In the end, we will remember
not the words of our enemies,
but the silence of our friends.
Martin Luther King
A Mini-Rant Over Trump's "Negotiation Tactics"
I had seen an email float by while I was writing my latest Trump rant today about how he sees stripping children from their parents at the border as a tactic to force Democrats to the table in negotiating his xenophobic version of immigration "reform". I intended to comment about it then, but it slipped my mind at the time I published the post, so I'll address it now. Whereas the practice predated the outlaw Trump Administration, it has gone on steroids under Trump: nearly 2000 legalized kidnapping over the six weeks preceding June, a number which had exceeded the cumulative number over several months in prior periods. Trump says that he "regrets" using the tactic, which is about as sincere as an apology where the other party says they regret you feel bad over what they did (but they stand behind what they did). The Democrats are not the surrogates for asylum seeking immigrants. This is a travesty of individual rights and unconstitutional in principle. For the "family values" GOP Congress to not resist the Trump regime doing this is unforgivable.The perverse xenophobic GOP has oddly enough almost radicalized me on the topic of immigration. The fears of the xenophobes are totally without foundation. Violent crime among the unauthorized is lower than the proportion of the American-born population. Even legal immigrants are ineligible for welfare for the first several years. The idea that we would find ourselves overrun with migrants is contradicted by our early history of open immigration. I know in part because I once had a Brazilian girlfriend and wanted her to come to the US, but she didn't want to leave her home country, family, culture, etc. None of the Brazilians I met wanted to emigrate; some wanted to visit, but they didn't want to stay here. And this was during the economic boom of the Clinton years. If you have modest resources, are unfamiliar with our country, our principal language and culture, and you aren't confident about your work prospects (never mind the prospects of dealing with xenophobic Americans or their hostile government), how likely are you to make that decision?
In part, toughening the border has been counterproductive; it's locked people into place who would probably leave on their own if they were guaranteed a right to return. We could issue temporary work papers, widen unreasonably narrow legal immigration quotas that can delay family reunions for years This idea that somehow you have a "right" to interfere in other people's lives beyond your own property lines is evil: that you have a "right" to decide who an employer can/can't hire, whether you can keep your neighbor's family from living with him, etc.
How To Find a Job Without a Degree
Facebook Corner
[responding to a meme suggesting if Domino's fixes potholes, Chick-Fil-a handle traffic lights. "Muh roads" is probably the most famous libertarian parody of Statists , i.e., "without government, who would build the roads?"]We gotta protect the chickens crossing the street, regardless of their reason. But..but... muh roads!
[Another case of a xenophobe "immigration laws are laws" trolling on a libertarian portal]:
You anti-liberty bastards have no say beyond the borders of your property. So fuck off imposing your economically illiterate views on the natural rights of others.
[separate, my own response to the Cato Institute thread]
We need to restore our traditional heritage of open immigration; the xenophobic bastards, led by the economically illiterate Trump, think they have a majoritarian "right" to veto beyond their property line ends: who a farmer (or other businesses) can hire, whether their neighbor's wife and children can live with him, whether an entrepreneur can have a chance to build his business. It is a fundamental abomination against liberty and un-American at its core.
[I'm responding to some purported liberty portal waxing anxiety over uncontrolled Big Tech power]
Oh, Jesus, economically illiterate anti-trust bullshit. Does anyone even remember Nokia, American Online, Netscape, MySpace or Blackberries? WalMart's profits dwarf Amazon's.
Choose Life: Adoption Is a Beautiful Choice
Choose Life: You're a Daddy!
Political Cartoon
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| Courtesy of Henry Payne via Townhall |
