LET THE AMERICAN PEOPLE DECIDE …
The American people are tired of political gamesmanship, gridlock and procrastination. They want government to improve our border security and fix our broken immigration system once and for all.
Border security experts agree that a combination of barriers, sensors and personnel are proven and effective ways of reducing illegal immigration, human trafficking, drug / gun smuggling, and criminal / terrorist infiltration.
Immigration experts agree that a combination of reforms, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) extensions, and a pathway to citizenship for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) will protect American workers and improve the lives of undocumented aliens in the country.
Democrats and Republicans know these common sense solutions will solve most if not all of our humanitarian and security problems at the southern border, yet they refuse to compromise and get it done.
Why? Because ‘compromise’ is a dirty word. Extremists on both sides of the political aisle prevent their leaders from finding common ground. As a January 2018 Time magazine article explained, the far right opposes any policy they believe is ‘amnesty’ and the far left opposes any policy they believe is ‘anti-immigration.’ Additionally, as the 2020 election campaign gets underway, the far right will leave Trump in droves if he doesn’t ‘build the wall’ and the far left will mutiny against Pelosi if she agrees to anything proffered by an ‘illegitimate, impeachable and racist president.’
We believe the majority of Americans will not tolerate the status quo for the next two years. They want compromise and an effective government. So what can be done?
To help break the political stalemate and bring an expeditious end to the partial government shutdown, we propose that President Trump invite Speaker Pelosi to debate (a’ la Lincoln-Douglas) their respective border security and immigration proposals on national television.
We believe this debate would afford the two party leaders an opportunity to make their case directly to the American people in a most transparent and informative way.
We leave it to the respective parties to negotiate the date, time, place and rules of the debate, but let’s do this as soon as possible so the country can compare the proposals side-by-side and decide what makes most sense.
Subsequent citizen calls of support to their congressional representatives will sway votes and result in either a win for one of the plans or force compromise … while re-opening the government in the process.
Besides priming the pump of our stalled democracy, this debate would be can’t miss TV. Talk about entertainment value. No doubt, millions of Americans would tune in, garnering a massive audience. Let’s get ready to rumble!
