Seeking the Land of Milk and Honey

Sharing America’s Blessings———————–

                A commentary

                By J. F. Kelly, Jr.

On Thanksgiving Day, we pause to give thanks for the blessings we enjoy as citizens of this great land. It is in our nature as Americans to share what we have with others less fortunate and with our neighbors, just as the Pilgrims did on that first Thanksgiving. As our nation expanded from coast to coast we welcomed those from other lands who were eager to become part of the American dream and to help build the roads, bridges, railroads, cities and other needed infrastructure as we expanded west.

 

Today, millions more throughout the world long to share in that American dream, though not necessarily for all the same reasons. Many more now come not just to find work but to escape oppression, crime, corruption, gang violence and poverty and most of them are from Latin American lands which have the advantage of proximity. A look at the crime statistics graphically shows what they are fleeing from. Central and South America and the Caribbean today constitute the world’s most violent region. That violence has been growing steadily since 2000 according to United Nations data. Nearly one in every four murders takes place in just four countries: Brazil, Venezuela, Columbia and Mexico. In Mexico, for example, a record 31,174 murders were recorded last year and this year’s toll will be higher. By contrast, there were only 8,634 in China, the world’s most populous country, 17,250 in the United States and in the entire European Union, just 5,351.

 

Currently, attention here is focused on immigrants arriving at our southern border from Central America, most of them seeking asylum. Here’s why they come. The number of deaths by firearms alone in tiny El Salvador is 40.29 per 100,000 people. In Guatemala, it’s 26.81 and in Honduras it’s 20.56. By contrast, the rate is 3.85 in the U.S., 0.56 in all of Europe and 0.77 in all of Asia, the largest and most populous continent in the world. There are about 400 murders a day in Latin America. Kidnappings for ransom are a growing threat. Drugs and drug trafficking is the principal factor involved and America’s unquenchable demand for drugs is largely to blame, so don’t say that this violence is not America’s problem.

 

Our asylum laws are designed to provide sanctuary to those fleeing political, religious or ethnic persecution, not crime, gang violence or poverty. When Americans faced such threats and evils they did not flee their homeland but rather stayed and fought to overcome them. We dealt with organized crime and corruption like protection rackets and fought to reclaim neighborhoods. We overcame lawlessness as we pushed westward and established law and order where it was absent. When we struggled with poverty, we didn’t flee to another country in search of a better life. Rather, we endeavored to build one at home. This was our country and we shed blood and lives to build and keep it.

 

In the past, most immigrants were young men and women who came here to find work to feed their families. Today, more and more come seeking asylum to escape crime, gangs and poverty. Our asylum laws do not consider these as qualifying reasons for granting asylum but they come anyway. Increasingly, they are accompanied by children. They have discovered that children are their key to admission to the promised land because of our well-intentioned policies against incarceration of children or separating them from their families. Equally well-intentioned are the religious groups, liberal politicians and immigration advocacy groups who continue to encourage unrestrained immigration in the name of compassion but often with additional political or religious recruitment motives. So long as they encourage it, the asylum seekers will continue to come, fleeing the crime, corruption, gang violence and joblessness in their home countries which show no sign of abating. It is ironic to many Americans that they often come waving the flag of the very nation they are fleeing.

 

The statistics make it clear that, as their numbers swell, we cannot possibly accommodate all who want to live in the land of milk and honey, nor should we or they abandon those nations from which they are fleeing to crime, gangs and corruption. Some other solutions are needed. Since the American market for drugs is a major cause of the problem, perhaps actually getting serious about the war on drugs would help. Meanwhile, let’s not forget that we have plenty of problems here with poverty, drugs, homelessness and crumbling infrastructure and that charity should, in fact, properly begin at home.

 

November 28, 2018

 

 

Let the Games Begin

The 2020 Presidential Election Campaign Has Begun————-

                A commentary

                By J. F. Kelly, Jr.

The mid-term elections are over and the results aren’t too different from what was predicted, except that the blue wave turned out to be more of a ripple. The Democrats gained control of the House and the GOP retained control in the Senate while actually gaining several more seats. Perhaps “control” is too strong a word. “Majority” might be better. The outcome was not too different, either, from those of other recent mid-term elections. The party of a sitting president usually loses seats in Congress.

 

The results ensure a divided Congress for the last half of President Donald Trump’s first term. They also portend a more difficult path ahead for his agenda but here’s hoping that the two parties can work together on some areas of common interest like improvements to our ageing infrastructure. Divided government need not mean government gridlock. We’ve had enough of that in recent administrations. Democrat control of the House probably means misguided attempts to impeach the president. There’s even continued talk of impeaching Justice Brett Kavanaugh, reflective of the difficulty so many progressives have in accepting election and confirmation results. Democrats need to decide whether they want to focus their energies on constructive legislation or squander them on fruitless attempts to impeach the President, absent an impeachable offense and with a GOP-controlled Senate which would have to try the president on any articles of impeachment the House might come up with.

 

And speaking of Justice Kavanaugh, note that a second accuser’s allegations of sexual misconduct have been referred to the Justice Department by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley for possible prosecution. Chairman Grassley says that Judy Munro-Leighton admitted to falsely accusing Kavanaugh because she was angry and wanted attention. This followed the referral to the Justice Department of Julie Swetnick and her attorney, Michael Avenatti, for making false statements. So much, then, for the prevailing myth that women never lie about such things. Never say “never”. Aside from the damage done to innocent persons by false accusations, think of the harm they do to actual victims of sexual assault who have the courage to come forward and then find it more difficult to be taken seriously.

 

Polls indicated that health care and immigration ranked high among voter concerns with comparatively little attention paid to the economy which has been booming during Mr. Trump’s first two years. When jobs are plentiful and the economy is healthy people tend to take it for granted and focus more on issues like health care, security and immigration. The market, apparently satisfied that split government means no big changes coming from Washington are forthcoming, reacted by surging ahead the day after the election.

 

As in recent elections, the map of the United States election results by county continues to show that the ideological divide has a geographic characteristic. The map shows a wide expanse of GOP red while the left coast, New England, the mid-Atlantic coastal regions and stretches along the Mississippi River and Great Lakes coast are deep Democratic blue. The Democrats are concentrated in the big metropolitan areas while the GOP mostly prevails everywhere else in the country.

 

Voter turnout was close to 50% of eligible voters, an improvement over recent mid-term election turnouts which averaged between 37% and 41%. It is a disturbing reflection of voter apathy, or perhaps voter disgust with the political process, when over half the eligible voters don’t even bother to vote. It gives new meaning to the term “silent majority”.

 

The election was indeed a referendum on the Trump presidency but not much about it was resolved after all. The nation remains politically polarized and the 2020 presidential election campaign now, much too soon, begins. That may be great news for the media, but it makes me wish that our presidents, like those of our neighbor to the south, were limited to one, six-year term so that they could spend more time governing and less time campaigning. Congratulations to all the winners and please remember that you serve all your constituents, not just the ones who voted for you.

November 27, 2018

This Bird Won’t Fly

This Bird Has Some Serious Flight Problems—————

                A commentary

                By J. F. Kelly, Jr.

A thoughtful reader recently wrote an equally-thoughtful commentary pointing out that an eagle requires two wings to fly, an aerodynamic fact that I’ll readily acknowledge. Like the eagle, our national symbol, the nation requires two wings, he writes, i.e., political wings in his analogy, to function properly: a right wing and a left wing.

 

Being from a nautical background, I personally prefer a different metaphor for our country: the ship of state. It navigates through often-perilous waters, subject to all the hazards encountered in the very dynamic ocean environment. To navigate safely requires a well-trained and disciplined crew working as a team and led by a competent captain. Often, various members of the team may disagree on the best course to steer, but the buck in most matters stops with the captain and he or she is the ultimate decision maker. Even though some of the members may not always agree with his or her policies, they respect the position and legal authority of the captain and it is ultimately in their common interest to do so. To attempt to dispose the captain would be an act of mutiny which is unlikely to turn out well for anyone involved.

 

But let’s stick with the writer’s analogy and since he uses comments from a recent commentary of mine, I herewith offer some responses. Birds indeed need two wings to fly but they need to be relatively healthy wings. Our bird has damaged, perhaps broken, wings and has difficulty sustaining flight. Both major political parties have extreme wings vying for control and the political process has become polarized and often so ugly that it has become repulsive to many millions of Americans. This is the silent majority that I was referring to in my commentary. Many of them, like me, didn’t vote for either of the two highly-flawed presidential candidates we were asked to choose between in 2016. So far at least, the prospects for 2020 don’t look much better. They include such potential presidential candidates as Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand and Bernie Sanders. Isn’t that depressing?

 

I concede that it was naughty of the GOP-controlled Senate to not consider Judge Merrick Garland who was properly nominated to the Supreme Court by then-President Barack Obama. I have little doubt, however, that a Democrat-controlled Senate would have done the same thing. I have bitter memories of the borking of the eminently-qualified Judge Robert Bork and the character assassination attempt on Justice Clarence Thomas.

 

And speaking of character assassination, radical liberals on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and stooges in the gallery and among the demonstrators turned a Senate confirmation process into a near riot. I favor the term “stooge” but call them useful idiots if you prefer. Who can forget the shrieking demonstrators interrupting the proceedings, confronting senators in the halls and elevator, restaurants and outside their homes, threatening their families and pounding on the doors of the Supreme Court. This goes beyond free speech and sickens most Americans who wonder what is happening to their country. The Senate confirmation process has traditionally been a process to confirm a nominee’s qualifications, not an inquiry into his or her high school behavior. But liberal activists turned it into a debacle and a national embarrassment. I think that it was disgraceful that liberals revealed Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s identity without her permission and that Sen. Dianne Feinstein sat on her complaint until it was politically expedient to bring it up. But Dr. Ford’s allegations were simply not corroborated by anyone and we have no proof that it was Brett Kavanaugh who assaulted her or for that matter, as I wrote, that she was assaulted at all. Acting on allegations that can destroy a person’s reputation in the absence of corroboration, is just plain wrong in any setting. How is saying that an insult to brave women who have had the courage to come forward with corroborated complaints of sexual harassment?

 

The mid-term elections are now mercifully over. At this writing we don’t know which party will control either house of Congress but I pray that each person elected will resolve to reach across the aisle often, listen to each other and endeavor to work together in good faith so that the ship of state does not founder.

November 7, 2018