2 July 2013 – A pertinent definition of modern sovereignty:

2 July 2013 –

A pertinent definition of modern sovereignty: A local entity—a king, a government, or a people—that has sufficient, independent power to sustain, govern, and protect itself within a specific geographic area.  Independent power and established borders are the key elements to modern sovereignty.  We also should recognize that sovereignty is an absolute, which a country can approach but probably never attain.  Only a fraction of the 200 or so government entities in the world associated with territory and people have sufficient military, political, economic, and diplomatic power to be considered strongly sovereign.  The United States is the most nearly sovereign country on earth; but, to maintain our strength, we must create and enforce legislation that prioritizes the maintenance of U.S. sovereignty above other, lesser objectives.     

Today’s illegal immigration crisis threatens our nation’s sovereignty.  Our military, political, economic, and diplomatic institutions, our instruments of national power, have the means to resolve the problems caused by illegal immigration.  Sadly, decision-makers for decades have abandoned their obligation to control and protect our borders, which is the fundamental duty of a sovereign state.  This has allowed millions of foreigners to enter and to stay in our country illegally.  The result is that our borders are as porous as those of the late Roman Empire when invading Germanic tribes came to stay.    

Too many U.S. politicians exploit for political gain the influx of illegal immigrants into their jurisdictions.  They abet the creation of protected, foreign enclaves in most of our major cities.  Illegal immigrants, as a group, wield significant political and economic power on local, state, and national levels, boldly representing their native countries’ diplomatic agendas.  This differs little from Roman emperors colluding with Germanic chiefs, then firmly ensconced on empire lands, and increasing their power at the expense of Roman citizens’ rights and liberties. 

For centuries, a state’s sovereignty was connected to its ability to pursue and achieve the sovereign’s best interests.  Originally, in most states, the sovereign was the king or the nobility.  In the United States, the sovereign was and is the people, the citizens.  If our state cannot act in the best interests of its citizens, it cannot be considered a sovereign state.  Following any legitimate definition of national sovereignty, illegal immigration has eroded the United States’ ability to make its own decisions for its own purposes.  This is strikingly similar to the damaging effects of other sovereignty crises in our country.  Are we sovereign, or able to control our own economy, if our enormous national debt is increasingly controlled by other countries’ banks and, therefore, other countries’ politicians?  No.  Are we sovereign, or able to enrich our economy, if countries whose political, cultural, and economic goals are opposed to ours continue to control the sources of a significant percentage of our energy needs?  No.  Following that same logic, are we sovereign if large numbers of foreigners, for their own political, economic, and security needs, enter our country at their will and influence our security, economic, political, and diplomatic decisions?  The answer is the same: No. 

Illegal immigration is a threat to what defines us as a nation.  Immigration law reform first must require that our borders be controlled and that our entry and residency laws be strictly enforced before any legal recognition or relief be given to those illegal immigrants currently breaking our laws by residing within our borders.  This must be our first step to immigration reform because the United States is different from all other countries on earth.  We define ourselves as a cohesive, sovereign people not because we all look the same, worship the same, speak the same language, or submit to the same king.  We are sovereign because we, the people, submit ourselves to the rule of state and national law.  At the same time, we, the people, as responsible citizens of the United States, must monitor our laws in order to maintain our God-given, individual freedoms and our collective security.  Our porous borders and corrupt neglect of immigration laws endanger our sovereignty because they allow illegal foreigners to heavily influence our security, political, economic, and diplomatic policy and, when it is convenient to them, be recognized as part of our body politic.  We might as well be a third-world country that almost no high school graduate can find on a world map. 

Or France.