Soob

And one dimensional. Side A, the bleeding hearts that envision utopia at every turn of policy wold have us believe that illegal immigration is "fair" to the hard working simple folk that trundle across our border, smiling, waving rakes and bustling with energy to do the work American's are simply "too good" to do. Never minding the due process that makes coming to America in a legal fashion an ordeal years long.

Side B, the rigid conservatives, barking and yipping about "them beaners stealing our jobs" as though the American employment market is frozen in an 18th century semblance of agriculture, American farm hands lining the streets begging, running squeegees across windshields for coins. Blabbering on about terrorists crossing the southern border when the last and most spectacular terrorist attack in modern history occurred after those that propagated it sauntered across the Canadian border.

This isn't to say that each side is completely without merit. Certainly the demographical boost America receives from a hefty flow of illegals who bear and raise legal citizens, most of which work and pay taxes and will, in my most humble opinion, be a saving grace for our completely corrupt Social Security program if a saving grace is to be had.

Additionally, the porous nature of our southern border is a matter of great worry in terms of national security. Though I worry less about an Al Qaeda attack and a bit more about the seedier nature of illegals streaming across, that being organized crime and increased gang activity. A small percentage of those that hop the Rio Grand, perhaps, but a worrying factor none the less.

No, the frustrating quality of the immigration debate is that it's nearly always argued from the unipolar position of America and what negative or positive effects said immigration has on our own sovereignty. Little consideration is given to the state of Mexico's stability as virtual civil war erupts and re-pats pour back in straining an already incompetent civil infrastructure.

The stability of Mexico has a very direct effect on American national security, not just in terms of our economic terms on a bi-national level, but also the societal condition of Mexico and how it can and will bleed cross border if and as it collapses. One need only give a quick glance at a myriad of African conflagrations to realize that the collapse of a neighboring state means people on the move, en mass. People on the move, en mass, generally head for the stability of neighboring states. Just ask Thabo Mbeki who, wisely, saw the forest through the trees and took a decidedly moderate direction of discourse regarding Robert Mugabe.

The debate regarding illegal immigration and US/Mexican relations needs to be filleted from it's current narrow course to a more open and critically thought out conversation. Mexico isn't just Spring Break and a source of job stealing illegals. Quite the contrary, it's of paramount importance to America security.