Friday, March 29, 2024

Hostile reporter in search of sound bite gets bit

Posted

Last week CNN reporter Jim Acosta attempted to criticize President Trump’s new immigration proposal by bringing up Emma Lazarus’s poem – “The New Colossus”.

“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-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”

Acosta was roundly attacked by White House spokesman Steven Miller for having the audacity to ask such a loaded and prejudicial question.
The problem is Lazarus’s poem is just a poem. It is not part of our founding documents nor has it ever been made part of our official political position through legislation or executive office decree.
Historically speaking the poem was not connected with the Statue of Liberty monument until 1903, well after the statue had been erected. In fact Lazarus had reluctantly agreed to donate her poem to the effort to raise funds for the pedestal for Lady Liberty.
The “Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World” was a gift of friendship from the people of France to the United States. But it was understood at the time that Americans would be responsible for building a platform for the statue.
The monument was the brainchild of Edouard de Laboulaye an abolitionist who saw the monument as a tribute to the end of slavery in America and a way to inspire the French people to call for reform of their own repressive monarchy.  
It was not intended as a monument to inspire immigration to America. And while Lazarus’s sonnet calls for us to accept the poor and the homeless, it is highly doubtful those were the immigrants that found their way to America. Even in late nineteenth century passage to America was a costly endeavor.
Yes, it is true that many of our early immigrants sold everything they owned and made their way to the New World with only what they could carry with them. That does not mean they were without skills or talent they could rely on to enrich our developing nation. Early immigrants also could not expect to receive free government services when they arrived.
It is also true that many could not speak English or read or write. But the world has changed and we cannot take on all of the “huddled masses” of the world. Immigration policy, like any other government policy needs to be reviewed and changed to fit the needs of our country.
The truth is we can do a lot more for the poor and downtrodden by confronting evil dictators who are abusing their citizens. Unfortunately, most “progressives” support these dictators because they claim to be out to help the working class. They rarely do. And when their countries fail we cannot become the safety net for their suffering masses.
An honest review of these regimes will reveal that they nearly all end up lining the pockets of the powerful leaders while the general population struggles. The solution is not to make our country a haven for all of the downtrodden in the world. That simply burdens our citizens to make up for failed leadership around the world.
The solution is to challenge the dictators of the world to live up to their promise to improve the lives of all of their citizens, and to actively oppose their abuse of those citizens.
That is not to say we don’t have problems with immigration. First, allowing illegals to overwhelm our system is not acceptable. Second, we need a guest worker system. Third we need a way to enforce our temporary visa system. Our current system is broken. It is time for Congress to fix it and to enforce the laws they have passed.
Congress has demonstrated a total inability to address the problems facing our country.
The American people elected Trump to disturb the status quo.
The American people are smarter than today’s major media journalists. They are smarter than the do nothing lawyers in Congress and their political appointees.
It is time for these people to critically examine their own motives and failed policies.
Americans are growing increasingly fed up with the ever expanding bureaucracy draining their wallets and controlling their lives.
They chose Trump for a reason. Let’s hope the firings begin soon.
 

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