Do you have the feeling that the US is spinning out of control? Our auto giants are begging for $34 billion in bailout, while the Government Accounting Office tells us about the inadequate monitoring of the $700 billion in bailouts for the financial sector.

Stories of layoffs and foreclosures of homes of American citizens have lately been somewhat obscured by the patina of optimism about the prospects for improvement under the incoming Obama Administration. But the average American citizen can't feel that things are rosy.

Fortunately, the DC City Council has just passed a resolution that, for the four days around the time of the January 20 Presidential Inauguration, the town's bars will be allowed to stay open 24 hours a day—which should provide temporarily improved spirits for all those of us who are feeling blue about being in the red.

When DC's imbibers and the rest of America wake up–as indeed those now out of work are doing—we will find a lot more to worry about, as the legacy of "W"'s eight years of crass illegality to further Presidential power comes home to roost.

While I often find great reporting and solid analysis of many complex subjects in my local paper, the Washington Post, its persistent calls for another alien amnesty, fly in the face of reality, the Rule of Law, and the needs of all but the richest capitalists.

The mantra of cheap imported labor continually wafts through the Post's news pages and in its editorials. Prime example: Its December 3, 2008; editorial Democrats Should Face the Challenge: Immigration reform can't be neglected lauds incoming Secretary of Homeland Security, Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano's "balanced toughness and compassion on illegal immigration while scoring sky-high approval ratings in a state reeling from waves of undocumented migrants."

Same old canard—the Post persists in using the word "reform" when everyone knows it means another major amnesty, another major import of unneeded foreigners. The Post correctly notes the need for "broad reform of the nation's failed immigration system", but as usual endorses the wrong prescription.

Talk about chutzpah! The Post's editorial says, "Even in a sharp recession, the United States will continue to depend on millions of undocumented workers. Unless they address the plight of these workers and forge an enforcement regime that works, the Democrat-controlled Congress and the new administration will allow a sore to fester."

Again, "undocumented workers" are not called what they are—"illegal aliens", here breaking our Rule of Law and undercutting precious jobs for American citizens. The extent of immigration fraud grows all the time. Example: The Center for Immigration Studies just issued a bell ringer report on marriage fraud against US citizens. [Hello, I Love You, Won't You Tell Me Your Name: Inside the Green Card Marriage Phenomenon, By David Seminara, November 2008]

In fairness, according the Post, Napolitano "As U.S. attorney for Arizona in the 1990s, .... prosecuted illegal immigrants. As governor of a state that has become the main entry point for illegal aliens, she has backed tough measures to tighten control of the border, including deploying the National Guard.  Faced with an inundation of unauthorized workers and the federal government's inability to act, she also signed a bill cracking down on employers who knowingly hire undocumented workers."

However, "At the same time, she vetoed a bill that would have cut off in-state tuition aid for undocumented college students, even if they were brought to the country as children by their parents. She quashed another bill that would have forced local police to act as stand-in federal immigration agents, arresting illegal residents and, she noted, saddling the state with tens of millions of dollars in expenses."

Is Napolitano a little bit pregnant? Yes, indeed.

Point: She recognizes the problem, but calls, as did the failed 1986 amnesty legislation, for the wrong solution. The perfect analogy is allowing a little bit of inflation as a long-term government policy. Remember Nixon saying, "We are all Keynesians now" as the US went on an inflationary binge which brought my 3200 square foot home built for $34,000 in 1965 up to a $1 million house in 2007—making us all think we were rich, while we used our growing home equity as a piggy bank.

Not dealing with patriotic immigration reform falls in exactly in the category of failing to keep a solid currency and letting inflation be the escape valve—which is now causing a world wide tummy ache, if not a long term world depression.

Let's stop name-calling, which is standard fare of the amnesty crowd, again used in this editorial.

"To Republicans in the party's nativist wing, her attempts to steer a middle course smacked of coddling illegal border-crossers."

American citizens who want to adhere to real reform and the Rule of Law are not "tivists"—they are speaking to our highest traditions. The Post rightly fingers the general public reaction of American citizens, "Resistance to comprehensive reform will be intense, particularly in a lifeless economy with high unemployment. There are 40 million foreign-born people in the country today, the highest proportion in almost a century. That has caused political discomfort not just in cities but in suburban, exurban and rural areas—the new melting pots where many immigrants, including illegal ones, have settled."

(Oh, so you do admit there are illegal aliens here. Good start, Post.)

We know that the long term solution begins with solid enforcement at our borders. Surely that needs beefing up.

Secondly, many illegal aliens now here will be leaving as the massive downturn, particularly if the effective and much needed E-Verify legislation due to expire next spring can be put on a long term basis.

Third, the Mumbai experience proves that we will be more and more open to attack. [Homeland Security Priorities | A chilling report highlights the agency's primary purpose . . ,December 3, 2008] Allowing MS-13 type criminal alien gangs to stay invites cooperation with outside enemies.

And fourth and finally, while there may be some basis for compromise on long term illegal alien amnesties, let's be sure that solid ID work with drivers' licenses and other forms of secure documentation precedes a rush to renew the failed amnesty policies of the past.

Let's look to fashioning a careful, enforceable future policy which allows legal immigrants to come based on real need not greed.

Donald A. Collins [email him], is a freelance writer living in Washington DC and a former long time member of the board of FAIR, the Federation for American Immigration Reform. His views are his own.