Short Bursts
just a few sentences on issues today.
Sins of the Fathers
We have many traditions in this country. One is that we believe that the “sins of the father” should not be visited upon the son. This is enshrined in the US Consitution which states that no “corruption of blood” could be punishment for treason (Art III, Section 3, Part 2.) Corruption of blood is the punishment of the family for the parent’s ultimate crime against the state, treason.
Dreamers are children of illegal immigrants. Illegal immigration is also a crime “against the state,” though nowhere near as terrible as treason. Dreamers were brought to the United States as children. They had no choice in this “crime.” If they had been born in the US, there would be no question of their citizenship. They would be “born under the flag,” born under US jurisdiction and therefore automatic US citizens (some would use that incredibly demeaning phrase of the last election, “anchor baby’.) Since Dreamers were not born “under the flag,” they were and are technically illegal immigrants, subject to possible deportation.
Children: unable to legally speak for themselves. Children: raised “American,” and who have known no other home. Children: innocent of the sins of their parents. Dreamers are Americans in every way but paper, and America should treat them as such. No matter what your view about what should happen to those who illegally entered this country, this should be different. For this particular class of Americans there should be a quick path to citizenship, to the full rights of Americans. They have no other home, and they already are American in every other way.
Riders on the Storm
We have discovered that President Trump and others are using the disaster of Hurricane Harvey as a “cover” for other actions. Trump admitted as much when he said that he pardoned former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio on Friday night as the storm made landfall, because he knew that “the ratings would be high.”
Today, both Vice President Pence and Texas Congressman John Culberson used the Harvey disaster as an excuse to avoid discussing the possible end of the DACA (Dreamers) program. Trump documented his order to ban military service by transgender persons, and fired Sebastian Gorka (not all bad that one) all under the literal clouds of Harvey.
As the folks in Texas face this, it seems inappropriate to use the overwhelming catastrophe as “cover.” “Lets slip this by, no one will notice it hidden in the storm.”
Who Can Fix This
Several years ago my parents Florida condo was seriously damaged by a hurricane, along with many other places along the barrier islands. Roofs were gone, walls moldy, carpets and furniture ruined.
There wasn’t enough construction labor in Florida to even begin to deal with the problems. My parents condominium association made an offer: allow migrants to live in your damaged home and they will fix it and others, faster.
Were they legal or illegal immigrants? That question wasn’t asked. These Honduran and Guatemalan workers camped in the damaged homes, cooking re-fried beans, drinking cerveza; and repairing walls, ceilings and roofs. They got the job done quickly and with high quality.
My parents moved back into their condo six months later, years before they could have done so if they had waited for existing contractors. Mike Rowe, famous “Dirty Jobs” actor and pitchman for vocational education, spoke today about who might fix the hundreds of thousands of homes damaged or destroyed in Harvey. There was already a shortage of construction labor in the Southeast, and particularly Texas, before Harvey.
We don’t need to build a wall, we need to bring in the labor to rebuild ALL of the walls.
