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A Moment of Clarity
As August becomes September, and the November elections loom ever closer, the GOP’s internal battle shows no signs of resolving to an uneasy truce. Indeed for many, no common path forward can be found and the GOP has hit rock bottom — it is a moment of pessimism, a moment of little if any hope. Human nature has shown that in such times, and only then, is a moment of clarity possible. And if the reader will allow, I would like to humbly offer one.
Trump’s candidacy is a reaction, a symptom to an underlying malady. The Tea Party, whether or not supportive of Trump, is another such reaction. Yet another is any talk of “Ruling Class,” “Establishment,” or “Elites.” So many symptoms exist which make obvious that there is something very, very wrong with Washington DC, and the People sense it. The Democrats are malignant, the Republicans are complicit, the Media are corrupt, and the People, especially those who sense that something is wrong, are considered the enemy. Just how deeply these previous statements are regarded as true is the fuzzy but deep line along which the GOP is divided. Any possible reconciliation of the disparate GOP factions must address this division. Moreover, it must do so in a manner which is a return to the very roots of the party.
There was a time when the GOP was a party of freedom, a party dedicated to the abolition of slavery. It is a proud history. A history of people who bravely proclaimed that Human Dignity held supremacy over an economic structure which required compulsory servitude in order to remain viable, that it was the basest of immorality to import people from foreign lands to our shores and into compulsory servitude in order to sustain that inviable economic structure. It was a long and hard fought battle, but it was won. And a party that stuck steadfastly to the principles of Human Liberty won it.
And the battle needed to be won, because the system was deeply immoral. So much so, that to this day, 150 years later, the scars inflicted by that system have not fully healed and are ripe for any opportunistic demagogue to rip a dirty fingernail into. So much so, that our country may never fully be at peace with itself. Look at Milwaukee. Look at Baltimore.
So, ask yourself, members of the GOP, if such a system were around today, would you stand against it? Hint: this is a “moment of clarity” question.
There was a time when the GOP recognized the argument, “but our agriculture economy will not survive without the importation of cheap labor,” as an immoral one. Does it do so today?
There was a time when the GOP recognized the argument, “but there are jobs that Americans won’t do, so we need to import cheap labor to do it,” as an immoral one. Does it do so today?
There was a time when the GOP recognized economic structures which, in order to remain viable, required compulsory servitude along with the importation of people to fulfill that servitude as immoral ones. Does it do so today?
I would like to suggest that Trump’s outrageous rhetoric on illegal immigration resonates not because our people are immoral, but because our economic structures which require and promote it are. Economists fret over the price of labor and lettuce. Bureaucrats fret over population replacement rates as a threat to compulsory government programs — programs which could never long or legally exist in the private sector, but which, for the sake of government, must exist in perpetuity.
I can only speak for myself; the rest of the GOP must follow their own path to their own clarity, but let me state now: I do not exist, nor should anyone exist, for the viability of a compulsory government program. The requirement that I, or anyone else, should do so is immoral — devastatingly so. And I will gladly join any party which also proudly proclaims the same.
Published in Immigration, Politics
Well said. Thank you.
Thank you, Boss Mongo, and thanks for reading.
The economy has to mean more than just GDP and the stock market.
What if, by importing 100M new people into the country, we could raise GDP by 10%? Should we do it? The average person would say hell no, that’s going to kill my standard of living. The ones making the decisions on immigration disagree.
Are there government programs which require an increase in 10% of the GDP in order to remain viable? If so, then doing so is immoral. People are not a means to an end.
And this is the problem. The issue is more than just a standard of living one, although there is that too. The overriding issue is the moral one – the government needs to import more numbered, anonymous bodies to keep its compulsory, unsustainable, and in the private sector illegal, programs viable.
And thanks for reading, JM.
Rick,
I can’t believe you are equating immigration with slavery. By the time of the GOP had come into existence, the importation of slaves had long been banned. I am proud of the GOP’s roots and origins and it drives me nuts how the Democrats have somehow rewritten history to make the GOP out as the bad guys in the civil rights era.
I am also an immigration hawk, but I don’t blame most of the illegal immigrants – they came here to improve their lot. I blame the businesses that hire illegal immigrants, and the government official on both sides that look away. We would only have to prosecute and imprison three CEO’s of major corporations that employ illegal immigrant labor and the immigration issue would be solved. No need to build a wall or deport anyone (except the criminals, they will stay no matter what and will have to be forcibly deported – by trebuchet is my preference).
Great post Rick.It is often forgotten that freedom is what has made this country great. The more government the less free we are.
Bravo.
The GOP is complicit in the ruin.
Rick, this is one of the most well composed and thoughtful posts I have read in a while.
I personally believe we have managed to disconnect love of country from ideology and like a culture breaks down when it loses it’s moral backbone, politics breaks down when it loses it’s love of country.
We view the economy as an abstract, not the gainful opportunity for our citizens. We assume strength in a military , asset base, technological and skills bases do not need maintaining. We assume our schools which used to educate the citizens and provide the opportunity to better yourself are unimportant and decline is not going to have a long term impact.
We have split into abstract elites thinkers who are disconnected with the real levers of long term national power and those who maintain the nation day to day, nut and bolt.
I am not. I am equating the reasons for the push for mass immigration, especially the use of human beings as means to the end of keeping viable compulsory government programs, to slavery. Believe that.
I don’t blame any of them. I blame us for not calling out this immoral system for what it is.
Not true, the immoral system which the rest are navigating would still exist.
And thank you for reading.
Very well said. I think framing this in moral terms is the right way to approach this issue.
Thank you, PHC. And thanks for reading.
Yes, it is. Thanks for reading, Bryan.
Thank you, TKC, and thanks for reading.
As do I. Thanks for reading, Clavius.
I hadn’t seen this issue as a moral one, Rick. But you are right. It seems so easy to avoid the moral question when we want our needs met, doesn’t it? Thank you for re-framing the issue for me.
Yes. Thanks for reading, Susan.
I think the real moral question we should ask ourselves is what right does the government have to say who can or can not work? A party devoted to liberty would never consider the criminalization of labor, in the manner that our government currently employs. No person should need the governments approval or permission to perform a basic and otherwise legal form of economic activity. But, the current system of laws was not designed to expand and preserve human freedom but rather was designed to restrict it for the personal gain of specific interest groups that have always viewed competition and freedom as flaws and hindrances to their rent seeking.
I do not disagree with your assertion here, and I would agree that it would be the primary moral concern if and only if the government did not have compulsory programs in place, compulsory programs which can not remain viable without the importation of further bodies to sustain them.
Rick,
There was a time when our culture was deeply concerned with the issues which you bring up. They made movies for adults without grandiose photography or bombastic musical background. Just the highest quality acting delivering the highest quality script.
Cultural progress isn’t measured in pixels.
Regards,
Jim
There is another dimension to the mandatory program the government operates that it needs additional people to support issue. Suppose, since this is a mandatory program, the government chose to reduce the need for delivering benefits.
In Heinlein’s Time Enough for Love, Lazarus Long’s son shows up at a colony planet with a ship load of old people. He did so out of charity since the Earth government has declared that when one reaches 65 years of age, one is officially dead. Heirs inherit and one has no right to exist. He took them to the colony as charity.
That is certainly over the top in our current situation. But it highlights the basic moral problem with the setup. Sort of a reductio ad absurdum style of demonstrating the problem.
Nicely done. I don’t have anything to add beyond agreement.
I think I read a completely different post from everyone else.
Whenever people talk about the “system” I get wary because it usually is the precursor to some conspiratorial Bilderburger garbage or a socialistic rant. Immigrants have always formed the base of manual labor at poor pay and the response has always been complaints by the earlier immigrants and a more socialistic labor policy. I agree that a pause in immigration is important for the US to help us absorb, assimilate, and accept these immigrants like we did in the past. If things keep going like they are we will see more divisions based on ethnicity.
Like I said, go after the real bad actors: the people employing illegal immigrants because they want cheap labor.
If this post wasn’t upvoted from the member feed, it deserved to be. Excellent sentiment very well laid out.
This. The course of action no one has the stones to initiate.
Thanks for reading, James.
Thanks, DocJay, and thanks for reading.
Thanks, PB, and thanks for reading.
from the OP: “The Democrats are malignant, the Republicans are complicit, the Media are corrupt, and the People, especially those who sense that something is wrong, are considered the enemy.”
That single sentence pretty well sums it all up right there.