The root of our liberties as conceived by the nation’s founders began with a crazy idea: All men and women are created equal. It’s interesting how that gets distorted to suit our purposes. There is no mention of everyone actually being equal, just that they were born that way. True equality comes through creating a government made up of those people that will respect the rights of the individual and provide an opportunity for them. When we seek to invite people not born here to join us, we need to look past our overwhelming pride of our country and see them as people – equally created people – who may not have had the benefit of living with American values. Being poor, politically oppressed, or religious outcasts are a condition that has happened to them and not a definition of who they are.
Campaign rhetoric about vetting foreigners raises red flags when it doesn’t recognize the humanity of the individual. Yes, there have to be terms and conditions for immigrating into this country, but not tests that violate the very basis of the freedoms they want to enjoy. The Libertarian Party Platform states a belief in free migration across borders. “Political freedom and escape from tyranny demand that individuals are not unreasonably constrained by government in the crossing of political boundaries… However, we support control over the entry into our country of foreign nationals who pose a credible threat to security, health or property.” So it isn’t a blind opening of doors without restrictions, but a reasonable continuation of our heritage.
In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave a state of the union message that became known as the Four Freedoms Speech. He stated that there were freedoms that all people in the world wanted and ought to have: Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear. If we use FDR’s simple test, immigrants from other countries in the world should not be vetted based on what language they speak, their religious beliefs, or their economic need. Refugees who require protection from oppressive governments would be joining a long history of escapees from tyranny who found a new life here. After determining that the applicant for admission is not a threat, the same test applies to them as for the rest of the citizenry. Implementing unrealistic religious or ethnicity tests is appallingly un-American.
A common misconception is that everyone who is an undocumented alien swam rivers or jumped fences to get here. The majority of those we call “illegal” arrived on a valid visa and overstayed the terms of their agreement. A new wall won’t change that. There is also a belief that issuing work visas makes the problem worse. Actually, this is not a problem but a solution. It solves short-term labor shortages temporarily in areas of need and strengthens the economy. It is not necessarily a path to citizenship, but under the right circumstances, it could be.
There is a poem on the base of the Statue of Liberty by Emma Lazarus that includes these words: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…” Should we allow simple minded politics to put out that torch?
Image © kmiragaya / 123RF Stock Photo
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