Thank You, Arizona

Don't get too upset at the folks in Arizona. They've just decided to deal with something that's been ignored. If a tooth is bothering you and dental care is unavailable, the pain may eventually drive you to cruder home remedies, like pliers.

OK, maybe we haven't exactly ignored the immigration issue. We've talked about it a lot, sort of like health care. That was an aching tooth that got dental attention. Many of us didn't approve of the procedure, but at least we took a whack at it.

I've often said that if I were elected to office, the first plank in my platform would be to reduce the tax code to a single 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper. For the immigration code, I'd be willing to go up to three pages.

Of course, it will be longer than that. But at whatever length, it probably won't be something everyone believes is fair. Those who played by the rules will be upset about the breaks that will likely have to be given to those who didn't. But if the rules weren't enforced in the first place, who is to blame, exactly? Sometimes the lack of enforcement was lazy. More often it was deliberate. But it doesn't really matter. The rule book needs revision, and we'd better get on it.

Maybe we should be saying, "Thank you, Arizona," for moving this issue to the front burner. Something tells me that cap-and-trade can wait. I have no scientific evidence for saying that, but immigration law would now appear to be a much higher priority. We'd better start asking ourselves how many more Arizonas we want to see out there.