I am an American. I'm twenty-two years old, and I am the future of the United States of America. I wish to take a stand, and be heard, rather than represented by views that I do not hold as an American Citizen. Do not call be naive because I am young. Do not brush me to the side because of my inexperience. America, hear what I have to say, because you and I will be one in the nigh future.

I refuse to be represented by any one political faction. Call me conservative. Call me an idealist. Call me Republican. I will not refute that claim. But above all, call me an individual. I have my own ideals, I have my own words. This is why I vote, this is how I am heard.

I refuse to stand by the side as President Bush, whom I supported until recent, tries to grant amnesty to the 'undocumented workers' of the US. I refuse to stand by the side while the literal criminals that are these 'undocumented workers' continue to steal from my tax dollars. I refuse to listen to this political jargon anymore.

Call them what they are. These people are criminals. They are thieves. They aspire to cheat the system that they know is broken. This is a federal law that calls for deportation of those that do not follow the guidelines that are put in place, and we are not enforcing this law. What then, does this show for the credibility of our government? What does that say for our laws that punish murder, rape, theft, and tax violation? It lessens the credibility of these laws. It means that somebody could start 'feeling' like violating our laws, and expect to not be punished. I'm in complete support of changing the system, without a doubt. However, those people that are in current violation of our laws MUST be punished. Granting illegal immigrants amnesty or citizen status as a part of the law change is like pardoning a criminal that is currently committing a violent crime. These standards are set in place right now, and should be followed, right now. Deport these illegal Immigrants. If they wanted to be American Citizens they would be trying to follow our rules, not violating them. There is a reason for the difficulty involved in becoming an American Citizen right now. It means you have to WORK to achieve the goal. It makes the Naturalization process something to be appreciated. Any Naturalized citizen will call themselves AMERICAN CITIZENS. None of this hyphenated crock of refuse like "Mexican-American" or "Filipino-American" or "Japanese-American." That is what I call UN-American. You ask what their nationality is, and they'll tell you that they are from Mexico, the Philippines, or Japan. But they say it flat: I am American. They worked for it. They say it's too difficult, but they still did it, because that was their goal, unlike the illegals that we have here right now that are violating IRS laws, federal laws, and the Immigration Laws. These people, if you grant them Amnesty, will hold no allegiance to our sovereign nation. They will be the hyphenated American. They will be those that do not appreciate our freedoms. In fact, they will abuse them, without regards as to why they even have the freedoms that they do, and without any appreciation of the country that granted them the permission and the ability to live as they do. These people are not even paying the taxes that every red blooded American pays. If they are, then they're doing so on forged documents. That's another federal offense. So now that's two strikes against these people. How many breaks are we going to give them before we set our foot down and send them back to their country? They are destroying our economy while we continue to look the other way!

My solution to the problem is simple. We are the United States of America. We have the reputation of being THE Free Nation. Not the FREELOADING Nation. We may be the land of Bread and Honey to many, but we need to set guidelines. Guidelines that will be followed. For the existing illegal alien, because that is what they are, you are subject to a background check, a newborn federal record, so that you now have a history of breaking our laws, a federal level fine appropriate to the offense, and if they want to become an American Citizen they have to pay back taxes for every job they have held. Further, they have to be posed the question: "Do you want to become a US citizen?" If the answer is yes, then they go to the back of the Immigration Line to begin the process. If they slack in their pursuit of citizenship, they are immediately deported with an additional fine. In order to find all these people, it is simple. Begin checking work places where they are known to exist. "That would be profiling!" you say? No it wouldn't. It would be enforcing the LAW. "Racism!" you cry? I'm sorry, but how wrong is it for a police officer to pull you over and ask you for your driver's license? That is how simple this process is. If you don't have it, then you're getting a ticket. If you don't have your green card, or citizenship card, you get deported/fined/removed.

The next step in improving the system is equally simple. Let us keep the Americanism exam. Change the questions, make it somewhat simpler, but not by much. Reduce the process from seven years to two. Make the process something to be appreciated. Make it in such a way that we will not be ashamed of our America. This is where ideas abound. We can change it up however it is necessary. Welcome to America. You earn your citizenship, you appreciate it, and you are willing to die for it.

Too fatalistic? Perhaps. But that is how it is with us Americans. People shed their blood for the freedoms we have come to live by. They are still shedding blood for our freedom, and for the freedom of others. Face it, we need to appreciate the men and women of the Armed Services.

I am an American. I am twenty two years old, and I wish my voice to be heard around this country. I wish to be represented by somebody who represents me. I don't want to be represented by a democrat. I don't want to be represented by a republican. I want to be represented by a man or woman who has the ability to listen to my voice. A political party is a sham. It is a joke, because no group of people can represent everything any one man or woman stand for. I'm an independent thinking individual. Not an Independent, but an independent thinker.

Hilary Clinton, I address you directly. How do you represent me? I saw what happened in the world when your husband was in office. I was directly affected by your husband's decision to cut our military forces. My entire life was changed, and I was forced to move. My father served ten years in the United States Air Force, three times decorated, and honorably discharged. I was with him. At seven going on eight, I left the friends that I had my whole life, many of which were Japanese, to return to the States. My entire life was changed by Bill Clinton's decision. Because of this, when a national emergency arose come 9-11, our nation was not prepared for the required retaliation. I say required, because our nation was attacked out-right, and if we did nothing, then we would stand as weak in the eyes of many, and invite further attacks. Men, women, and children that should never have seen combat died that day. Rescue workers that do not discriminate between race, religion, creed, nor sexual orientation died. People that would have been working to rescue anybody who was dying, died that day. How do you represent me on this issue?

Hilary Clinton, who are you representing? Me? Where do you stand on the current issue of our combat in Iraq? From what I see, you wish to bring our men and women in uniform home. While I say it's time to bring them home, I do not say it is time to relinquish combat. McCain represents me more here. He knows military service, he knows these things. Ask any soldier that has seen the field. Ask them the questions, have them show the pictures, and see what they say. Liberal media will never show these things. Never publish their statements. Because they know that 100% of the time... the answer is "I'm fighting for their freedom. We are needed in Iraq. They have nobody to fight for them."

What of abortion? Or should I say Legalized murder? Flag burning? or should I say burning of the symbol of our national sovereignty? Open protests of the war? Or should I say open protests against what we stand for?

Obama, I pose to you the same questions. McCain? While I support McCain, does he really represent me? Huckabee?

Bush, I supported you. I supported you when you first took office, when the economy took an immediate dip. That was not your fault, that was the continued delay of the Clinton Administration. An economy functions in a cycle, and therefore, the economic decline was meant to happen to begin with. I supported you, regardless of what the other parties said against you. You acted in a wise manner throughout the troubles that were dropped on you. The military actions you took were well chosen and executed. The actions you took had to be done, though they were a double edged sword. Had you turned the other way in 9-11, you would have received bad ratings from everywhere, as you have for taking action already. Had you not taken action against Iraq, Saddam would have moved against somebody in the East, and we would have had war anyway. You've made good decisions, and done well already. I applaud you're administration Mr. President. You represented me well in your actions these past 8 years. But now, I question your decisions and choices on the new bills you propose to pass as law. Are you representing me now?

The point isn't to make a conservative stand, nor a liberal stand. The point is simple. Americans need to stand up and proclaim what they want this country to be, rather than listening to what they hear, and repeating it. Rather than letting some man or woman that is a professional politician step up into office and run things how their party wants it to be run. We need to tell them what we want them to do, because they are intended to represent us. The Constitution was written as a guide to our country, and it states there that we are a Democracy. Representative, but still a democracy. We are the people of this nation, and we need to stand up to be heard. We must vote to tell them how it is they should do it. If they are to represent us, we must tell them what we want. If you do not vote, you may not complain. You are not allowed to complain, because you chose not to state your opinion.

I am an American. I want to be heard. I want to be listened to, to be represented. I want to be heard for who I am, for what I am, for who I claim to be. I am not naive. I am young. I am not inexperienced. I am the future of America. You people who call yourselves politicians are meant to represent me. You that are running for president are fourty and older, yet I am the future. I have to live for the next fifty or more years with the leadership that I get today, and so I am putting my foot down today, and telling you what to do, because you are meant to represent me. I want an America that I can call my own, that is more my own than it is today, and that I am even more proud to be a citizen of. Hear me, America, because I am your Youth.

If you so choose, pass this on today. Pass this on to anybody who will listen. Pass it on to the church, to your friends, to your family. Post it on public boards. Let the politicians hear my voice. They are, after all, supposedly representing the American People.

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Even in a world of Darkness, the smallest of Light can prevail.