On Immigration

Now many people of late have been speaking of the new immigration plan that Obama has proposed, and it has quite a large number of them up in arms and furious. The plan is, according to the New York Times this:

"Up to four million undocumented immigrants who have lived in the United States for at least five years can apply for a program that protects them from deportation and allows those with no criminal record to work legally in the country".


You can read the full article here for more information.


http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/20/us/politics/obamacare-unlikely-for-undocumented-immigrants.html?_r=0


Now that we have all, or at least a part of the information, it is time to discuss. I believe that everyone would agree to the statement that immigration has been in dire need of reform for a very long time. The system that we have simply does not work. And I hesitate to say it, but on one point at least in this issue Obama is correct. He did in fact give the Republican side plenty of time to propose a plan of there own. They have had time for years to try and put something through. In fact the last time anything was done about the issue was in 1996 with the "Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, which addressed border enforcement and the use of social programs by immigrants.


"http://www.history.com/topics/us-immigration-since-1965 (Check out this website for more information on the history of immigration throughout the years.)


The second plan of note was proposed in 2007 by President Bush, The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007. The plan was never even voted on.



The sheer lack of any kind of movement in this area speaks to the sincerity of those advocating the cause, and those who have claimed that they do in fact care about it. If the Republican party had in fact grasped the chance to take the matter into their own hands in the last couple of years, or *gasp* tried to work with the democratic party in finding a solution that perhaps finds a way for both parties to be happy with an immigration bill, then President Obama may not have felt like he needed to act with such authority.



This brings me to another point. Several of the founding fathers say in their writings that the last thing they want for their new republic is a two party system like that of England. They have discovered that it in fact causes more problems than it answers. George Washington himself warned that:

“The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge natural to party dissention, which in different ages & countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders & miseries, which result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security & repose in the absolute power of an Individual: and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of Public Liberty." (http://www.thirty-thousand.org/pages/Baneful_Parties.htm)



From an observers point of view it seems that Washington was right. Especially in this situation it can be seen very clearly that party lines are getting in the way of running the nation in a compassionate and ethical way. But for some reason we just can't seem to shake the system. The Electoral College itself was created to balance out these revenge driven politics, but even so, the vote is still decided in the end by party differences.



Immigration itself is something that should be a no-brainer. Our country was built on the backs of immigrants. Why should we now discourage those who wish to make it in the world by not letting them share in our beautiful country and our idealistic freedom?

There is something here that I can't quite taste, something trying to get out of my brain, some obscure, and relevant, and original words that can't quite worm their way into my consciousness. This is my curse, to be blessed with a talent but be unable to access it. I have a power, but no knowledge of the mechanics of using it. I have things running through my brain and streams of knowledge that I can't drink from. What is clawing at the inside of my skull just trying to be heard over the screaming details of everyday life? Many things are fortunate but this is not one of them. I have an eloquence but nothing to use it on. My creativity is stifled only by the limits of my own imagination. I think of things, but they are only things that I have seen already in some shape or another from the minds of those smarter and better than me. flashes of Tolkien, and Twain and Poe, and Homer. All of these things I first think of and am deceived that they might be mine, but when the surface is scratched it is simply another copy of the great people that came before. Is there anything original left in my head?   

Honestly I don't know what to believe about what has been going on in Ferguson right now.  There are a lot of rumors and don't want to place blame where it doesn't belong.  However in an almost unimaginable bout of violence that seems to be turning into a race riot, the people of Ferguson seem to be at the end of their respective ropes.  Half of the reports I have been hearing are demonizing the people and the other half do the same to the police force.  My question is, why aren't people talking about this?
      When shootings in schools occur it is all over the news, all over facebook, and pretty much every other media outlet in existence,  why is this any different?  Is it because of the color of the skin of the people involved?  If so it also begs the question; haven't we gotten past that already?  Racism is old news folks, and there is no excuse that we as human beings can make for ourselves if these prejudices still hold water.  The fact that the KKK is involved in the matter makes it even worse, solidifying the issue into one of race and if anything proving that the police force with whom they are in support are indeed at fault.
      All I can say at this point is that those who have been affected by the violence in any way are in my thoughts and prayers, and I ask for all those who might read this to feel the same.  Whether the people involved are at fault or not please don't let hatred of the act translate into hatred of the person.  Who knows what is going on in the heads of those doing wrong.  It might be panic or misunderstanding, or confusion and these people deserve prayers instead of hate.  Peace, and love should be the reaction to these events instead of hatred.  It may sound a bit 'hippy' of me to say this but maybe that's what we need right now.
       I stand in support of all those hurt, killed, or traumatized by the events and hope that they will eventually be able to overcome what has happened.  

"It is the duty of an educated man to state the obvious"

                                          -William Shakespeare

       I will add to Mr. Shakespeare's quote if I may.  It is the duty of an educated person to state the obvious even if the obvious is something no one else wants to admit.  I would go even further to say especially if the obvious is something no one else wants to admit.  There are many truths in the world that people simply brush over, or ignore completely, but that doesn't make them any less of the truth.

So why did I just rant about the obvious?  Because it has been something weighing on my mind recently, something that I just can't shake.   This thinking was inspired by Pope Francis and his Apostolic Exhortation.  He focuses so much on helping the poor and needy before ourselves.  Honestly it made me feel bad because here I am just finishing four full years of expensive education and I haven't made a difference in any impoverished persons livelihood at all.  But that is when the Shakespeare quote came to me, and I realized it says educated man.  I am looking at it now in a more positive light.  The reason that I received an education perhaps this wonderful is in fact to realize the problems in this world, and maybe, just maybe to help fix them.  There's not much I really can do at the moment, but as my life continues I can help more. 

This brings me to my second point.  Why are those who can, not helping more right now?