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The above sign, carried at the June 30th Families Belong Together rally near the Musick jail facility in Irvine, captured my frustration and disappointment at the silence of many of my conservative friends, on the family separation measures taken by the Trump administration.
Many of the families are still not reunified, and their tragedy is illustrated in this video :
https://vimeo.com/281918636
There is widespread agreement of the need for immigration reform – even people who are not conservatives question positive aspects of unregulated immigration (see here). However, separating families requesting asylum, just to discourage that perfectly legal process, is unacceptable.
Some of the fundamental causes are being addressed by Mexico’s new President Lopez Obrador, in a letter sent to Trump (see here) :
- “Regarding migration, I must comment that the most essential purpose of my government will be to ensure that Mexicans do not have to migrate because of poverty or violence.”
- “The migration problem should be addressed in a comprehensive manner, through a development plan that includes the Central American countries, where millions of inhabitants do not have job opportunities and are forced to leave their villages to seek a better life and mitigate their hunger and poverty.”
The dilemma for me on the November’s mid-term election, besides of the local issues, is that whether the honorable exception of Mayor Tom Tait, who spoke up on the family separation (below), will persuade me to vote for my friend Cynthia Ward for mayor, or will be my vote for her seem like support for a GOP taken hostage by Trump?
I wish more candidates running in November would take a firm stance on this issue. Abolish ICE!
Ricardo,
I admit to initially being furious with you for assuming I would condone, for the purpose of political allegiance, the kind of inhuman behavior that traumatizes children for the sake of deterring the parents from unwanted/illegal behavior. But clearly I must admit that the failure to communicate is my own, and if you don’t know where I stand it is because I have not shared that position forcefully enough. I accept that the fault is mine, not yours.
My political affiliation takes second place to my faith. Always. I am frankly a little afraid of anyone who DOES list their political party as their defining feature. Those who define themselves by the LEADER of a political party are even scarier still, because this is how cults are created.
I find the Republican party platform to more closely align with the basic beliefs of my faith, which is why I remain. But where Scripture and Party diverge, I will remain with my faith. My beliefs and my political party part ways when government puts itself in the place of God, cherry-picking from Biblical guidance while ignoring mandates that don’t suit them. This is hypocrisy in its worst form, and never to be used in the name of God.
On the flip side, I don’t ever want to live in a Theocracy in which faith is imposed by the authority of government on those who don’t share the same beliefs.
In Scripture, I see the command to respect all life, to count the cost of our actions before taking action, to be wise stewards of the resources God has granted us. I see commands to humble ourselves. I read about serving one another, putting others above ourselves, pouring ourselves out to meet the needs of our neighbors, and welcoming helpless strangers (which is different from becoming doormats who let strangers bust down the door, fix a sandwich, park on the couch with the remote control and claim a “right” to do so!)
I see commands to treat women with respect, to treat even those indentured/apprenticed to an “owner” better than many of our corporations treat their paid workforce. I see a deep divide between how God tells us to live our lives and express our faith through our lives, and what “American Exceptionalism” promotes as a “Christian Nation.”
Likewise, I have searched the Scriptures for ANY justification for declaring ourselves GREAT. Most of all, when I see any mention in Scripture of humans elevating ourselves to “GREATNESS” in any form, it is a declaration of SIN and REBELLION against God. Not really something I want to wear as my defining characteristic.
Ricardo, I was a Republican long before the self-proclaimed head of my party joined the party as an act of convenience in order to run for office. Prior to that, Trump promoted the views and candidates of the DEMOCRATIC party. Why tar me with a wide brush even Trump hasn’t been using for long?
When we demonize others for remaining affiliated with a group whose leaders don’t represent the best interests of the group, we decrease the odds of voices of reason remaining to reclaim the group, and we will turn over the party to the very extremist factions I assume you DON’T want to see in leadership positions. I don’t see myself as a “good Republican” because I bow to any partisan leader, I see myself upholding the PLATFORM of the party even when the leader has thrown it in the trash and spit on it.
I believe our government has a right and a responsibility to determine who may or may not come to this country and make use of our nation’s shared resources. But I believe enforcement of that position should not be the defining and traumatizing event of a young person’s life, and frankly, that trauma is more likely to CREATE the future enemies of our nation than to create future citizens seeking the best interest of our nation. The best “fence” between America and Mexico is to look at how the actions of the US have destroyed the Mexican economy in favor of a violent drug trade. We don’t have a problem with Canadians flooding over the border. We also know an astonishing number of undocumented immigrants come by airplane and overstay their visas, so the whole border fence thing is a farce, and one that will further destroy our ability to address the REAL sources of the crisis, as we bleed more red ink for a construction project whose stupidity and cost is surpassed only by High Speed Rail.
Now, I recognize that I will be slammed by some for pointing out that the more extreme and inflammatory views of a political leader are not in alignment with the claim of a “Christian Nation” that is also promoted by the same party. I guess that is the price I am likely to pay for looking to my Bible rather than a bumper sticker for my daily devotion. I hope that answers your concerns.
Cynthia, thanks for answering my concerns.
I wish that that *would* fit on a bumper sticker! Well said. One point of disagreement, though:
To the extent that Trump has ever had any real politics, it was as a disciple of Roy Cohn, the despicable national Republican who was also a major figure in local Democratic politics. (Over the past half-century-plus, New York City’s partisan politics have been even more confused than Anaheim’s.) He was interested in buying his way into power and influence in pursuit of profit.
You may have considered him a Democrat, but I don’t think that many (if any) Democrats considered him one. He’s always been of the Trump Party, which bought appreciable influence in both Democratic and Republican parties over the years, but has of late engineered a hostile takeover of the Republicans.