Ladies and gentlemen, I’m not going to parse my words today. There will be no pleasantries and no witty repartees. Instead, I’ll simply delve right to the heart of the matter. There is a list of names and states and titles I feel you should be made aware of. In alphabetical order, they include: Alabama (Robert J. Bentley), Arizona (Doug Ducey), Arkansas (Asa Hutchinson), Florida (Rick Scott), Georgia (Nathan Deal), Idaho (Butch Otter), Illinois (Bruce Rauner), Indiana (Mike Pence), Iowa (Terry Branstad), Kansas (Sam Brownback), Louisiana (Bobby Jindal), Maine (Paul LePage), Maryland (Larry Hogan), Massachusetts (Charlie Baker), Michigan (Rick Synder), Mississippi (Phil Bryant), Missouri (Jay Nixon ), Nebraska (Pete Ricketts), New Hampshire (Maggie Hassan ), New Jersey (Chris Christie), New Mexico (Susana Martinez), Nevada (Brian Sandoval), North Carolina (Pat McCrory), North Dakota (Jack Dalrymple), Ohio (John Kasich), South Carolina (Nikki Haley), South Dakota (Dennis Daugaard), Tennessee (Bill Haslam), Texas (Greg Abbott), Wisconsin (Scott Walker), and Wyoming (Matt Mead). Who are those aforementioned people? I’m glad you asked. They are all duly-elected, current holders of the once-noble office of Governor in 31 American states. 29 of them are Republicans – and 2 of them are Democrats. A case could very easily be made that the above governors are also lawbreakers, ISIS sympathizers, and political traitors. The oft-mentioned phrase “high crimes and misdemeanors” seems entirely appropriate here. I have just named for you 31 cowardly lions.
Do you remember the good old days in the U.S. of A. when politicians meant it when they said emphatically that the United States of America does not negotiate with terrorists? I certainly do. Alas, those days seem very, very far away.
Last Friday night, when ISIS orchestrated a wave of mass attacks upon innocent people in the streets of Paris – when they shed blood by way of suicide bombs and automatic machine guns – who could have imagined that the crimes against humanity which took place in the “City of Lights” would have ushered in such a cloud of xenophobia, religious persecution, and outright apathy in the days since then? And who would have thought that so-called leaders in the US would be the drum majors for such intolerance, ignorance, and indifference?
Ben Carson publicly comparing the Syrian refugees with rabid dogs? Check. Donald Trump publicly discussing the merits of building and maintaining a computer database filled exclusively with Muslims? Check. Jeb Bush and Rand Paul demanding that the United States immediately close its borders to everyone except for their kind of Christians? Check and check. And these guys are running for the highest office in the land?
Attention, American Governors, Congressmen, and Senators. Oh, say can you see that you’re all being played? Has it dawned on any of you that perhaps ISIS planted fake Syrian passports at the crime scenes in Paris and at select locations in Belgium knowing they would be found? Is it possible that ISIS anticipated in advance that you would react precisely as you are?
Consider this. If all you do is demonize and ostracize those Syrian refugees, you are essentially condemning them to one of three dire fates: [1] ISIS will slaughter the Syrians at random, [2] ISIS will enslave many Syrians, and/or [3] ISIS will force as many Syrians as they can to join their murderous ranks. For Democrats, Libertarians, and Republicans in our nation of immigrants – either deliberately or inadvertently – to help optimize the conditions for any group of citizens to be subjected to murder, kidnapping, rape, assault, slavery (sexual or labor-based), mutilations, etc. is morally and ethically reprehensible.
ISIS hates everyone in general, but it hates Muslims most of all. ISIS wants the world to turn its back on the Syrians, and that’s what our American leaders are doing. It’s shameful and sinful.
Did I mention that what those 31 governors are doing is unconstitutional? State laws are trumped by federal laws. The Constitution says so.
In the late 1930’s, America was aware that many Jewish people throughout Europe were in great danger from Hitler and the German army. But the U.S. was too busy in its isolationist mindset to do something at the time. 8 decades later, many Syrian people in Europe and in the Middle East are now in great danger. You’d think that America learned its history lesson then. You’d be wrong.
This isn’t Kansas. We don’t want to see the wizard. We need our elected officials to be able to think their way out of a paper bag. I don’t think that’s at all unreasonable.
President Obama correctly pointed out the other day that the governors’ refusal to allow Syrian refugees into their states is ISIS’s biggest political victory to date.
If only our governors had a heart or a brain or a soul. Here’s the thing, though. Cowardly lions don’t stand and fight – they just cut and run.
