Refusing Refugees.

At the base of the Statue of Liberty, a poem by Emma Lazarus reads:

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!

Historically, the USA has been the “land of opportunity,” where we welcomed those that wanted to come here to live, work and prosper, with open arms and big hearts. Like virtually everybody in this Nation who doesn’t have ancestors or relatives living on an Indian Native American reservation, my forebears came from parts beyond the USA. So it might seem a little hypocritical for anybody in America to say “Stop right there, buddy…we don’t want your kind.” But what if it’s the kind that wants to kill us all? 

The American promise has always been about assimilation, to make a stronger society. America is a great melting pot, where we’ve taken the best from every culture that’s come here, resulting in a unique blend of traditions, cultures, and philosophies. That’s a very cool thing. My own grandfather, born here to immigrants from what is now the Czech Republic, didn’t speak a word of English until he went to first grade. They spoke Czech at home. But here’s the important factor: all of my ancestors did their best to learn English, believing that was THE way to a better life. It worked. My grandfather didn’t finish high school. My father earned a double Masters degree. My daughter will be heading off to college next summer.

America IS the land of opportunity. But only if you participate. Moving here but keeping to your own, not learning the language, and not assimilating is NOT participating in the American Way. As millions upon millions have proven before us, it’s possible to move here from another land, immerse yourself in our culture, maintain your own traditions, and still become a vital part of American Life.

It goes against all that when people move here and set up their own little “countries within our country,” with their own language, their own way of life, and even their own laws. (What was your point in moving here in the first place?) But some who move here are not looking for a better life. They are not looking to assimilate and become “Americans.” They want to destroy our way of life, and us in the process. They hate us. And they want to kill us.

The problem with the welcome mat at the feet of Lady Liberty is that it presumes people want to come here for the right reasons. You know…”life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.” But there are a LOT of people who come here that believe otherwise. They have no desire to blend their cultures in with ours. No, they want to keep their culture “pure” and “unsullied,” and they use our own laws and largess to force the rest of us to kowtow down to them and their ways. That’s bad. But this is worse: foreign groups who wage jihad on the USA are using our naiveté and good will to sneak terrorists into our country where they can kill us.

Don’t believe me? Remember the Boston Marathon bombers? Those two ‘kids’ were admitted to the USA as refugees, seeking asylum from political and religious oppression. (Of course, they weren’t so repressed and put-upon that they couldn’t return to their homeland for vacations. Still…) They are not alone. Every one of the 9-11 hijackers were here on student visas. Obviously, they didn’t move here to assimilate. They moved here to assassinate us. All of us. Or at least, as many of us as they could take with them.

In the past, Americans would have said “No! We won’t allow this.” But thanks to the twin cancers that are “political correctness” and “Progressivism/Socialism” we find our government unable and unwilling to protect us. We hear things like “If we don’t take in the refugees, we’re heartless, evil people.” This from the same crowd that made it illegal to ask a potential employee to show their green card. It brings as whole ‘nuther level to “Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell,” eh?

Instead of securing our borders, or at least quarantining those seeking entry, until we can investigate to see if they are legit or not, the Left demands we “do the right thing” and take them in immediately as a “humanitarian” thing. And if when one or more of them commit some heinous crimes against our citizens, we’ll be told that this is “an exception to the rule,” that “one bad apple can’t be allowed to spoil the whole bunch,” or “it’s the price we pay for freedom.”

My daddy told me they could pile it pretty high and pretty deep, but he never mentioned they’d gotten it to talk.

Let’s take it out of the context of terrorism and immigration. Let’s say you have a large and successful chicken farm. In the next county over, there’s a snake farm. But the snake farmer is going bankrupt. He’s lost his land, and needs someplace to keep his snakes. You don’t know anything about snakes, but you’ve read that most snakes are harmless. But the ones that are not are deadly. To chickens. To humans. Because you can’t tell them apart, you wouldn’t know if that’s a coral snake (venomous) or a king snake (harmless). They are almost identical in coloration. You don’t want to let them on your land. But the media runs stories about how heartless and cruel you are. The snake farm owner assure you it’s all safe.

Now the safe solution to keeping your chickens alive would be to refuse the snake guy’s overtures. But you get beaten up in the press. Public opinion turns against you, even though there are other snake farms in other counties who have refused to take ANY of the guy’s snakes. So you think, okay, well, we’ll take only the non-venomous snakes, right? Only you can’t tell the difference. And once you open the gate, the snake guy starts running in truck after truck, filled with snakes of all colors and descriptions. Where will you put them all? How will you feed them?

It doesn’t take long before your chickens start dying. And despite protestations of innocence from the snake guy, you discover it’s his poisonous snakes doing the killing. NOW, what do you do?

Now before anybody gets their knickers in a twist, this was an analogy. But to be fair, I’ve read the Quran. And it’s hard for me to see the Islamic faith as anything but a virus that wants to consume the world in narrow-minded hate, bigotry, and violence. So I think the snake analogy is a solid one. If you want to peg me as someone who hates Muslims, you’d be wrong. I don’t hate anybody. But I don’t want to do anything that promotes Islam. I believe it is a false religion, and I believe they are using our fundamental freedoms and our Christian charity against us, in an orchestrated attempt to defeat all other religions in the name of creating an Islamic Caliphate.

Don’t agree with me? I’m okay with that. Right now, you have the right, as an American, to believe what you will, and agree or disagree with me as you like. Keep in mind, however, that if and when we have enough Muslims in the USA to vote to change our Constitution, that freedom will evaporate in the name of Mohammed.

What is the solution? Well, first, I don’t see much changing or getting solved until either Congress grows a pair, or we get get the Muslim sympathizer out of the White House. Since neither seems immediately likely. (Although I pray that when the House reconvenes, they will oust Boehner from the Speaker’s chair. That would help. A lot.) But Washington only responds when We the People make noise. A LOT of noise. Unfortunately, it will likely take more immigrant refugees making front-page news after killing large numbers of innocent Americans before people stand up and start yelling at our representatives in Congress. Until then, I guess I’ll continue to sit here, in my writer’s garret, and occasionally walk the streets with a lantern, looking for an honest man who will admit the truth – the truth that, until we’re willing to face up to our responsibilities to stand up to the folly of political correctness and Progressivism and defend ourselves, in the words of Pogo, “We have met the enemy…and he is us.”