Could you do it? Could you? Could you take a crying child away from his or her mother or father and put him in a place full of strangers and other kids all crying for their parents, too? That’s what is happening on our border with Mexico, in our name. This is how low America has sunk.
Forget about the whys and wherefores. Forget about the law or lack of law being touted as the excuse for this reprehensible behavior. Forget about blaming the victims for trying to get into our country the “wrong” way. Just picture yanking away a screaming child from his or her parents, or lying to them, saying you are giving them a bath and clean clothes, and then just never taking them back. Just picture it.
This is what you meant by Make America Great Again? Really?
Just following orders?
We are better than this. We used to be better than this.
Stop your false comparisons about what other administrations did. I know about THIS. I know what is happening now, not then. This is what I know, this is what I see.
We treat murderers and rapists better than this.
Anyone who has ever had a child cling to him or her for whatever reason (afraid of a dog, a noise, not wanting to go to preschool that day) knows the absolute terror, horror, and fear those little kids must have felt when they were pulled from their parents, or the utter desolation they must have felt when they were simply ignored as they cried for their parents. The anguish of the parents might be tempered by a hope that their children will be better off in a detention center in the United States than in the desperate situation they fled in their home countries. But not the kids. They don’t know that. They just know they are alone.
These are the people we are preying on: People fleeing desperate situations to reach the Shining City on the Hill: America, where the rule of law is supreme, not a person with personal foibles and whims; where everyone is supposed to be treated with respect, even criminals.
I don’t know what to call us now.
This is how it progresses. The “supreme leader” gives an edict, and people mindlessly carry it out because of orders, even though these are not military personnel compelled by oath and duty to do as told. Even soldiers can decline on moral grounds. These are regular government workers, regular human beings, American citizens who are supposed to be free and have free will, carrying out a heartless, mean-spirited act born out of fear and bigotry that is not even remotely connected to facts. These people are like terror sleeper cells, living normal lives, doing normal things, and then springing into action when called upon.
I do not wonder if this is how it started in Nazi Germany or other notorious places. I think we are beyond the starting point. We are well on our way. We have to stop this madness now.
A law that says we can’t rip kids from the arms of their parents is supposedly in the works as I write this. Fine. Yes. If that’s what it takes. Is anyone else sick to the stomach realizing that such a law is necessary? We have to say these things out loud? We have to commit pen to paper to stop this madness that never should have started?
Spare me your self-righteousness about your irrational fear of open borders and other rationalizations. There is another way, a better way. There has to be. We are Americans. If we are so great, if we truly are Exceptional, then surely we can find that better way.
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