers listed below.

 
Democrats

Patrick Leahy (VT) – Chairman      

Richard Blumenthal (CT)                 

Christopher Coons (DE)                 

Dick Durbin (IL)                    

Dianne Feinstein (CA)        

Al Franken (MN)                               

Mazie Hirono (HI)                             

Amy Klobuchar (MN)                       

Chuck Schumer (NY)           

Sheldon Whitehouse (RI)                

Republicans

Chuck Grassley (IA) – Ranking Member   

John Cornyn (TX)         

Ted Cruz (TX)                                   

Jeff Flake (AZ)              

Lindsay Graham (SC) 

Orrin Hatch (UT)       

Mike Lee (UT)                                  

Jeff Sessions (AL)   

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN.

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Christie's Liberalism a Bridge Too Far


Christie’s Liberalism a Bridge Too Far
Commentary by Sanford D. Horn
January 29, 2014

Long before the shenanigans of what has unoriginally been dubbed “bridge-gate,” New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s bona fides as a RINO at best, a liberal at worst, should disqualify him from earning the 2016 Republican nomination for president.

Should the allegations regarding Christie’s involvement in the closure of the George Washington Bridge last September come to fruition as true, losing the nomination will be the least of his concerns. The bridge, traversing from Manhattan to Fort Lee, NJ, shuttles roughly 280,000 vehicles across the east-west span daily, is one of the busiest in the world at 100 million vehicles a year.

Christie is accused of orchestrating the closure, put into action by his aides, as revenge against Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich (D) for a lack of an endorsement by the mayor for the governor’s reelection campaign. While Sokolich has said he takes Christie at his word when denying any involvement in or knowledge of the traffic snarling bridge closure, an investigation is being conducted by both the state legislature, currently under the thumb of a Democratic majority, as well as United States Attorney in New Jersey, Paul Fishman.

The George Washington Bridge notwithstanding, Christie has other problems that should prevent him from securing the 2016 nod as GOP standard bearer.

Just two weeks prior to facing the voters of the Garden State, Christie announced he would not appeal the decision made by the state Supreme Court approving same-sex marriage. Christie claimed fighting the court’s ruling would be “a losing battle.” Considering the lengths he has gone fighting the teachers’ union and many other “white whales,” Christie should have at least made an effort to speak out against the ruling and defend traditional, one man, one woman marriage. But he balked in deference to a powerful special interest group.

Additionally, one week after the ball dropped in Times Square, across the river back in New Jersey, Christie signed a bill into law dropping tuition costs for illegal aliens residing in the state. While legal residents and citizens of the other 49 states in the union must pay an out of state premium to attend Rutgers, Kean, Montclair State, William Paterson and the seven other state universities, people who have no legal right to even be in the United States, let alone take up space in a college or university, are given yet another incentive to break the law.

These are two important issues where Christie has opted to support the sides most deleterious to American society, culture, and morality. Sure, it won him reelection in an ultra-blue New Jersey as a Republican, but to most voters outside of the state, Christie is a bona fide RINO supporting the wrong side of issues that have galvanized not just other politicians, but a wide swath of American voters – especially illegal immigration which costs the United States’ taxpayers billions upon billions of dollars each year.

Each entitlement given to illegals only serves as an incentive to continue breaking the law while milking the American cow for all they can get. Free health care, public school attendance, food stamps, welfare – all paid for by hard working American citizens and legal residents who follow the law, but to what end? The continuing incentives given illegals will never stem the tide of their invasion into the United States, the breaking of our laws, and the rewards for simply being in this country.

Sadly, both major political parties are complicit in aiding and abetting the miscreants running amok in these United States. The Democrats see illegal aliens as future Democratic voters. Republicans see illegal aliens as cheap labor and thus are afraid to punish employers who are potential campaign contributors.

The answer is to punish employers by the amount of what a legal employee would earn in a year, deny illegal aliens any incentives for crossing the borders, and amend the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution granting citizenship for simply being born on American soil. The anchor baby notion of once there is a legal citizen in the US, he or she can then have the parents and eventually other family members in this country. The anchor baby citizen can then qualify for all sorts of goodies paid for by the real citizens of the United States working hard and paying taxes for the leaches to glom off of.

Between Christie’s bridge crisis which will no doubt span into the next election cycle and the liberal policies he is endorsing either by action or inaction, he is not just wrong for the Republican Party, but wrong for the nation.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN. He is a native of New Jersey.

Monday, January 27, 2014

Our Republic Up in Smoke


Our Republic Up in Smoke
Commentary by Sanford D. Horn
January 27, 2014

I am not a smoker. However, as long as tobacco is legal I will defend smokers’ rights as well as the rights of an industry to cultivate their product for profit, keeping thousands gainfully employed.

Moreover, I object to the perpetual nanny-state micromanagement of the so-called free people of the United States to live freely in the privacy of their property be it a home or vehicle while consuming a legal product.

Already the law in the state of Oregon, now there is proposed legislation in Illinois to make it illegal to smoke in a car where there is a child present. State Senator Ira Silverstein (D) explained that it is necessary to protect children from secondhand smoke. Should this bill become law, it carries with it a $100 fine.

Make no mistake; I do not endorse children smoking or being subjected to the smoke of others. But, where will this end? Will the nanny-state push to outlaw smoking in people’s homes when children are present? What else will government attempt to regulate and deny to adults?

Will listening to rap music (something I NEVER do or endorse) be illegal in cars when children are present because of its content? Or in the home for the same reason? Will adults arguing in front of children in the car or home be banned for the sake of protecting their delicate sensibilities? Will the state visit everyone’s home to ensure all children eat their veggies and wear a warm coat?

How far will government – local, state, or federal, go, to control the lives of a seemingly free people? While I have opined that common sense is no longer common, we the people still must stand up for liberty and freedom. This is not about smoking in cars around children, which, again, I do not support.

There is a slippery slope at work here, and there are even conservatives who see the protection of children as the be-all-end-all and that it is permissible for government to step in. But how far is too far for government to not just regulate our lives, but dictate our behavior?

Government has pole vaulted far over the line and we the people are facing the point of no return.

“A Republic, if you can keep it,” is the second part and answer of an oft-quoted quip made by Benjamin Franklin at the close of the 1787 Constitutional Convention.

Yet, the question, asked by Dr. James McHenry, a Maryland delegate to the convention, is just as important. “Well, Doctor, what have we got – a Republic or a Monarchy?” queried McHenry.

Are we the people, in the 21st Century keeping our Republic or surrendering back to the days of a tyrannical, despotic monarchy? Do we the people not have the self-discipline, the personal responsibility, to maintain our freedoms? Time will tell. But for now, we are not headed in the right direction with legislation like this.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN.

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Cuomo Kicks Conservaties Out of NY


Cuomo Kicks Conservatives Out of NY
Commentary by Sanford D. Horn
January 21, 2014

Apparently tolerance stops at the borders of New York State – yes, there is land and life beyond the Five Boroughs of Manhattan – with apologies to the NYC denizens I call friends.

The real apologies should be offered up by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo for his barrage of insults toward the millions of Empire Staters who believe in the sanctity of life and marriage along with an adherence to the United States Constitution.

Last Friday, January 18, Cuomo let loose with a screed during a radio interview seeking to rid the State of New York of those he deemed the reason the state’s Republican Party is experiencing a “schism.”

"Who are they? Are they these extreme conservatives who are right-to-life, pro-assault-weapon, anti-gay? Is that who they are? Because if that’s who they are and they’re the extreme conservatives, they have no place in the state of New York, because that’s not who New Yorkers are," said Cuomo who supports abortion on demand.

So, not wanting to slaughter the unborn makes one an extreme conservative? Tell that to all the pro-life Democrats, of which there are plenty, such as Kirsten Powers, a political analyst with both the Daily Beast and Fox News. A marriage between a man and a woman is suddenly the act of extremists? There goes thousands of years of Biblical, Judeo-Christian tradition out the window. The desire to legally hunt and protect ones family and home with a firearm is considered extreme by Cuomo? Not a meat eater, nor does he have a team of guards surrounding him at all times?

Cuomo’s are the words of the real extremist. He actually called for those with whom he disagrees to leave their homes, their businesses, and their state. Cuomo’s are the words of the typical liberal who preach tolerance, but exhibit none of their own. To a liberal, and Cuomo is certainly one, tolerance is when all others agree with their amoral worldview. Where the majority is expected to kow-tow to the minority in a world where majority rules and minority rights no longer exists.

Be careful what you wish for, Mr. Cuomo. Imagine the economic fissure that would come to pass should the pro-life, pro-gun, anti-gay marriage residents of New York close their businesses, sell their homes and move to neighboring New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Vermont, and Massachusetts? These states are just as blue as New York, so there won’t be any culture shock for those who leave, but the reverberations will be felt from Binghamton to Buffalo, from Chautauqua to Cooperstown, and from Niagara Falls to New York City.

How full will the theaters, restaurants, stadiums, and arenas be once all of Cuomo’s undesirables leave New York? How much business will the malls and shops conduct? How many homes will be bought and sold? What will be produced once all those Cuomo deemed to “have no place in the state of New York,” depart as he demands? Tourists should spend their dollars elsewhere. If people are required to conduct business in New York, spend as little time as possible in the state, spend as little money as possible, and if possible, secure lodging and meals outside of New York.

How many doctors, lawyers, accountants, manufacturers, farmers, shopkeepers, and real estate developers will flee to more welcoming environs? Oh, but don’t worry, Starbucks and its minions will still continue to grind out your crap-u-ccino – after all, they also only welcome supporters of gay marriage and those willing to leave their legally allowable guns at home.

Cuomo, who has offered no apology for the rejection of those who live their lives with traditional values, is not the arbiter of how all New Yorkers think and behave. He has attempted to backtrack on what he said, but his words are no doubt disingenuous. Cuomo has denigrated and insulted his constituents – the people he is charged with representing – left, right, and center – with his true feelings.

Shame on Andrew Cuomo for again proving that tolerance is a foreign concept to the liberal left. Hopefully the voters in New York State will not have short memories.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN.

Monday, January 6, 2014

Expect a Crowd on the Cooperstown Dais


Expect a Crowd on the Cooperstown Dais
Commentary by Sanford D. Horn
January 6, 2013

While temperatures have been so harsh, even thinking about baseball seems crazy, and pitchers and catchers don’t report for duty for about six weeks, there is some important baseball business needing immediate attention – the vote on who will make up the Hall of Fame class of 2014 to join former managers Bobby Cox, Tony La Russa, and Joe Torre.

“Voting shall be based upon the player's record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played.” (http://baseballhall.org/hall-famers/rules-election/bbwaa) This is the standard by which the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) is to do their jobs.

The crux is character and integrity – neither of which was exhibited by Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, or Sammy Sosa, each accused of using steroids during their playing careers. These players’ bad behavior should not be rewarded. They only way they should be allowed into Cooperstown is with a paid ticket for admission.

The “steroid era” of baseball is more of a black mark than the Black Sox scandal of 1919 that temporarily stained the game and gave the game a commissioner. Steroids have tainted baseball from the top down – from the majors to high school where players are under such pressure to perform, maintain a level of performance, and procure high dollar contracts.

Those words, character and integrity, have meaning and should be upheld while casting votes in favor of some of the past generation’s great players on the field, and honorable men off the field.

Were I casting some of the precious votes to determine the Class of 2014 inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame, eight former stars would appear on my ballot – four holdovers from last year and four appearing on the ballot for the first time.

Craig Biggio spent the entirety of his 20 years in the majors with the Houston Astros. The seven time all-star also earned four Gold Gloves and five Silver Sluggers, and reached the magic number of hits, surpassing 3,000 with his 3,060. Biggio managed to appear in many offensive leadership categories while playing for a typically sluggish Astros team. The former second baseman, who I incorrectly predicted would be a first ballot entrant, still deserves a plaque in Cooperstown, but may be passed over in favor of first year candidates Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, and Frank Thomas, almost certain locks.

Glavine was named to 10 All Star teams, won two Cy Young awards, and also surpassed a magic number by garnering 305 wins during his 22 years with the Braves and Mets, including five 20-win seasons. He will be inducted as a Brave, as he should.

Glavine’s teammate for 10 years, from 1993-2002, Maddux compiled even more impressive statistics than Glavine and will also be enshrined this summer. During his 23-year career, Maddux won 355 games, eighth all time, along with a record 18 Gold Gloves, four consecutive Cy Young awards, and a 3.16 ERA.

Jack Morris pitched for 14 of his 18 major league seasons with the Detroit Tigers and could soak up the innings as though he had a rubber arm, tossing 175 complete games. Morris pitched in three World Series, was a three-time 20-plus game winner, including winning 21 at age 37. The five-time all-star also pitched for the Twins, Blue Jays, and Indians. Having pitched from 1977-94, Morris is in his 15th and final year of eligibility, inching closer each year to Cooperstown. His 254 wins rank him higher than Hall of Famers Jim Palmer and Bob Feller.

Also ranking higher in the career wins total, with 270, is first time ballot occupant Mike Mussina, who spent 10 years with the Baltimore Orioles and eight with the New York Yankees. A big fan of “Moose,” an economics graduate from Stanford University as an Oriole, it hurt my eyes to see him donning the pinstripes. Mussina was selected to five All Star teams and won seven Gold Gloves. While he may be overshadowed by Glavine and Maddux, Mussina garnered more victories than Hall of Famers Carl Hubbell, Bob Gibson, Juan Marichal – with whom Mussina was compared, and Whitey Ford. Mussina ended his career with his lone 20-win season, going 20-9 with a 3.37 ERA

Because Mike Piazza played nearly eight of his 16-year career with the Mets, naturally he is a favorite. However, the 12-time all-star cracked 427 home runs, batted .308 and earned 10 Silver Slugger awards all while catching 1629 games – top flight numbers regardless of what team he played for. Piazza, the 1993 Rookie of the Year, spent the first six-plus years with the Dodgers, a year each with the Padres and A’s as well as five minutes with the Marlins. Piazza’s place in Cooperstown is all but bronzed – is what I erroneously predicted last year, but I still believe he will be enshrined.

Curt Schilling, bloody sock and all, is on my ballot. The six-time all-star pitched 20 seasons in the big leagues – three with the Orioles, one with the Astros, eight-plus with the Phillies, three-plus with the Diamondbacks, then calling it a career with the Red Sox. Schilling tossed 83 complete games, appeared in three World Series, and had three 20-plus win seasons within a four year span at ages 36, 38, and 39. Schilling should have his ticket stamped this summer – was my mistaken prediction last year, and perhaps he may be overlooked in this year’s pitching rich ballot, but Schilling still belongs among those who will enter before him.

Last but not least on my ballot would be Frank Thomas. Thomas, the “Big Hurt,” slammed 521 home runs, ranking him 18th all time. Thomas won the MVP in consecutive years, driving in 1,704 runs, and scoring 1,494. What is also impressive is that for a slugger, Thomas walked more than he struck out, 1,667 and 1,397 times respectively and had a career batting average of .301. Thomas was selected to five All Star teams and garnered four Silver Sluggers.

While it is important to not sully the Baseball Hall of Fame with the likes of Bonds, Clemens, McGwire, Palmeiro, and Sosa, the focus should be on the greats who will be enshrined this July and how they will continue to be the true ambassadors to the community as so many before them have been.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN. He has been a Patron-level member of the Baseball Hall of Fame since 2007.

Saturday, January 4, 2014

Illegal Alien Granted Law License


Illegal Alien Granted Law License
Commentary by Sanford D. Horn
January 4, 2014

Whose country is this anyway? Has the white flag of surrender been raised as the illegals continue their march toward brazen, in our faces, thumbs in our eyes, mockery of American civilization and culture?

Apparently in California, the answer to the latter question is a resounding yes, as the Supreme Court of the Golden State granted a law license to an illegal alien allowing him to practice law in the land of fruits and nuts. This is beyond outrageous.

Yet it’s not as simple as it seems. After all, Sergio Garcia, 36, a Mexican national living illegally in the United States since he was 17 months old when his parents unlawfully entered this country, is still not legally permitted to hire on with a law firm or any other business. Federal law prohibits illegals from being hired by businesses, as they are obligated to confirm the legal status of all applicants.

Thank the California Supreme Court for creating this idiosyncratic quagmire. The justices, in their inimitable stupidity grant a lawbreaker the right to practice law, but then he is just as quickly handcuffed by the very system allowing him this privilege. Make no mistake, this is an absolute travesty of justice and hopefully there will be some way to prevent Garcia from ever practicing law in California or any of these United States.

The court’s opinion does grant Garcia the right to practice law pro bono, but is also legally obligated to advise potential clients of his status, although said potential clients are under no obligation of their own to confirm the status of someone with whom they enter into a contract.

“We assume that a licensed undocumented immigrant will make all necessary inquiries and take appropriate steps to comply with applicable legal restrictions and will advise potential clients of any possible adverse or limiting effect the attorney’s immigration status may pose.” This insanity comes directly from the court opinion. It’s insane because the court makes a bold assumption that a person in this country illegally will abide by the law, and we all know what happens when we assume!


Once again, an illegal alien is rewarded in the United States. In many other countries illegals are imprisoned or otherwise punished. Mexico itself has some of the harshest laws pertaining to illegals entering its borders, but is more than just a little cavalier regarding those who would leave that country in search of a better life elsewhere, even one lived underground.

Yet, once in the United States, illegals are treated to free medical care, public education, food stamps, driver’s licenses, and other forms of entitlements simply for being in this country. This, along with the bastardization of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution must stop at once or the United States will cease to exist as the beacon of freedom it has long exemplified, but instead, descend into third-worldism.

Section 1 of Amendment XIV: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside…”

The purpose of this amendment, ratified July 9, 1868, was to confer citizenship upon recently freed slaves, not the corruption of the law by illegal aliens who sneak into the United States and give birth to a child on American soil. These anchor babies are then considered legal citizens by virtue of an illegal act that brought their parents to this country in the first place.

In Garcia’s case, he wasn’t even born in the United States, yet he managed to graduate from Chico State University and Cal Northern School of Law prior to passing the California state bar exam in 2009. How did he even gain admission to these schools in the first place? Did Garcia pay in-state or out of state tuition? What forms of identification did Garcia present in school, when taking the LSAT, and the bar exam? Perhaps Garcia is guilty of perpetrating a fraud upon the state of California, yet he is rewarded with a law license.

Institutions of higher learning allowing illegal aliens to matriculate should lose federal and state funding. Schools with the two-tiered system of in-state and out of state tuition allowing illegal aliens to enroll are guilty of discrimination against out of state residents who are citizens or legal residents of the United States.

The United States is long past the time to continue turning blind eyes away from the insidious pandemic of illegal immigration. Rewarding criminals for their illegal activities must stop immediately and all entitlements suspended permanently.

In Washington, DC, both major political parties are at fault for the perpetuation of the rise in population of illegal aliens, now approaching 20 million, regardless of official government figures. The Democrats see illegal aliens as future Democrats for life upon the granting of amnesty. Republicans, on the other hand, see illegal aliens as a form of cheap labor in an effort to curry favor with the businesses that hire them without penalty, making the GOP just as guilty.

While it is politically correct to support keeping families together, the answer is to deny illegal aliens any and all entitlements in the hopes of self-deportation. Keeping families together is an excellent idea – in their native countries. Come to America the right and legal way with a desire to make America your home, a better place than it was, and not just a place to steal from those citizens and legal residents paying taxes to support your demands for something for which you are not owed or entitled.

We the people of the United States must be vigilant in fighting for what is right, moral, legal, and just. Otherwise there will be no United States to welcome legal immigrants who arrive with a dream and a desire to thrive in the greatest country on earth.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN.