Now that we’ve passed the 4th of July holiday and I’m no longer worrying about my band’s fireworks booth, I can continue talking about why I’d never make it in politics. This is a follow up to my last post.
Unlike my last post, I’m going to jump straight to my (probably) unpopular opinion. That is, I don’t think we should be trying to strengthen our borders. We should make it as easy to come here as possible.
For support of this position, I turn to the Declaration of Independence:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
Everyone in America is descended from immigrants. Even the roots of Native Americans stretch overseas, because we all come from a common place. Whether you believe that common point is The Garden of Eden or Africa, it doesn’t matter. We are the same species. We have the same blood in our veins, the same needs to feel comfort and love. We are all more alike than we are different.
On this topic, it is too easy for me to spin off into generalizations. Getting back to specifics, I think we should welcome immigrants and put them to work. Give them jobs with fair wages and tax them just like everyone else. We should hold to our ideals, which is that everyone is created equal. I don’t see what difference it makes if they were born in this country or not.
Fear is what drives the urge to build walls and tighten border security. Fear that someone is going to come in to the country and do something terrible. Fear that people will come into our towns and steal our jobs or change our way of life. Fear that we’ll lose our identity.
As I told someone recently, any decision that is rooted in fear should be examined.
I believe there are answers to each of the concerns I just mentioned. In regards to security, we’ve missed the mark. We’ve killed more of our own people than any foreign agent. Home grown terrorism is much more successful than the imported variety. And there are two simple answers:
- Do more to make this place home. Quit making people uncomfortable just because their faith doesn’t match your own. Quit threatening people with deportation. Listen to people, and be more inclusive. Basically, the exact opposite of President Trump.
- Accept the fact that no matter what you do, there will be people that do bad things. There is no level of security achievable that is 100% effective. There will always be people that do evil. Let’s give them fewer reasons for wanting to kill people and destroy property.
We can still be the shining city upon a hill. We just have to be remember our beginnings, when we let hope and idealism drive our decisions. Not our fear.