At the Risk of Offending My Friends

 

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Wow.  What a dust up last night on my radio show!  In spite of my better judgement, I touched the figurative third rail of discussion topics: Illegal Immigration.  As a recovering former red meat thrower who is well acquainted with how easily talk radio audiences can be stirred up, I try not to relapse to the old (but highly effective) ways of generating an audience via controversy.  But this is one of those topics on which very few people have lukewarm feelings.

I'd like to share an email that I received from my final caller on last night's show.  Craig is one of the smartest people I know; a scientist in every sense of the word.  But he was really taking me to the woodshed last night on my stance on illegal immigration.  I'm sharing this email to help illustrate the divide that exists between people who are ostensibly on the SAME SIDE of the battle for freedom.  

My responses appear in red:



On Tue, Aug 3, 2010 at 5:56 AM, Craig S-----  wrote:

Bryan,

First, thank you for hosting the forum!

I feel like I should apologize for my outburst at the end of the Forum Monday, but I can't, yet...  You are right, I and others are scared to death, that we are allowing America to be destroyed.  You contend that we, the over-reacting, are falling prey to the conservativehate mongers...  The Sarah Palins, the Rush Limbaughs, the Glen Becks.... people who talk with America every day...

We can trust them, right?

Craig,

First of all let me apologize if I have treated you unfairly.  I'd like to address the specific points you've made in this e-mail.  I do believe there is a great deal of over-reaction to illegal immigration, Muslims, and other "enemies-at-the-gate" that are used to keep us fearful and our attention focused on something other than the underlying principles.  Please note that I never named names or called the above listed individuals hate-mongers, those are your words.  It is interesting that you would name the people you did.  These people do talk to America every day and on some matters they speak truth, on others they lack sound principles.  How many Americans know the difference and how many just parrot what is being said? 

  

Some of us are so frustrated with the sophomoric arguments that we should be patient and tolerant, while all around us, America is being dismantled at warp speed!  If our goal is to slow or stop the dismantling of America, then why would we seek solutions that further empower an out of control government and diminish the rule of law?  Internal passports (national ID), impregnible walls, and inward-focused border security are the hallmarks of totalitarian states.  Illegal immigration is but ONE symptom of a systematic dismantling that has been going on for 150 years.

National government or Federal Government?

Instead of helping us find real solutions, you chide us for trying... for expecting that we can do something.  You effectively ask us todo nothing, as though the problem will solve itself.

I chide those who are seeking short-term gratification without considering the long-term consquences of their actions.  Carelessly thought-out, hastily applied solutions that move us closer to a police state are not acceptable.  To portray my misgivings about such actions as asking that nothing be done is a false dilemma logical fallacy.  Our choices are not limited to "do this" or "do nothing at all."  As I said last night, we cannot solve a problem that we do not understand and it's clear that many Americans do not understand the principles of good government that are at stake here.

When you speak in condemning tones of people wanting to close the door, to force foreigners, of unknown intent, to ask to get in, you talk as though you have the solution... Have you?, or are you just giving an excuse to not DO anything personally?  You act as though we were profiling, for the sake of making someone's life miserable.  When a criminal is found to be an illegal alien, we are simply asking his home country  take care of the problem instead of us!  Our jails are full of other people's problems.  Our social services are full of other people's problems, and we are being forced, to our severe detriment, to deal with them.  Are we helping criminals by jailing them here?  Are we helping the poor by giving handouts here?  You know the answer, so why do you tolerate an ever expanding round of the same insanity? The solution I've offered is one that those who are emotionally invested in this debate do not wish to hear.  It's very simple:  Prosecute those whose actual behavior has criminal ramifications.  Whether that person is an American citizen or an illegal alien, they should be held to the law so long as there is an actual evil act involved (Mala en Se) where there is a clear victim rather than a breach of some administrative rule (Mala Prohibita).  If convicted of a crime in Idaho, you'd serve your time in Idaho, so why shouldn't someone convicted of a crime in the U.S. serve their time here and then be deported? 

But it's okay if it's for an American citizen?

Our social services problems far predate the current illegal immigration debate and are a great example of how we strain at the gnat of illegals availing themselves of our welfare state while swallowing the camel of generations of Americans remaining dependent upon that very same system.  The bird feeder needs to be dismantled.  Period.

Many of us are running out of resources to fight this onslaught.  The Elitists, that you ask us to be patient with, have money and power and are crushing the middle class, by killing the economy and putting us out of work  Soon we will join the ranks of the poor in a much expanded slave class, the elites are creating for us.  It seems like you see yourself immune to this fate...  Is it because you have walked in our shoes and have found the better way, or has your liberal education caused you to think that you have become part of the privileged elite, that can make pronouncements on the rest of us, and escape the whirlwind that this insane set of policies is bringing to us all?  Nowhere will you find me defending the elitists who we have allowed to bring our nation to ruin.  I'm surprised you would even make such an accusation, Craig.  One thing the elitists have working in their favor is how easily the American public can be stirred up and misdirected to focus their anger upon people who have nothing to do with implementing the policies that are destroying America.  And the illegal immigration fervor with its clamor for loosening the restrictions on government power in order to "solve" the problem is a perfect example of what Montesquieu referred to as a "tyranny that is self-administered by its victims."  Don't  accuse me of being one of "them" for not buying into this deception.

He honestly thought we'd stay informed

You talk of seeking the root problem?  I think that it is the apathy, with which we allow America to be sold down the river, piece by piece.  Thomas Jefferson enjoined vigilance, if we were to keep our liberty.  I agree completely with you that apathy is a key component of the root problem, but it's not the root problem itself.  The root problem is the general inability of a vast majority of Americans to articulate the principles of liberty, good government and what is required to perpetuate them.  That's not the fault of the illegals either.  It's the law of the harvest and we are reaping what we have sown in terms of ignorance as Jefferson predicted when he said "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." 

You suggest tolerance toward the bigoted and intolerant, that are rushing in.  In war, as we now have (psychologically), the victory goes to the one with the better strategy.  They bring weapons, and you suggest we do what?  Let them come and do as they please, with absolutely no resistance?  You are not living in the real world!  (I guess you have never met a really twisted or evil person.  You don't seem to comprehend how meaningless your life is to such people!  History is filled with such individuals that would readily sacrifice all of humanity for their evil designs, without batting an eye.   Often their "reasons" sound somehow logical or reasonable, but the results have always been mayhem!)  Nowhere have I defended the bigoted or intolerant on either side of the illegal immigration issue, but I have clearly cautioned that we don't destroy our own liberties in an effort to vanquish our enemies.  Is the "real world"  one in which we can safely discard our morality and foundational principles to ensure that the means are justified by the ends?

The ultimate pragmatist

The recipe, you seem to purvey, is one of acquiescence, or total conquest for America!  Perhaps you think that God will fight our battles?  History proves that God helps none that will not help themselves.  What does it profit a man (or a nation) if they lose their souls in order to gain a short term political victory?  That's not the same thing as simply giving up; but it does recognize that there are eternal, not just temporal, principles at stake.  God does help those who help themselves, but it's a long shot to expect him to help those who would violate or abandon correct principles deliberately. 

I am sorry, that as fellow lovers of America, we don't see eye-to-eye on some things, but I am not ready to see people condemned for trying, unless you truly have a more effective way, while most of America just sits on their haunches and kibitz...Let's stick with keeping government in its proper role of administering protective law (which addresses actual crimes with victims) and not preventative law (which limits liberty pre-emptively) for starters.  Let whatever reforms to immigration law are required flow from that foundational premise.

With enough fear, this becomes acceptable

Adolph Hitler got the upper hand, BECAUSE GOOD PEOPLE WERE NOT WILLING TO STAND UP FOR ANYTHING, until it was too late!  Adolf Hitler used fear of certain groups and what he portrayed as defending the fatherland to stampede the German people in a direction that they willingly chose to run.  The German people let fear and emotion cloud their judgment to the point that they reacted without thinking of the long term consequences of their actions.  I recommend this two part essay by Jacob Hornberger about why the Germans supported Hitler.  Here is part one. And here is part two.

It works on people too

Do you suggest this is a good strategy for us????  We are not against anybody with good intentions, but we must create a means to defend ourselves from the truly absurd and malevolent!!!!!!  Bad intentions do not equal capability. Those with bad intentions do not have the actual capability to destroy our freedoms, but our own government does.  That's why we cannot allow the principles of good government to be abandoned out of fear of what others might do.

There is a side to life, that you seem to be refusing to see.  Maybe you should go to some council meetings and see how the "rubber meets the road," for power people.  ...Maybe work in a homeless shelter for a while , to see how other people cope, or don't?  ...Maybe try to live behind an iron curtain.  Craig, what do you actually know of my personal life and personal efforts to move the cause of liberty?  You've resorted to questioning my motives when you don't have any real first hand knowledge of what I'm doing, who I meet with or what meetings I attend.  

We are so blessed in America, and we don't even comprehend what it is, that we are losing, or how to stop the loss!!!!  Spot on!  But we don't stop the loss by abandoning essential principles of liberty.  Anger isn't enough to turn the tide, Craig.  Each of us bears an individual responsibility to develop the best personal character and understanding of liberty that we can.  This is the route I've chosen to take and I believe it is far more impactful than the lower road of anger that too many prefer. 

Your Friend,

- Craig S------

PS: WE are fighting principalities and powers...  (Let us hope it is not wooden spears against cruise missiles!  Satan never fought a fair battle.)  Pray for America, and let us work as though it all dependes on us.

Just because we disagree on certain points doesn't mean that I esteem you as an enemy, but I will stand for what I believe to be right even if it offends people whom I respect.  Thanks for taking the time to correspond with me.

Bryan