Apparently, many people missed the point of my column calling for the impeachment of President Bush for his dereliction of duty on the border and his non-enforcement of immigration laws.

Some readers explained to me the impracticality of a successful impeachment.

Others tried to tell me Vice President Dick Cheney would carry on the same misguided policies.

Still others told me such a move would play into the hands of people like Hillary Rodham Clinton.

So let me take another stab at this.

I echoed Pat Buchanan's call for a bill of impeachment to be introduced by some courageous Republican member of the House of Representatives. I am politically astute enough to know that such a bill has no chance of approval by the House. Few Republicans would support it, and Democrats would like to see him removed for office, but for different reasons.

But the beauty of a bill of impeachment being introduced by a fellow Republican is that it applies political pressure on Bush to do the right thing. It raises the heat. It would be designed as a wakeup call to the president. The purpose would be to get Bush to change course on the most important national security issue facing the country.

The goal would not be to indict Bush in the House and try him in the Senate. The objective would be to point out in glaring terms that Bush has abrogated his oath of office to defend the country and faithfully execute the laws of the land.

Now, in the extremely unlikely event (I would see it as nearly a political impossibility) that the impeachment were successful and Bush were removed from office, does anyone truly think that his successor would make the same mistake?

I don't think so. Whether it was Cheney or someone else, the new president would understand there is only one way to remain in office and that is to carry out of the will of the people and execute the laws of the land as they pertain to the border.

It would completely change the political dynamic in the country.

And far from helping the Hillary Rodham Clintons of the world, the bill of impeachment would be designed to take this powerful issue out of their hands. Right now, Clinton and other Democrats are plotting to hijack this illegal immigration issue. The only way to prevent that is for Republicans – some Republicans – to get on the right side of this issue immediately.

What we are talking about here is a bill of impeachment introduced by at least one member of the House Republican caucus. We are not talking about a successful impeachment. We are not talking about removal of Bush from office. We are talking about a way to turn up the heat on a president who has neglected what may well be his most important duty to his country, what may be the most important part of his oath of office.

It would be an extreme act of patriotism.

It would be a courageous act of duty to one's country.

It would be a selfless commitment to the Constitution, the law of the land and the will of the people by an independent man of principle in the House.

Of course, it might also be an act of political suicide. But, if we don't secure our borders, we are on a course of national suicide.

It may not matter how well the war in Iraq goes.

It may not matter how well the war in Afghanistan goes.

It may not matter whether we ever capture Osama bin Laden or not.

If we leave our back door open, if we do not secure our perimeter, if we continue to permit this quiet invasion of our country, we are risking imminent judgment on our nation.