WE LOVE READER FEEDBACK BECAUSE IT SHOWS WE ARE ENGAGING SOMEONE.  These type of responses tend to be well read.

Here is feedback on two articles posted last week on “Immigration Politics and the Statue of Liberty,” by Bill Britton and “The Inconvenient Truth about Trump,” by Stanford Erickson.”

FEEDBACK ON “IMMIGRATION POLITICS AND THE STATUE OF LIBERTY”

“They lose their humanity and become mere objects to be manipulated for political gain.” This applies more to Planned Parenthood who sells ‘fetal tissue’ aka ‘babies with beating hearts’ for money rather than the those who willfully come into this country illegally – they are commiting a crime and should be called ‘illegal immigrants or aliens’. That’s what they are!

A few years ago I gave a talk on the two key principles of our freedom and liberty in the US – Private Property Rights and Parental Rights. Part of what I said follows:
Property rights can be used to frame conservative positions on many current issues from gun rights to immigration. For instance, stopping illegal immigration is the epitome of protecting citizens’ property rights because it is protecting America. No sovereign nation can withstand the massive dilution of its traditions, values and culture through unlimited immigration and survive. We have a moral obligation to our founders to protect our republic and preserve what is uniquely American.

We do not have a moral obligation to accept all immigrants nor is the current immigrant the moral equivalent of those of the past. The first immigrants were the founders and pioneers who created this sovereign nation through immense sacrifice and with divine guidance formed a united republic. Later those who came to our shores and populated our cities and towns did so legally and with the desire to assimilate. They sacrificed to get here and tried to make a go of it through learning the language and hard work. If they didn’t succeed, they went back home (or they died); they didn’t go on welfare.

As Thomas Jefferson originally wrote…”that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and Property”…owning private property is a God-given right and is the bedrock of our society. To take the ability to own, use and control private property away from the citizenry is to destroy our nation and our way of life. To take our property in the form of land or treasure and give it to a non-citizen is even more damaging to the nation.

Today I would add:

• For a number of years after the large influx of immigrants thru Ellis Island, the federal government permitted very few new immigrants to enter the country in order that the cities and towns would have time to assimilate the influx. We controlled our borders and set limits on immigration.
• Today, only the US and Canada, of all the developed nations of the world, designate ‘anchor babies’ as citizens of their countries upon birth on their soil.
• The Mexican Constitution states that children born outside of Mexico of 1) Mexican parents, of 2) a Mexican father or children born of 3) a Mexican mother and “unknown father” are Mexican citizens and not the citizens of the countries in which they are born.
• Both the US and Mexico are obviously not enforcing their constitutions!”

Mr. Britton’s reply:

“Interesting comment, although at no point did I take a position on Planned Parenthood, nor would I, except to say that the issues involved should be left to the individual’s conscience and not be part of a political agenda.

As far as illegal immigrants themselves, most of their influx is a response to the laws of supply and demand: that is, there is high demand for domestic workers, farm hands, and construction workers that is not satisfied by the available native labor pool. I use the term “available” because few U.S. workers are happy with $80 or less as a daily wage.

Both large and small firms and the wealthy (in the case of domestic help) are eager to hire illegals for the obvious reasons of lowering costs and their willingness to work hard. I live in a neighborhood under construction and see Hispanics at work every day. There are no “slackers” and I suspect that some are here illegally.

My grandparents came here as domestics. When in high school, I worked on estates on Long Island with DPs (displaced persons) from central Europe and other immigrants. They knew, and I came to respect, the dignity of labor, something that has been lost on the electronic generation.

But neither political party seems willing to address the problem head-on, so you see the rhetorical extremes of granting amnesty or building higher border walls. The fact remains that some 11 million are here, and short of filling cattle cars and sending them south, they’ll be here a while.”

BILL BRITTON’S FEEDBACK ON MR. STANFORD’S ARTICLE ON “THE INCONVENIENT TRUTH ABOUT TRUMP:

Erickson: The inconvenient truth about Donald Trump is that his verosity resonates with voters because there is a lot of truth in what he says.
Britton: I suppose “verbosity,” not “verosity” is meant here. If “truth” has been redefined as ungrounded hyperbole, then I suppose you are correct.

Erickson: Again an economic crisis of world proportion has created this crisis.
Britton: These economic crises are cyclical and largely due to the machinations of the financial markets. Republicans, with the blessing of Bill Clinton, threw out the regulatory regime of the Glass-Steagall Act of the 1930s, which kept Wall Street greed at bay for 50+ years.

Erickson: Another inconvenient truth is President Barack Obama has used this crisis to undermine the form of government that twice has elected him president.
Britton: Now you’re really confusing me by implying that Obama has undermined our form of government in the last several days.

Erickson: He [Obama] has burdened the nation with an $18 trillion debt and entitlements to perpetuate further debt . . .
Britton: A good piece of that debt served to bail the country out of the Bush financial debacle which was largely caused by two unfunded (untaxed) wars.

Erickson: . . . while imposing additional regulations to throttle the country’s capitalistic engine.
Britton: I suppose you mean carbon emissions regulations, which are intended to turn us away from fossil fuels. By the way, we will run out of fossil fuels.

Erickson: Worst of all, another inconvenient truth is that his efforts to push the country into a European-like economy have unleashed a groundswell of anger.
Britton: You’ve lost me here. Most of the “groundswell” seems to be a jingoistic response to America’s loss of confidence after a series of failed wars and the shift of its manufacturing base offshore. “Les cheveux” taps into this anger.

Erickson: Obama has undermined our country’s form of government by using autocratic means in achieving those results — so-called executive orders, only supporting those laws with which he agrees and pushing through Congress uncompromising legislation.
Britton: The art of governing is the art of compromise, something the Republicans, fearful of party extremists, have forgotten.

Erickson: Le Donald promises to be no different. Even when he announced he was running for president, if you were observant, he raised his right hand in a fashion similar to Benito Mussolini, Italy’s results-oriented dictator.
Britton: As much as I think Trump is a fraud, this is going too far.

Erickson: Another inconvenient truth is that Obama and Trump are Mama’s Boys, what I refer to as conflicted Mama’s Boys.
Britton: Aren’t we all.