Thursday, October 5, 2017

Then DO Something

I am really tired. My resistance to thinking Congress should do something about DACA, that President Trump is being unfairly treated by the media, and that our country is being divided equally by BOTH the Liberals and the Conservatives in our country is unpopular. If I were more active on Facebook and refuted the claims I've seen from my Facebook friends about each of those items, I would have a full-time job.

For example, take DACA. This article about DACA - Ending DACA would damage the provider workforce - touts how ending the program would have zero benefits and only harm children who were brought illegally to this country. No one likes the word "illegal" when discussing immigration. No one really uses that word in these articles or when discussing the subject. Instead, teaser headlines like "An end to protection for those brought to the U.S. as children wouldn't directly impact a large number of would-be health professionals, but it would worsen provider shortage issues, particularly in already underserved areas" emphasize how great these children are and how they contribute to society. There is rabid indignation when the suggestion is made to even consider deporting even one of these kids and, no, I'm not supportive of any kind of mass deportation.

Where I come down on this issue is that Trump has decided that Congress has to do their job. He gave them 6 months to come up with legislation. What is wrong with passing a law to make these policies permanent? What possible evil could come from that? I don't consider myself a blind Tucker Carlson disciple but I watched him make this point in one of the videos I watched. He said that people who come to our country illegally come because their homeland or where they are coming from often is in chaos. Perhaps there are drug lords who rule the town or a civil war - take your pick or add any other form of chaos - but the bottomline is that there is chaos. The appeal of America, then, is that there is America is a nation of laws. Sure, there are drug lords who rule towns in America and the gun control debate is one that threatens to divide us, but from a mile-high view, I have to believe there is an American culture of people who are good people. For example, after the Las Vegas shooting, people stood in line to donate blood. There was a picture on ABC News of two people who had gone up to a policeman and hugged him.

If I were a Democrat - fully admitting I lean Republican on a lot of issues - I would be drafting legislation to make DACA permanent. I would have a coalition of Republicans and fellow Democrats locked in a room to hammer out a deal that would put forward a bill that both sides could support. Sure, there are extremes on both sides - Ted Cruz doesn't want any sort of amnesty - and Nancy Pelosi wants everyone to be welcomed immediately. It seems like the aforementioned article sees that:

With President Donald Trump threatening* to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, dozens of medical groups are pressing Congress to approve legislation that would create a pathway to permanent, legal residency for undocumented individuals brought to the U.S. as children.

But that doesn't seem to be the focus I hear about on the news. Instead, Democrats and Republicans trade accusations of anti-[pick a race or culture or set of beliefs] racism. For Democrats, it's accusations of Republicans being anti-Muslim & anti-African-American; for Republicans, it's accusations of Democrats being anti-American by putting the rights of illegal immigrants above the rights of citizens. Both sides are always eager to projectile vomit out their narrative. Both sides are gearing up to make their narrative be the one to shape popular opinion so that on November 4, 2020, which is only 1126 days away, their party wins. Some are focused on November 6, 2018, which is 397 days.

Because I don't claim to have the answers, I have no idea what is going to happen.

* Editor's Note: President Donald Trump did not "threaten" to end DACA. He said Congress needs to do their job and pass a law.

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