While I think Hugo Chavez is a brutal dictator who has brought much pain to Venezuela and the surrounding countries, he does understand the importance of a country protecting its borders.

In response to the conflict over border incursions by Columbia into Ecuador, Chavez withdrew Venezuelan diplomats from Bogota and has strengthened the military presence on the border between Colombia and Venezuela. (click here for article)

Chavez proclaimed:

"May God spare us a war. But we are not going to allow them violate our sovereign territory."

As more and more illegal aliens cross over our seemingly nonexistent border, our sovereignty becomes less and less clear.

In the Texas debate, Clinton and Obama both said they support not enforcing the Secure Border Fence Act and that President Bush has been too aggressive in building a fence. (click here for article) While they both supported the bill when it came up for a vote, they now think that it was wrong. They were for it before they were against it...

Meanwhile, Homeland Security has announced plans to build 57 miles of border fencing near El Paso. (click here for AP article)

Pat Buchanan offers a sad but accurate portrayal of the immense failures of our government in regards to border security. (click here for his commentary) The government's recent admission that technical problems will delay the construction of the virtual fence demonstrated the need for a much more comprehensive approach to border security.

The citizens of the United States deserve a government that will seek to protect and defend the country's borders. We must all hope that our politicians recognize the importance of border security and begin to secure the border before it becomes a moot issue

It should be more than a little demoralizing that Hugo Chavez is more right on the issue of border security than the elected representatives of the citizens of the United States...