And Therein Lies the Problem

Today I read a news piece in which women were interviewed for their feelings about the National Education Association’s proposal to replace the word “mother” with “birthing parent” so as to be “more inclusive” of trans-males.  One woman responded:  "I’m fine with that. Anything to make people feel comfortable."(emphasis added.) 

And therein lies the underlying problem of many of our current societal woes.  Don’t worry if we destroy our entire society, following the whims of a few and ignoring truth and science, just so long as everyone feels comfortable. 

The problem is that one person’s comfort can easily become another person’s pain.  When the selfish need to feel good is more important than concern for truth or one’s fellow human, then life becomes meaningless and civilization dies.

How far is the woman above, or anyone who worships the god of feel-good, willing to take the pursuit of pleasure?  We already know that many are willing to put their own pursuit of what they believe is happiness above the right to life of the unborn. 

We see those who are fulfilled by loudly venting their hatred in public places, chasing those with whom they disagree from places such as restaurants.   Many such incidents occurred against individuals who were in the Trump administration, and now there is a concerted effort to create such incidents against Supreme Court Justices, including a Leftist organization paying for tips when a Justice is spotted in public, all with the tacit support of the Biden White House.    

Such behavior may make the screamers “feel comfortable” but what about the diners?  When Justice Kavanaugh was forced to leave a restaurant this week, the restaurant owner noted, “Honorable Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh and all of our other patrons at the restaurant were unduly harassed by unruly protestors while eating dinner at our Morton’s restaurant. Politics, regardless of your side or views, should not trample the freedom at play of the right to congregate and eat dinner. There is a time and place for everything. Disturbing the dinner of all of our customers was an act of selfishness and void of decency.” 

Yet those doing the harassing were doing something that simply felt good to them – made them “feel comfortable.”  What about the individual who is charged with attempted murder of Justice Kavanaugh – is that Ok if the attempt makes the individual feel good?

“Void of decency” is a good way to describe where this worship of self-comfort has and continues to lead us.  Various groups now openly engage in behaviors that only recently were considered depraved.  Children, who scientifically do not become sexual beings until puberty, are being taught about things like sexual pleasure in kindergarten while things like pedophilia and child pornography are becoming more acceptable as “an unchangeable sexual orientation.”  This may make those who engage in such practices “feel comfortable” but what about the children who are the victims of their depraved pursuit of comfort? 

And then there is the current practice of encouraging expressions of “gender dysphoria” in children too young to suffer it as a basis for permanently interfering with a child’s development by the use of hormone and other “therapies”.   This may make some adults “feel comfortable” but there are too many statements by adults who were treated this way as children that show us this did not and does not make those children comfortable.

Where does one who worships the concept that everyone must “feel comfortable” draw the line when that comfort causes pain to others?  It is a slippery slope.  For if one’s own comfort is prime, and if that comfort causes discomfort to another, then to fulfill  the primary goal one must disregard the life that is in the way of that goal.  If you can murder a preborn child because you think doing so makes you more comfortable, why not murder the two-year-old for the same reason or the senile parent who no longer recognizes you?  Why not dispose of anyone who stands in the way of your being “more comfortable”? 

Wild animals will kill for their own comfort.  When “feeling comfortable” becomes the primary goal, we devolve fully into our instinctive animal nature.  We lose respect for life. 

Humans are far more than the innate animal instincts that are a part of us all.  We are capable of far deeper fulfillment and have far more potential than the superficial happiness that our culture surrounds us with and encourages us to seek.  It is a mistake to make the Self a god and its gratification one’s guiding principle.  Common decency demands more, our souls demand more, and civilization itself requires more.

Religion has always taught us this.  Perhaps we should look to those gods, rather than the god of self-comfort.

 

Today's Thoughts and Observations on the Border Protests

1.   Crocodile Tears?

Where were all the tears, where was all the outrage when President Obama separated families at the border?  When he did that, anyone who criticized him was called racist.  So when did all these people suddenly find compassion for these children?  Or is it not compassion at all but really hatred – hatred of Donald Trump?

This is what I see.  I see masses of people who can’t think for themselves.  They are being used as they allow emotional manipulation to direct their behavior.  They don’t bother to know what the actual facts are about a situation – they just allow their emotions to be riled up by (often fake) photos and other emotional triggers, and then, as encouraged, scream, cry, and attack the Trump administration.

I really do not understand why people are so willing to allow themselves to be used.  Was their love of the previous president and/or their hatred of the current president so strong that they lost their ability to think and to see what is actually going on?  Do they not understand the emotional propaganda that is being used to keep them riled up and working as pawns for someone else’s very political agenda?

2.  Do You Know What You Want?

What is it the protestors want?  They said it was to keep families together, but they would not work to actually change the law, the enforcement of which requires separation.  Instead, they attacked the President for doing his job and enforcing the law.  (As Democratic Senator Schumer stated, the Democrats will reject any legislation to fix the border crisis. They want to “keep the focus on Trump.”) 

When President Trump saw that these people would not even attempt to work on legislation, he signed an executive order that at least temporarily keeps families together.  One would think that would satisfy the screamers.  But no.  Now they are angry that he signed the order.  Hmmm – is it the children they care about or is it really about hating Trump? What is it these people want?  Now it seems that many have moved on to demanding entirely open borders.  Do they even understand what that means or the consequences, both short and long term,  to our country?  I sincerely doubt that.

3.  Government 101

I also don’t understand how so many people in this country can have so little understanding of our government and how it works.  Anyone, with even a simple Google search, can find the basic role of each branch of government:  The legislative branch (Congress) writes and passes legislation (laws). The executive branch (the executive departments and the President and cabinet at the federal level) makes sure that laws are enforced and allocates necessary funding. The judicial branch (the court system) evaluates the laws passed by the legislative branch and determines whether they comply with the Constitution.  This is all laid out in the Constitution which I hope (but often doubt) that every citizen has read at least once.

In every election in which there is more than one candidate someone will lose, and the supporters of that person will not be happy.  But our job as citizens is to accept that the people have spoken and support the winner of the election in carrying out his or her duties.  If we are not happy with the winner, our course of action is not to assault him or her daily, but it is to support a different candidate in the next election.  While under our current government we do have the right to free speech, simply screaming and launching ad hominem attacks is not productive.  That is not how we unseat our elected officials.  In this country we vote.

4.  How Best to Change the Immigration (Or Any Other) Law

Even with just this basic information about the government, one wonders why those who are unhappy with our current immigration laws, are protesting against the executive branch which is simply doing its job of enforcing those laws (the same laws that were in effect when Obama was president and under which he prosecuted nearly 500,000 illegal immigrants, resulting in the separation of many families).  Either the people seem to think that the president has the powers of a dictator (he doesn’t) or they are simply using a situation as an excuse to attack the president.   

The immigration laws can be amended and rewritten in the legislature and that is why those who are unhappy with the law should be contacting their legislative representatives. Several bills have or will be introduced regarding immigration.  The Republicans in Congress have several times proposed bills that would overrule the 1997 order and allow children to be kept with their parents. The Democrats have opposed these bills.  Some bills call for complete immigration overhaul; others provide smaller fixes.  Some want open borders. 

I realize that the legislative process takes time (sorry, no instant gratification!), but it is the way in which the people govern. We elect our representatives and they speak for us in Congress. There are amendments and changes to bills. As in any negotiation, those representing various positions try to get as much as they can while giving up as little as possible. If the parties are willing to listen to and work with one another, they will come up with a bill that essentially represents the will of the people. That is called compromise! It is how we end up with government of/by/for the people. It is how our government works. And, those who are truly interested in fixing the problems they see with our current immigration laws should be reviewing the proposed changes and contacting their congresspeople to express their views. 

5.  Some Notes on the Law Itself

Many protestors also seem to be unfamiliar with the law itself.  In most instances, what people are complaining about is the treatment of people who enter the country illegally.  We have a legal process of immigration, we have legal ports of entry, and those who follow the immigration laws will not have violated the law and therefore will not be prosecuted.  That is, it seems that he protesters are attacking a problem that goes away if the families attempting to cross illegally would instead choose to follow the law. 

Those who enter our country illegally have broken the law and can be prosecuted under the law just as anyone who breaks any law can be prosecuted. The illegal immigrants are detained under the law. When an adult is detained in an adult facility, children cannot be kept there (just as children are not sent to prison with their parents who may be jailed for other violations of law). A 1997 court order requires the government to place immigrant children with a close family member or friend, and until that is accomplished to keep immigrant children in “the least restrictive means possible.” Hence, the children are kept in juvenile facilities. President Trump’s order now keeps families together, but that order can be challenged as violative of the 1997 court order. 

When one enters legally, there is no prosecutorial detention. (Note:  those seeking asylum at a legal port of entry will still be detained while the asylum claim is investigated and verified.   That is, just because one wants to enter, even when following legal processes, not every request will be granted.  To allow any one in without question would be to create open borders).  Those seeking entry are yet not citizens or legal residents. 

There is a distinction between legal and illegal which many either do not understand or have chosen to forget.  This makes many of their complaints unclear and ineffective.

6.  Inaccurate Words and Analogies

Screaming protests are especially not effective when they are based on either misinformation or lack of information.  For example, in the current immigration debate I keep hearing the words law and policy used interchangeably.  President Trump's policy is to fully enforce the law. He cannot change the law. The law is written by the legislative body. While President Obama’s policy was not one of zero tolerance, nonetheless, children were separated from families at the border under Obama whose administration was following the same law as the Trump administration. 

Particularly troubling is the comparison of this border crisis with the holocaust.  Not only does this show an appalling lack of understanding of both the law and the holocaust, it is simply an inaccurate comparison.  The facts reveal that the border situation is nothing at all like the holocaust in which Jewish and other residents of Germany where sent to concentration camps based on their religion or other identifiable characteristics and were in many instances then killed.  To call our border situation equivalent is to cheapen Nazism and genocide by making them simply synonyms for a bad or allegedly inhumane situation.  Anyone who thinks that is all that the holocaust was is completely ignorant on that piece of history.

7.  Don’t You See You’re Being Conned?

I don’t understand how the protestors do not feel that they are being duped.  By now we know that many of the most emotional photos are not of children currently separated from families.  Even the little crying girl, used to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars and appearing on the current cover of Time magazine as part of an attempted shaming of the President, was never separated from her mother according to her father and others.

What I don’t understand is why people allow themselves to be used by politicians who I suspect care little if at all for the children or the immigrants, but are instead simply using the protesters’ very laudable compassion to further their own political agenda, to attack Trump, and to enhance their own power.  How many of these people doing the bidding of the progressive leadership even know the details of the agenda they are supporting?

8.  My Request

I really don’t think that the many protestors are ignorant or stupid.  What I do think is that they are being conned.  I have great respect for those who have compassion for a crying child.  But I think that compassion is being exploited by some who have little concern for those children.  But, for those truly concerned with the immigration problem and fixing it, the focus needs to be on the legislature.  I simply wish that everyone would take a minute to understand why they are screaming.  Is it for the children? Is it for immigration reform?  Is it simply a primal scream of hatred of the president?  Or, are the screams simply being provoked by ones who are using a very noble and genuine compassion for a less noble agenda supporting only their own power? My request is that everyone stop for a moment and consider all of this.