Fair warning. This
column will probably offend everyone except those who are exactly
like me, and I am on the verge of a melt-down in the face of
governmental insanity.
Wait, I can’t see the
computer screen. My tears are blinding me. My heart is breaking. The
children, we must save the children — billions of them, from all
over the world, I can’t bear it, I am so compassionate, I hurt, I
weep … wait, is it time for the Red Sox game? Get me a beer, hon,
are we out of chips? Where’s a tissue for my tears, I can’t see the
television….
Avowed compassion is so
cheap, tears are so easy, to prove what a good, sweet, caring person
I am. Everybody buying this?
This was where the
blubber met the road. I was watching WBZ news at 11 p.m. Friday, and
saw Deval Patrick, teary-eyed at his press conference offering to
have Massachusetts take in a “few hundred” more illegal immigrants:
“It bears remembering they’re children and they’re alone,” he said.
“I think we are the kind of country, and the kind of commonwealth,
who can step up.”
The closest thing to a
plan he had was that they’d go to one federal base somewhere in the
state, then after a court hearing within a few months, would either
be deported, reunited with family in the U.S., or in some cases,
granted asylum.
I immediately
translated that to reality, which is, there will be lots more than a
few hundred, the immigration courts are already clogged, and after
they are here for a few months, it will be impossible to deport them
to the third-world countries we are told they are fleeing because
they are so dangerous.
Patrick said he made
the decision based on his “love for the country” and “lessons of
faith.” I waited to hear him say he was taking a few children home
with him to his mansion on 77 acres in the Berkshires, but wasn’t
too surprised that his love and faith stopped short of personal
commitment.
He wasn’t alone on the
stage. There was an imam and a rabbi, who should have been busy
somewhere else doing something about the Palestinian children being
used as human shields by Hamas as it pursues its objective to kill
all the Israeli children along with all the Israeli adults. And
incredibly, there was Cardinal Sean O’Malley, urging Massachusetts
to take in the children of Catholic countries whose inhabitants will
then produce MORE children than they can safely care for, since his
church teaches that artificial birth-control is a sin.
As I write this, the
number of new children to be imported is already up to a thousand,
who are going to two federal bases on Cape Cod and in Chicopee.
Though some call for “guarantees” from the federal government about
funding this operation, the feds can never be trusted to follow
through and can’t afford funding anyhow, the country being deeply in
debt.
Now, a libertarian
myself, let me offend the kind that supports the present policies as
a form of open borders, somehow thinking that our beloved freedom
requires total freedom of movement around the globe. Let’s put off
that discussion until the United States returns to its roots as a
free country that doesn’t force its citizens to support a welfare
state, which attracts people not only with haven and opportunity,
but with free stuff and a life of dependency on taxpayers.
A more rational
libertarian friend emailed me her strong opinion, “I am an open
border advocate. I would welcome working families and think we ought
to be moving in that direction. But what is happening is not what
would happen with a sensible (libertarian) immigrant worker policy.
It is a politically contrived disaster that is endangering a lot of
kids. It makes future consensus on a good immigration policy almost
impossible. It gives politicians a humanitarian-sounding reason to
collect more of our money. Luring young kids here to become
completely dependent on taxpayers is evil in every way.”
I do think we’ll always
need an overall cap on the number of people we can comfortably fit
into our country, but otherwise agree with her. Enroute to getting
others to agree with us, let’s hope everyone avoids verbally
attacking the children, or even their parents, some of whom may
actually be coming here to escape terrible conditions. The problem
is, millions around the world are living in terrible conditions, and
they can’t all come here.
This is why one of the
leading conservative immigration groups is called Numbers USA,
because that is the primary argument: there is no limit to the
numbers that would overwhelm us. Calmly repeating this fact is the
best way to get support for our side. Try not to claim that illegal
immigrants are introducing equine encephalitis to Massachusetts, as
WRKO’s Jeff Kuhner did; EE has been here for decades. As long as
RKO’s rally on Saturday focuses on logistics and government
irresponsibility, opposition to this third-world invasion could be
helpful to influence legislators.
I care as much as
anyone about the tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to breathe
free, and yet I know I can’t save them all, so I thank God I was
born in America and do whatever I can to preserve it. For those
politicians, religious leaders and liberals who want to lecture me
through their tears and broken hearts, I make what I admit is a
cheap point, but here it is: adopt some third-world kids into your
own family, make sure they are vaccinated before you send them to
school, and earn your “I care” medal yourself.
