I thought I had come to a conclusion. Regarding illegal immigration, I was convinced that the most sensible, realistic political solution, for the GOP at least, is a phased plan that includes a fence, penalties for employers, and then amnesty for illegals after a number of years. That was the short-term, GOP don’t lose the midterms, political solution. However, that solution is not necessarily the right solution. I have renounced that position and discovered a new, radical, positive, truly American vision. You will probably be surprised to find out that I now favor open borders.

To understand, you must accompany on this journey in transcending the realm of purely political thinking. Today, Lloyd talked about the symbolic implications of a wall. If we build a wall, it says: The American Dream is for us and no one else. It encourages a bunker mentality.

Glenn Reynolds brings up the idea of annexing Mexico. When I really think about it, does opening the borders really mean we’ll be overloaded with a flood of Mexicans… or does it mean something else? If we enacted open borders that were two-way, we would see American businesses and entrepreneurs flooding into Mexico, in fact. There’s opportunity for all sorts of factories and development. If it were two-way, we would not face a sort of death by demography, but something that would actually be quite good for America, I think.

Agree with the war in Iraq or not, there’s something to be said about exporting democracy to another country — to exporting our ideals. Part of the American ideology is not that this dream is only meant for us: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And is that not what these immigrants, legal or otherwise, seek? Pursuit of happiness? It doesn’t seem to make sense to me, considering the notion of sovereignty, that people are entitled to be American, but it is true that all people are endowed with our same dream.

I’ve been faced with a cognitive dissonance lately. I’ve been thinking with an “under siege” mentality. I think “These people are not entitled to these things.” Yet, the message of America as a beacon of hope in the world remains strong. It remains the core of my nationalism. I struggle to reconcile these within my mind. I want to think radically, and then I realize that there really is nothing new under the sun.

We live in a time of sequels, just check out our movies if you don’t believe me. We got Bush II and Gulf War II. I think it’s time for Manifest Destiny II. It should be our goal to expand the American ideal across the Western Hemisphere and the world. I’m sure we could twist the Monroe Doctrine enough that it says just that.

If we really believe in the universality of our ideals, then we should not worry about a “Mexican invasion.” Tell me, what ideals does Mexico espouse that can be stronger than ours? We are stronger and will remain stronger because America is not reliant on demography. America is more than a place. America is more than America. America is an idea more than anything else. Of freedom, of democracy, of hope and promise, of everybody being able to achieve what they dream of to the best of their abilities.

Now is not the time to hunker down, especially not in these times of peril. Now is the time to expand. Now is the time to prove that what we believe is right. We also face a war of ideology against Islamofascists, and we must prove that we are a true democracy. We must prove to them that they are the hypocrites, not us. We must prove to them that our ideas work best, not their twisted perversions of God and faith. We must prove that America really is America.

In that sense, we face a deeper threat than any our nation has faced before. In the Civil War, we faced the separation of our Union, but we pulled through and freed the slaves. In WWII, we faced an external threat. During this War on Terror, we face an enemy that does not have the physical strength to defeat us for it is an enemy that is psychological in nature. In facing this enemy, we face the danger of becoming that very same enemy. We risk not being destroyed by others, but destroying ourselves, destroying the very fabric of America.

I’ve had a thought come to me several times, and it applies to all realms of warfare: You must define the enemy before he defines you. In this War on Terror, we are losing because we are letting the enemy define us. The rest of the world does not love us, and they don’t love the American ideal. It’s time to change that, and it starts here, right in our own backyard. It starts with Mexico.

Open the borders. However can the weaker defeat the stronger? I don’t think it will end up with a Mexican takeover of the US. Instead, it will be a US economic takeover of Mexico.

Indeed, the opening of borders contains a truly conservative ideology within it. Mexican workers will send remittances back home, which helps them economically more than foreign aid. We don’t want to hand people in our own country welfare checks instead of letting them work for it. Why should we restrict this policy domestically? Does it not make sense to let them work and build up their country themselves?

And with a border open two-ways, our businesses will also travel into Mexico. They will further the development and the Mexican people will be deeply indebted to America.

To my readers, I implore you to always think bigger, as I am attempting to do. Opening the borders is not an act of destroying our sovereignty. Instead, it is a de facto annexation of Mexico. We will not alienate the Latino people as the Europeans have alienated the Arabs living amongst them. We will not tell them that they have no right to aspire to become what we are. We will let our neighbors embrace the American Dream. And once Mexico has gained, we will extend this throughout the Western Hemisphere… until the spectre of socialism is finally abolished. Until the people abandon Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez. Until the people realize that America truly believes in what she says.

I am young and will not trap myself in the ideologies of my predecessors. No, I tell you, when indeed I become a politician, I will still not let myself become trapped.

I hope to become one who can transcend the traditional framework, and to be able to communicate that to everyone.

In calling it Manifest Destiny, I mean not to invoke an American arrogance and exceptionalism. If you’ve read any of what I wrote, my message is not one that excludes. My message is one of hope for all people.