Getting caught in the middle of doing what's best for others and doing what's best for you is always a major dillema because of the guilt factor. Both alternatives need to be weighed. I think if it wasn't for the fact that we were attacked on our own soil this whole thing would have stayed down in the noise, regardless of the cost associated with it. But the reality for me is that we do need to protect ourselves, and that means more restrictions to try to prevent others from hurting us.

The fact of the matter is that illegals are a tremendous drain on our economy. We do, in fact, pay a huge bill to maintain and care for them that would disappear or be substantially reduced if they paid into the system. The solution has to include having everyone pay in, and that's what the guest worker program would accomplish. Not only that, but anyone who has been working here would have to pony up penalties and taxes and declare themselves and their reason for being here. If they are unwilling to do so, they will be deported. Seems fair to me.

The current tax base is adjusted to take into account the cost associated with the 12 million or so illegals in this country. Legitimate employers currently carry the brunt of the cost, and taxes that you and I pay take up the slack. In fact, thoes who use illegals and pay them under the table are not paying anything into the system for these workers. Having guest workers pay into the system would relieve some of the burdon on employers and allow them to put that money into higher salaries.

I personally don't feel guilty about what I have. Many people do, but in reality we all pay more than our fair share. By the time you add up Federal, State city, and county tax, along with the taxes built into the cost of goods and additional excise and "sin" tax, many of us are paying over 50% of our income into the tax base. In addition. most of us contribute to various charities and organizations. Just because we have grown our economy when others haven't, we shouldn't feel guilty for not giving most of it away. God knows our government does that for us. We give enough of it back through taxes that fund foreign aid as well as supplement the poor of this country. There just isn't enough guilt to justify not securing our borders and our security. We can no longer afford to be nice guys and look the other way unless we are willing to pay with more American lives. And I strongly believe that we are at a high risk of that happening until we get this issue of knowing who is here somewhat under control.