When the Dream Act failed to pass the Congress, the President lost a key pillar in his "road to citizenship" plan to legalize "undocumented aliens".

Having failed in law, the Obama administration, through Janet Napolitano (a.k.a. Big Sis) has issued a directive that the administration will review all cases of illegal immigrants slated for deportation. According to the Federation for American Immigration Reform this new policy is "blanket amnesty".Only illegal immigrants who are convicted criminals will now be deported, after a very long and expensive investigation and trial. To further complicate the deportations, if there is a child involved, who is pursuing an education or in the military, the family will not be deported. With close to 12 million illegal immigrants in this country, the new policy will only focus on the few and grant de facto amnesty to the many.Those illegals without a criminal record get to live here, collect welfare, and avoid income taxes if that is what they choose to do. We will then pay their medical expenses should they get sick and pay for their defense if they are charged with a crime. We will pay and continue to pay until we spend all of the money that Ben Bernanke can print.Sometimes there are unintended consequences for not deporting illegals. An undocumented worker ran over and killed a 4-year-old child this week. It is "alleged" that the 22-year-old illegal immigrant was twice stopped for driving without a license.Rather than deporting this man, who committed a crime, not once but twice, the police let him go. He continued to drive without a license. He is now in jail on charges of vehicular manslaughter in the death of the child. It could be said that the police who failed to turn this man over to federal authorities for deportation are partially responsible for the death of this child.On two previous occasions they caught him driving a car without a license. They knew he was an illegal. I understand that the police acted in accordance to the instructions from their political leaders with regards to immigration enforcement. As a result, a 4-year-old child died so that a few politicians could win some votes.In my opinion, our President broke his oath to uphold the Constitution and enforce the laws of the United States regarding illegal immigration. When the President and his administration cannot get the laws passed that they want, they use their regulatory power to accomplish their goals.I call this ruling by regulation rather than legislation. For example, when the administration could not get the Cap and Trade legislation passed, they used the EPA as a weapon against the power companies. The EPA recently implemented tighter standards on omissions for power plants.Over the last three decades, the turbines that produce our electricity have been modernized to reduce pollution and now provide much safer and cleaner power. In a further attempt to eliminate coal-fired plants, the administration implemented standards so tight that many coal-fired plants will now need to shut down.This is a double whammy for those of us who live in Pennsylvania. Not only is much of our power produced from coal, but the coal is mined here. Shutting down the plants will also shut down the mines adding to the growing unemployment in our region.Anyone who thinks nuclear power is safe and clean needs to look at the facts. Nuclear accidents can and do happen. Japan recently had a major accident that still has not been cleaned up. We in Pennsylvania have experienced the Three Mile Island nuclear disaster. Radioactive waste is currently stored in water pools at nuclear plants and on the ground in dry casks when the water pools fill up.This waste was supposed to go to a federal storage facility to be built with $24 billion in the Nuclear Waste Fund. To meet the financial needs of the government, this fund was raided, the cash taken and replaced with government bonds. The Yucca Mountain Storage Facility was closed in 2009 after over $9 billion was spent on site selection, preparation and pre-construction expenses. Now there is no central facility to safely store radioactive waste.It is only a matter of time until there is a serious accident involving this material. (http://thedailyrecord.com/2011/03/01/24b-fund-to-create-repository-for-spent-nuclear-fuel-unused-since-'82/)Safe, clean, coal-fired electric plants are to be shut down and dirty, dangerous nuclear plants will replace them. Closing coal-fired plants will drive the cost of electricity even higher in the hopes that this will artificially stimulate green power initiatives. In reality, all it will do is increase the cost of electricity and place another burden on families struggling to make ends meet in these hard times.As the number of government regulations increases, many businesses are throwing in the towel. Recently, Main Street Bank in Texas decided to close its doors because of FDIC harassment. This bank chose to lend money to small businesses rather than give car loans to people who could not repay them.Highly profitable, this bank loans money to people who want to create jobs in their own neighborhoods, work hard to build a business, and repay their debts. The bank's loan charge-off rate is 25 percent less than the industry average. They are making good loans and supporting their community.The FDIC claimed the bank was putting too many eggs in one basket, as 90 percent of the loans were made to profitable small businesses. They wanted these loans to decrease to 25 percent and they wanted the chief executive to be fired.In short, they crucified a CEO who made a small bank profitable. They want the bank to take on a larger volume of risky loans, eroding the banks strong capital position. All I can say is that this reminds me of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. Stamp out capitalism! Reward lethargy! Encourage leaches to feast on the strong and force the successful to carry the weight of the entitled classes on their backs.Clearly, it is time for new leaders to emerge. We need leaders who will encourage entrepreneurialism, business growth, and discourage welfare and entitlement payments. Reward those who work and chastise those who are capable of work but refuse to do so.As I review the candidates for next year's Presidential election, I do not see anyone who can lead us out of the land of Obama to the Promised Land filled with milk and honey. We need a strong leader who can rise above petty politics, unify our people, and rebuild our nation.We need to restore the American dream and we need to start today.© 2011 Gordon Smith - All Rights Reserved