Volume 6, Issue 49
The young woman in the above picture is actually charging the U.S. border, having gotten past the Mexican military police, with a handmade American flag. The image is incredible when one ponders its significance. She is risking her life claiming the promise of America, draped in its symbol of protection for human dignity which she claims for herself.
Why are people willing to make this sacrifice, committed at unreasonable risk, to enter the United States without permission? What is this promise of America that they seek so intently?
Freedom is the perceived vision. And, of course, freedom is the lifeblood of the human spirit. But what is the promise that freedom renders? It is the equal protection under the rule of law. It is the guarantee that birth or origin does not determine destiny. And, it is the foundational principle that those in power serve those without power. There is rule of law in multiple countries of the world. But only in the United States are birth, origin, and power not a threat to those who are impecunious.
There are racial tensions in the United States, but they are caused by individuals and racists, not the provisions of the Constitution. There is religious and lifestyle intolerance in our society, but it is the result of bigotry, not unfair laws. In other words, the Constitution does not codify racism or bigotry. The Constitution embraces, envelops, and establishes, by law, the promise of equality.
Every citizen of the United States has equal access to public education, public health care, and federal and state social services. There is generational wealth that somewhat provides advantage. A basic principle of historical culture and human nature is to care for your children. They, in turn, care for the grandchildren, and so on. Those born between the cycles of generational benefit are aided indiscriminately by the government. Most successful people in the United States today are first or second generation in their familial structure, having achieved success on their own.
The promise that asylum seekers outside our borders desperately covet is the security of a life protected for the equal pursuit of opportunity. The United States of America has a right to maintain the security of is borders. Open borders pose a risk to citizens and the promise of due process. How, then, does a great sovereign balance the morality of both claims for security?
Next week, the Group of Twenty (G20) meets in Argentina. The group is made up of the G7 countries plus the next thirteen largest economies. It is global in that it includes countries south of the equator. The issue addressed in the meeting is primarily global free trade. The real issue in the larger context is access to U.S. markets. The United States buys and consumes fifty-percent of the world’s goods and services. China continues to break the rules. They print money they can’t value. They abuse intellectual property they don’t own. President Trump is trying to correct the incongruity. Turning a blind eye will buy some time of apparent tranquility in trade protocol. However, ignoring China’s contempt for World Trade Organization guidelines will ultimately destroy free enterprise economies or lead to war. Both destinations of outcome are absolutely unacceptable.
Russia recently provoked and threatened the Ukrainian Navy in open waters of the Black Sea surrounding Crimea. They blatantly disregarded international law and treaties of the sea. The only thing that keeps Vladimir Putin from bullying his neighbors, without respect or regard for the rule of sovereign laws, is the United States military. Putin knows that if he invades Ukraine, the U.S. would be forced to act. This is a consequence of risk that he is not willing to take.
Without the U.S. military acting benevolently to protect the rule of law of sovereign world citizenship, China would threaten Taiwan, India and Pakistan border disputes would escalate, Venezuela would be emboldened, and the Middle East would explode.
To protect the promise of America for all peoples of the world, America must protect its borders for its citizens. It must enforce the rule of law in world trade to protect world commerce. And, America must stand for freedom against all tyrants to maintain the world order.
It is not enough to examine American domestic and foreign policy on specific issues without considering the aggregate role, obligation, and responsibility of America to protect the great promise of freedom for the world.
For in Protecting the Promise of 1776, America protects the promise that the migrants seek so desperately.
My name is Marc Nuttle and this is what I believe.
What do you believe?