Understanding Newt Gingrich's 21st Century Contract w/ America (pt 4)

For the past few days, we’ve been exploring the plans enclosed in Newt Gingrich’s 21^st Century Contract with America here at Biblical Conservatism. Today we’re going to dive into it further.

Control the border by January 1, 2014 and establish English as the official language of government; reform the legal visa system, and make it much easier to deport criminals and gang members while making it easier for law abiding visitors to come to the US.

The United States must control its border. It is a national security imperative.

Every nation has the right to control its border. Historically, every country that has been determined to control their border has been able to do so. Controlling the border is a matter of resources and will.

As Americans, we can accomplish unimaginable feats when we have the resources and the will. The United States won World War II in 3 years and 8 months. In the 44 months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States mobilized its resources to defeat Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, and Imperial Japan.

Unfortunately, we haven’t brought any sense of urgency to controlling our border – even as a drug-fueled civil war now rages in Mexico.

It’s not hard, friends.  We need to keep those who don’t belong in our country.  We have a right to do so, just as much as I have the right to lock the doors of my house when I’m not home (or if I am home if I desire). If you are not here legally as a citizen, a guest worker, with a visa or whatever, you should not be in America.  Period.

This bill will waive every obstacle to controlling the border and would shift resources to achieve virtually 100% control by January 1, 2014. If necessary, we would move one-half of the 23,000 Washington-area Department of Homeland Security bureaucrats to the Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona borders.

Gingrich is absolutely right. If we set our collective mind to it we can absolutely secure the border.  It’s not hard.  Let’s start with employing some of the same security measures that are in place in so many private institutions.  We need to apply those solutions.  Use our military and yes, for Heaven’s sake, build a fence.

At the same time we are controlling the border we should make it easier for honest people to visit America honestly.

Our current visa system is inefficient, expensive, and inhospitable and drives people away from visiting the United States. Americans and visitors deserve a system that works.

Americans will benefit from a fairer, more secure, more efficient system, which will ensure that foreign visitors, students, workers and job-creators alike provide as many positive benefits as possible to our economy and society.

It’s been said that we’re a nation of immigrants.  To one degree or another, my ancestors were immigrants.  Some came to America before the United States became an independent nation.  Others came in the 20^th Century through Ellis Island.  Either way, they were LEGAL immigrants.  We’re a nation of LEGAL immigrants. I agree that once we have a secure border, we need to then modernize our immigration system to make LEGAL immigration easier.

Revitalize our national security system to meet 21st century threats by restructuring and adequately funding our security agencies to function within a grand strategy for victory over those who seek to kill us or to limit American freedom.

The current leadership of the United States is severely out of touch with the escalating dangers that threaten our security. If the people’s security cannot be assured, the unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are meaningless, which is why the first responsibility of government is to defend the nation. In the preamble to the Constitution, providing “for the common defense” is identified as a primary reason for forming the new government. As American presidents have traditionally found, our nation’s peace and safety is best maintained through a robust military capacity, tireless vigilance, and a clear strategy for identifying and countering potential threats—a policy widely known as “peace through strength.” Adherents of such a policy do not seek confrontation. To the contrary, America leads the world in spending on the military and on national security precisely to ensure that our wars are as rare and as swift as possible.

This world is in danger of becoming dramatically more dangerous in the not-too-distant future, and we need to overhaul our entire strategy now if we intend to continue being the safest, freest and most prosperous country in the world. It is very dangerous for Washington to consider dismantling key parts of our national security structure during a time of war. When we convey weakness and confusion, we become most vulnerable to attack. As Ronald Reagan warned in 1980, “We know only too well that war comes not when the forces of freedom are strong; it is when they are weak that tyrants are tempted.”

So many people want to put their Happy Imagination Hats on with this subject and talk about giving Miranda Rights to enemy combatants, etc, but unfortunately that won’t work in reality.  We can’t be nice enough to Islamic Facists (note: this group encompasses only a portion of Muslims) so that they won’t hate us.  They didn’t attack us on 9/11 because we had a base in the Middle East.  They attacked us because we’re not Islamic Facists too.  Period.  They believe the Qur’an tells them to kill Infidels if they don’t convert at gunpoint.  We cannot compromise, we can only defeat.  And we must.  Barack Obama is, in a word, a pansy, when it comes to security.  He’s let the ACLU run the CIA, and that is not helping our cause. The fact is we have not had a major attack on American Soil since 9/11.  We’ve had a few domestic terrorists go nuts but let’s be honest, and no offense to any victim’s family, but the Fort Hood Shooter is not even close to being an equivalent to 9/11.  We need a President who is willing to make the tough decisions.

The next Administration and Congress must decisively address the following realities:

1.      There are very, very different challenges emerging simultaneously and each requires a fundamentally different strategic response;

The history of war in America is replete with more bloodshed than necessary because we used outdated technology.  The Civil War, for example, used tactics developed by Napoleon for fighting with muskets, and using the new rifle and Minie Ball (which by the way wasn’t a ball, it was one of the first projectiles that was actually shaped like a bullet, not a ball).  We’re still trying to fight the War on Terrorism like it is a war with another nation, and ignoring new tactics and weapons.

2.      The bureaucracies of national and homeland security, intelligence, diplomacy and space activities are all decaying in their effective implementation capability and are wrapped up in red tape and inefficiency;

Like I said above, Obama is letting the ACLU run the CIA.  We do need to get out of the way of our protective agencies and remove bureaucracy to make these programs leaner and more efficient.  You don’t do this by getting rid of field agents…you do it by getting rid of bureaucrats!

3.      Our military infrastructure has become dangerously outdated, with our arsenal and equipment in urgent need of new investment

People tell us how our infrastructure is outdated (like we need new bridges if the old bridge still works fine) but never take issue with the fact that the 35 year old F-16 Aircraft is still in use with basically the same technology as before, and the F-14 was only retired five years ago.

4.      There are new emerging technologies endangering us – for example, electromagnetic pulse weapons, cyberwar, and lawfare, which we are not prepared to deal with;

Being nice enough to new threats doesn’t work.  We have to change with the times or we are in trouble.

5.      American leaders are tired after seven decades of being the world’s preeminent power, and are very resistant to putting in the time and energy it will take to understand the emerging threats and the necessary responses.

Yes, it is hard work being the big kid on the block because there’s always someone dying to knock you off.  But it’s good to be the one who always can defeat those attacks.  We are the safest nation in the world, and it’s not because we apologize and grovel.

Next week we’ll conclude our series with the last two points.