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| Goths traversant une rivière Evariste-Vital Luminais |
The New Colossus
Emma Lazarus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
While pondering the insanity of importing vast crowds of people with no skills, no jobs, and what seems to be little ambition, other than to suck on the gubmint teat, I recalled the plaque on the Statue of Liberty.
"Give me your tired, your poor ..." etc., doesn't mean, to me, "give us your freeloaders and ne'er-do-wells, we're rich enough to take care of them and don't care if they add nothing to the Nation."
I know they're not all like that. But large groups of military-aged males aren't immigrants, they're invaders. What are they fleeing? Military service in their own benighted homelands? No, there is something deeper there. I'm not sure what bargains certain politicians made with Satan to allow this, but damn, what else do they hope to gain other than power?
Import people beholden to you and they might vote for you. Or ...
They might not.
The Central Valley of California has a lot of immigrants, folks who speak Spanish at home but who stress to their kids that they need to learn English. They have strong family ties, they are believers in God, they came here to escape the corruption of their former homelands.
I know some of them, good people, the salt of the earth you might say.
Those are the folks being beckoned to come here and live in Emma Lazarus' sonnet. They're the folks we want, fighters for a better way of life. A lot of them don't like what's going on with these newer waves of "immigrants."
Want to vote in this country? - Become a citizen.
Want to be a citizen? - Learn to speak English.
Want to keep your cultural heritage? - Why not, we're supposed to be a melting pot, well, we used to be. A lot of cultures have beautiful aspects, why throw those away? I don't think you need to.
But there are rules, we ALL need to abide by them
Especially those crooked politicians who seek power and money.
I don't have the perfect answer, but we need to restrain those who would "lead" us. That's not what they're supposed to be doing, they're our representatives.
Not our bosses.
A pox on their houses if they can't fix this mess.
And a ringside seat in Hell if they can't.
Immigrants? How many of them are illegal aliens? Helped along by politicians. Those who came in legally and went through the process to become CITIZENS, both timewise and moneywise, what are they thinking of what's happening. A country without defended borders is no country.
ReplyDeleteAn immigrant is someone who comes in to live here, whether legally or illegally. Politics aside, that's what an immigrant is.
DeleteFor accuracy we should start calling them "unregistered Democrats."
Tens of millions have been brought/allowed in this last 3+ years (beyond the normal immigrants who go through the process) , that's a fact & one we're going to have to learn to live with.
ReplyDeleteWe might have to deal with it, rather than just live with it. November will be telling.
DeleteA noble restrained thought friend.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the facts as I understand them makes our economic chaos not improved by adding millions of more GIMME DATS to vote for the Socialist-Democrats. Why do I say that?
Cui Bono "who benefits from this crime?"
Who is fighting tooth and nail to keep illegals "RIGHTS" to Vote this November?
And why should these "undocumented" illegals vote for Trump who's going to send them back as fast as CONgress allows him.
Economic chaos by adding more and MORE GIMME DATS to suck on the system.
The powers that BE know only one trick it seems. Create MORE Dollars for any solution. Look at our debt clock lately? Trillion added every 80 or so days more debt.
They can "Print" dollars but they cannot print a single loaf of bread to buy with those EXTRA EBT card "money".
What's going to happen when the EBT FAILS and the illegals and domestic Gimme Dats are HUNGRY.
I'll stop here except to remind folks that in times of Real Trouble(tm) Trusted Friends and Trusted Family members is far more valued than gold coins.
Pray for wisdom
Having this after one's name - (D) - answers most of your questions.
DeleteDumbasses are sowing the wind.
Hosea 8:7
DeleteIsrael will Reap the Whirlwind
…6For this thing is from Israel—a craftsman made it, and it is not God. It will be broken to pieces, that calf of Samaria. 7For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. There is no standing grain; what sprouts fails to yield flour. Even if it should produce, the foreigners would swallow it up. 8Israel is swallowed up! Now they are among the nations like a worthless vessel.…
If this can happen to God's chosen people for sinning, why should America expect better?
Normally I go for scripture but this commentary is so on point.
Isaiah 3 is a chapter from the Book of Isaiah where the prophet warns the people of Judah and Jerusalem about the impending divine judgement due to their sinful ways1. The chapter describes how the people are threatened with famine, removal of useful men in church and state, and ignorant and effeminate governors2. The reasons for these calamities are their evil words and actions against the Lord, which were highly provoking to him, and their impudence in sinning like Sodom2. The chapter concludes with a prophecy that their mighty men should perish by the sword in war, and the city should be desolate2
My comment about trusted friends and family stands. That's what got most folks through times of real trouble (tm).
Amen.
DeleteMe thinks your coondog is barking up the wrong tree. Who is it that wanted to invade Mexico, or not have the five percent pay taxes, or to keep personnel near the border? It weren't the D's. They are not the majority party in Congress. Remember, the majority montrols the output of rules, and the Congress and the courts are same party, whose word you cannot trust. So, I don't blame the D's. I blame those who are seeking to overthrow, and divide us. The cold war continues. Keep alert.
ReplyDeleteAnd who do you think is in charge right now?
DeleteAnd who do you think was in complete control of both houses of Congress in 2016-2018? That’s right....the feckless, useless, weak, bought and paid for Republicans who refused to further Trumps agenda and who fought him at every turn.
DeleteI’m 65 and have voted R in every election since I was 18, I used to think they actually would do what they could to keep and further America as the best Nation in the world.....now they work to further their own wealth, power, and privilege, and to hell with the citizens....”let the underlings eat swill......we will feast on the fatted calf”....may they choke on his testicles......
Every politician on the national level is corrupt......well maybe except for Chip Roy, I am Texan so I’m probably biased, but even he has his moments ....
Trump is at least his own man, that’s why every snake in DC hates him, even the R’s
RINOs, it's the uniparty at work now (and then). We need to rid politics of these assholes. Beholden only to their own self-interests and maintaining the deep state.
DeleteAnd if you want to rant, I have no problem with that. But at least sign your comment with a handle of some sort.
As I recall, that bit of dogrel was used to raise funds for the Statue, that Statue to be a tribute to Abolition, not immigration. And the brazen tablet added some years after the erection of the Statue. Even at that time our immigration laws levied a tax of fifty cents a head on immigrants, and had "public charge" exclusion laws that turned away, paraphrasing here, "lunatics, idiots, criminals, and those unable to care for themselves as so become a charge on the public." Something like that. And quotas based on nationality and skills. We still have those to some extent, but the push to bring those millions here illegally to the front of the citizenship line seem to have relegated tohse to the ash heap of history.
ReplyDeleteMy Confirmation sponsor was a 6th or 7th generation Californio. Not Mexican, not Californian, Californio. He'd get rather indignant if someone asked (the devil part of me REEEAAALLLY wanted to put that as "axed") if he was Mexican. His family came to what is now San Diego County in the late 1700s. Come to think of it, about a quarter of the people we knew from church were probably Californios. Almost all were bilingual, although more fluent in English than Spanish. Thoroughly American, but kept their heritage alive with food, religion, and to an extent language. Sometimes by their professions, skills their family brought from Mexico in the 1700s and 1800s and passed down from generation to generation. Much like the Italians, Norwegians, Irish, Germans, Japanese.
I've never fully bought into the "melting pot" metaphor. I think "stew pot" comes closer. Or maybe "pot pie." Bits and pieces of this and that tempered in a rich gravy of common good, and bound in a coffin of the Constitution and Law.
Never heard that term before.
DeleteCalifornio? Obviously it's a term I grew up hearing so for me it's one of those "everyone knows it" words. I know it's used in the Antonio Banderas Zorro movies, don't recall if it's in the Tyrone Power or Guy Williams works.
DeleteSo I might have heard it, but wasn't really paying attention.
DeleteMore than likely your brain processed it as Californian. That's the most common.
DeleteNo doubt.
DeleteThe term applies to those people, Spaniards, who settled in that part of the Spanish colony known as Alta California. Usually with a land grant. Before 1824.
DeleteAn Americano could marry a California but only after converting to Roman Catholic and swearing allegiance to Spain. The latter was less required over time, the former was a strict rule. One concern was assuming titles to land or livestock without the necessary conversion. Therefore, strict enforcement. Penalty was usually banishment from the entire province but sometimes for severe.
DeleteA favorite story:
As a young man, Richard Henry Dana was undecided about his future. His father secured for him a position on a friend's whaling ship.
Richard developed a fondness for Alta California. After some years, his father sent brother George to fetch Richard. Richard did return to New England but brother George stayed behind, converted, settled down, built a fine rancho on Spanish land grant. One of his adobe houses still remains in San Luis Obispo, CA.
Sarge, one could argue that one of the contributions to the relative success of the later Roman Republic and Roman Empire was the fact that it was willing to allow any number of people to become citizens regardless of origin, race, or religion - with the understanding (backed by military force, of course) that the dominant culture was Roman, not something else (it is something the Classical Greeks never figured out and Alexander tried to but not with any long term success). Within that paradigm, people could do materially well - even the Apostle Paul benefited from his Roman citizenship and was able to appeal to the Emperor.
ReplyDeleteAn underlying cause - maybe not the root one - is simply that America exists largely as an economic construct anymore. We have little shared culture or values or history, the sorts of things that make up a nation-state; what we have is that 1) We all live in the same place; and 2) We all exist in the same economic system. Thus, people are not "citizens", they are economic units. And economic units are interchangeable commodities.
One thing that is rather deplorable - and does not help the cause of the control of the border or influx of immigrants in general - is the visceral reaction that some on the conservative (often male, it appears)) seem to have to anyone that is 1) Not from around "here"' and 2) Does not look like them or brings a foreign culture with them. There are plenty I have met - coworkers, friends - that started out somewhere else but are happy to be here and be Americans. They cannot seem to get beyond the externals to see that these are precisely the sort of people that we want to be citizens. And their cultures arguably enrich our own by given us a wealth of cultural experiences to draw upon and enjoy.
Spot on, TB!
DeleteHaving a family which is half-Korean and having lived all over the place, I learned to enjoy the new things that other cultures might provide.
Humans as Toirdhealbheach Beucail has often said before are TRIBAL.
DeleteMilitary folks less so if they've been overseas and often have multi-racial families and friends. I've enjoyed Korea enough to extend an extra year there.
When things get ugly, sad to say plenty of folks will say that horrible phrase "your skinsuit is your uniform".
I shudder when that goes down, but history is full of that. Maybe it's the Cherokee grandmother but after a summer of working in the gardens I can look pretty dark. Farmers tan but still...
Folks that add something to the mix are welcome. Gimme Dats not so much.
A lot can be learned about your neighbors. Help them with leave raking, snow shoveling and so on.
Hostility is to be noted.
Otherwise see if they respond positively by coming over to help you or at least show thanks.
Otherwise, I'd expect them to be takers not helpers.
So far, my dogs' reactions (and the helpful test) to people seems to match up well with their behaviors down the road.
Somebody smarter than I said 90% of your troubles will come from folks within a short drive from your home.
Nice to know the neighbors well enough to share BBQ with.
All true.
DeleteSarge, "they" are NOT going to "fix it"; they have created it. The People who WILL " fix it" are We the People. I hope and pray we can fix it peaceably; we'll find out by the end of the year.
ReplyDeleteBoat Guy
If I implied that "they" would fix it, then my apologies, I know who has to fix it. Us, we the People.
DeleteConcur with your end of the year assessment.
"Pray like it's all up to God, and work like it's all up to you."
DeleteBG
Because it's true.
DeleteAnd I don't remember "Bring me your tired, your poor..." meaning that the US govt would charter flights to bring them here, and create an app to declare themselves refugees.
ReplyDeletePrecisely.
DeleteI try to temper my immigration feelings remembering my "illegal" Great-Great Grandfather. He and his family immigrated from Ireland to Canada in 1815. Late that fall he set off 150 miles on an ax-blazed trail from St. George Canada to Bingham (in what is now US Maine [none of this border nonsense back then]). He carried a 60 lb pack and their two-year-old son. His wife carried a 20 lb pack and their six-month-old daughter. They had six days supplies and were on the trail eight days. And I chuckle when genealogists suggest I check immigration records about my ancestry on my father's side.
ReplyDeleteComing in through Maine, on foot, that's hard core.
DeleteMy Great-Grandfather Patrick was a tough old bird. He died in his 90's from complications from a broken leg or hip. He fell while ice skating with some of his grandchildren.
ReplyDeleteI meant Great-Great Grandfather.
ReplyDelete