Do we solve our problems or just talk about them?

Call me crazy, but every once in a while, I actually start to think we have turned the corner and will solve a problem instead of just talking about it.

It happened in 2001 when the American public united for one brief moment to defend our way of life and our liberty against a continuing and growing threat from Islamic terrorists and the nations that sponsor them.

It happened in 2005 when President Bush threatened to fix the Social Security mess in time for me to have a retirement income when I retire in 15 or 20 years.

It happened earlier this year when it seemed like the message had finally gotten out that illegal immigration was not only draining our resources, but had the potential to forever change our nation and culture.

For a while, when I get optimistic, I feel as though I am part of that great American experiment in democracy that was started in the parlors and on the battlefields of Massachusetts in 1775. A group of people banded together then out of common interest and stood their ground against a common enemy. They did not fear death; they did not fear slander; they did not fear imprisonment. They also did not fear to kill. They did not fear to speak their minds. And they did not hesitate to take any means necessary to vanquish their enemy.

They thought victory was not only possible, but necessary, and they did everything in their power to achieve it.

About the time I remember this, alas, is when I become most pessimistic about our own times, and our ability to confront our own enemies and solve our own problems.

Take, for instance, the problem of illegal immigration.

This week, there is a hearing in Montana on border security and illegal immigration. It is hosted by Rep. Denny Rehberg and will be held Monday from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Bedford Building, 223 S. Second St., in Hamilton. The hearing is part of a 12-state tour by various House members to "evaluate options" for improving border security.

At first glance, it certainly looks like cause for optimism that Congress is still actively seeking a solution to the problem of illegal immigration, instead of pretending it doesn't exist. There are many Montanans who would like to speak out on this issue, and be heard by their elected leaders, but optimism in this case must be tempered by an honest assessment of the facts.

Fact 1: The hearing is only scheduled to last two hours.

Fact 2: The witness list includes five people, including the regional forester, two local law enforcement officers, and two people who work for Immigration and Customs and the Border Patrol, and they will all speak extensively.

Fact 3: The public will barely get a word in edgewise.

I know several local residents and readers of this column who will be in attendance at the hearing, and perhaps they will report back to me that I was wrong, but I don't think the hearing is really intended to "take the temperature" of local residents to find out what they want their government to do.

Indeed, this particular hearing seems to be aimed more at winning pork and jobs for the Montana border communities than helping to protect us from the flow of illegal immigration where the real problem exists in the south.

Rehberg's press release said: "This is an opportunity to show my colleagues that the southern border isn't the only border we need to worry about. Montanans deserve the opportunity to have their voices heard on what has become one of the most important issues facing our country. I expect this hearing will highlight the need to secure the U.S./Canada border. It's no secret that illegal activity can take place along the northern border, too."

That's right. Illegal activity can take place anywhere, and we should always work to circumvent it. But worrying about border security with Canada while our nation is being repopulated from Mexico is like giving an alcoholic massage therapy to solve his problem because chemical-dependency treatment was just too expensive or too horrible to contemplate.

With any luck, those in attendance will have a chance to tell Rep. Rehberg that Montanans are worried about border security for the same reason that people in Arizona and Texas are concerned - because they don't want millions of illegal immigrants streaming across the border every year. It is a national emergency, not a local one, and the long-term issue of border security in the north should not be used to deflect attention from the immediate problem we face.

But deflection is part of the standard political playbook these days, isn't it?

It seems that in the 21st century, our solution to everything is to put together a blue-ribbon committee to study the problem, and the only thing necessary is for the government to stall long enough for the problem to seem unimportant compared to such monumental issues as who killed JonBenet Ramsey, is Tom Cruise an idiot, and what is the etymology of the imaginary word "macaca."

Perhaps some evil mastermind planned this massive diversion of our attention to the mundane, the trivial and the obscure, or perhaps it just a natural result of people having too much time on their hands and too much information. The brain is a curious organ which can turn a series of random numbers into a sudoku puzzle and a series of random occurrences into a one-size-fits-all conspiracy theory to explain why our life sucks.

But another thing I have also noticed is that the optimist in me always returns no matter how many times he has been forced to turn tail and take cover. I always start out with the assumption that a wrong can be righted, no matter how many times I have been proven wrong in the past.

I consider this a corollary of Jesus' commandment to Peter when asked if he should forgive a transgressor as much as seven times, and Jesus said, "I don't tell you until seven times, but until 70 times seven," which was Jesus' way of saying there is no end to forgiveness.

I don't think there is an end to optimism either. It is a bottomless well, and a positive attitude is absolutely essential to problem solving. However many times we meet with failure on our daily journey, we must resolve to meet with success the next day. The alternative is defeat - what the allegorist John Bunyan called "the slough of despond," a pit of despair from which it is impossible to see a way out.

Therefore, I contend that it is possible to win the war on terror, to stop the invasion of illegal aliens across our borders, and to even - what the heck! - save Social Security without just borrowing more money from our grandchildren.

But every victory begins with a single step in the right direction. That single step is always the same - belief in the possibility of victory. When we say that the terrorists can't be stopped, they have won. When we say that we can't build a wall across our border that will protect our sovereignty, then the invaders who don't care about our sovereignty have won. When we accede to the impossibility of making Social Security solvent, then the phony manipulating politicians have won.

Don't give up.

Don't surrender to despair.

Don't listen to people who tell you it can't be done.

United we stand; divided we fall. This is our country; those are our choices. If we keep at it - this hard work of democracy - we may even survive as a nation long enough to once again see our government pay attention to "we the people."

But don't call me crazy; call me an optimist.