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Hey, GOP: American exceptionalism demands compassion at the border (Another faux conservative)
The Week ^ | August 1, 2014 | Matt K. Lewis

Posted on 08/02/2014 8:57:47 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

Other countries may turn away desperate children. But the United States should aim higher.

If a child showed up at your doorstep, begging for help, what would you do?

Most Americans, I suspect, would offer help, even if that meant simply calling the police, who would, hopefully, ascertain whether the child was really in danger. But a lot of Americans who would respond to such a scenario with compassion also believe that America should simply shut its door to desperate refugees.

I would suggest that a moral nation has an obligation to come to the aid of children who are fleeing grave danger. A nation as blessed as America ought to be a force for good in the world. "For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more."

This, in my estimation, is part of American exceptionalism. Like the U.S. Marines and the New York Yankees, classy operations aspire to higher standards of excellence.

The question of whether or not America is legally obliged to show this kind of compassion is irrelevant. Nations, like individuals, answer to a higher calling and should go beyond meeting the bare minimum of what is required by law.

I'm tired of hearing people say things like, "You know what Mexico does if they catch you sneaking into their country?" To which, I answer: "Do you want to emulate that kind of behavior?" The fact that other nations are less humane — less generous — is irrelevant. More is expected of America — and that's a good thing. Rather than sink to the moral mediocrity of other nations, let's go for something greater. Let's hold ourselves to a higher bar. This should be a point of pride.

And I'm tired of conservatives acting as if we live in a world of limited resources, where we are all fighting over a small piece of the same pie, instead of realizing we can grow that pie. This populist rhetoric is the talk of defeatism, of fear, of scarcity. It is in utter opposition to the Reagan/Kemp brand of optimistic conservatism that helped transform the world.

It's the cry of victimhood — not the talk of a prosperous nation, or of kindness or of greatness. It's the mindset of a nation that truly believes its best days are in the rearview mirror. To paraphrase Reagan, I reject that worldview, partly because such beliefs have a way of becoming self-fulfilling prophesies.

Fear leads to hoarding and bitterness. We can go that direction; conservatives can make that their brand. The GOP can become the party of the angry and the dispossessed — not the party of the aspirational and the generous. But why would we want to?


TOPICS: Issues; Parties
KEYWORDS: aliens; amnesty; dreamers; gop; immigration
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To: Pox

I once saw someone suggest that if CWII ever breaks out, the first place they’d raid is the local offices of the DSHS or the county housing authority. They’d get the lists of people on food stamps or Section 8, go to their locations...and shoot them. Every man, woman, and child. No matter their color. The rationale was that the ‘parasites’ have to be eliminated, not by making them work for their food, but because they were “a drain on resources and utterly incapable of usefulness to society”.

Please tell me that isn’t what YOU are advocating. I think that anyone who wants that is mentally ill and needs serious psychological help.


21 posted on 08/02/2014 9:48:40 PM PDT by hoagy62 ("Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered..."-Thomas Paine. 1776)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
I would suggest that a moral nation has an obligation to come to the aid of children who are fleeing grave danger.

They aren't fleeing ANY danger. That's why they are quickly being brought to relatives already here. This is called "colonization".

22 posted on 08/02/2014 10:07:22 PM PDT by montag813
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
It is in utter opposition to the Reagan/Kemp brand of optimistic conservatism that helped transform the world.

Uh, isn't Matt Lewis a Democrat?

To paraphrase Reagan...

Ahem...

23 posted on 08/02/2014 10:09:30 PM PDT by montag813
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To: hoagy62

It doesn’t matter what I do or do not advocate. I’m not worried about shooting all of the parasites at the outset as the bulk of them will eventually perish from their own ineptitude.

If they want to survive, they need to simply work for their existence, be that hunting and foraging or whatever else is necessary for them to live without forced handouts from others. I expect no less from myself or my progeny.

I also don’t have a problem with rounding up illegals and ejecting them from our nation. Give them whatever is necessary to survive their journey to their homeland and be done with it.

Hard hearted? Perhaps. Life is hard, and this brief interlude of civilization has been given to us by those who have sacrificed and suffered in much worse conditions than those we currently endure or have endured our entire lives.

To continue a civilized society we cannot travel upon our current course.


24 posted on 08/02/2014 10:15:45 PM PDT by Pox (Good Night. I expect more respect tomorrow.)
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To: hoagy62

Actually, now that you mention it, I would absolutely have little to no desire to shoot the parasites.

Why?

They will continue to be a drain and anchor upon those who I most likely will be fighting.

Consider that.


25 posted on 08/02/2014 10:20:15 PM PDT by Pox (Good Night. I expect more respect tomorrow.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Where’s the compassion for American citizens?


26 posted on 08/02/2014 10:20:26 PM PDT by ryan71 (The Partisans)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Man, just exactly how many Democrats have infiltrated the GOP ranks? At least now they’re being exposed.


27 posted on 08/02/2014 10:31:28 PM PDT by dowcaet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

And I’m tired of conservatives acting as if we live in a world of limited resources, where we are all fighting over a small piece of the same pie, instead of realizing we can grow that pie. This populist rhetoric is the talk of defeatism, of fear, of scarcity. It is in utter opposition to the Reagan/Kemp brand of optimistic conservatism that helped transform the world.

Bringing in masses of unskilled, illiterate, disease-carrying people is not my idea of growing the “pie”. Don’t these idiots ever learn? How is this going to transform the United States Matt? Turning us from the most prosperous country in the world to a third world, debt-ridden wasteland is not going to be beneficial to anyone. Stupid RINOS!


28 posted on 08/02/2014 10:35:30 PM PDT by dowcaet
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