Sunday, July 9, 2017

These are the Disenfranchised, the Americans who are not 'Americans'

   These are the disenfranchised. They live in America, but they are not "Americans." These are the ones who work on American soil, contributing to the economy, but who are not granted status as Americans.
   They live here, work here, play here, spend their money here  . . . everything. Yet, we say they are not Americans. We disenfranchise them. We take their rights away. We don't let them vote. We speak of requiring voter I.D. cards so we can make sure they don't vote. We take great offense if they do vote. In the news today, we read of the Trump Commission wanting the states to transfer data bases to the White House on all voters. The idea I believe, is to search through the records and find the ones who are not "Americans." Such a big effort -- an effort like we have never seen before -- just to get at and make sure the disenfranchised remain the disenfranchised.
  If they live and breathe on American soil, they are residents. And, if an American is someone who lives in America, then, in that sense -- whatever you say to the contrary -- they are Americans. To say otherwise, is to disenfranchise them.
    I would remind you that there are certain rights that are unalienable. Government cannot take them from us -- or should not. If you do take these rights away, you are disenfranchising them. You can decide if the right to vote is one of the unalienable rights, but the right to exist, to come and go and live where you will, might well be among them.
   You can take their rights away, but that does not mean you are right to do so. Disenfranchise them if if you will, but realize that if you do so, you are taking it upon yourself to dictate to them what their unalienable rights will be. You are setting yourself up as the person who can deprive them of their rights, and saying you are perfectly happy to take them away.
   Do it in the name of a freedom-loving nation. There has never been such a contradiction.

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