Tag Archives: immigration

Letters to Leaders, Part 1

June 3rd, 2019 | Dr. Charlie Self

Dear 2020 Democratic Presidential candidates,
I understand your frustrations with current political leaders. What I am awaiting are policies that are pro-life (from conception to coronation, caring for the vulnerable at all stages) consensus-building, doable and fiscally responsible. Rage against Trump will not balance a budget, confront our global adversaries, repair our broken cities and increase opportunity.

A candidate willing to meet in the middle and stop hating people of traditional faiths will have a shot. Imagine a courageous Democratic candidate stopped pandering to the Radical Left wing of the party and stated the following:

We balance our checkbooks at home; therefore, the federal budget should be balanced as well. A few government workers may lose a job, but the poor can be helped, infrastructure rebuilt, and solid military defense provided within our revenues.
There is a real person inside a mother’s womb. Allowing for exceptional circumstances, we should foster support structures that prevent most abortions and welcome children as gifts to our world.
Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East and the United Nation’s continual condemnation is a travesty of historical knowledge and justice. It is time to broker a real peace agreement with the burden placed upon Palestinian leaders to acknowledge Israel’s legitimacy and security needs.
Immigration can be reformed to welcome the qualified, secure our borders, show compassion to true victims and offer millions a chance at citizenship.
Ecological stewardship is good for the world, our economies and future generations. We can care for our planet without global power structures forcibly transferring trillions in wealth.

I will cross parties and vote for this candidate.

Finding Wisdom Amidst the Noise

April 15th, 2019 | Dr. Charlie Self

Every day we are besieged with information. Some is useful…much is mere advertising. Our internet world often confuses data with knowledge and knowledge with wisdom. Soundbites and click-throughs are replacing research and reflection. On the American scene we already have nearly 20 presidential candidates vying for attention. Here are some observations from the last several weeks that I hope will prompt thoughtfulness:

Political correctness and cynicism are two sides of the same coin of fear. The first aims not to offend at the expense of humility and reality. The second avoids debate with caustic declarations that only widen differences.
Let’s choose critical thinking with mutual respect – our civil institutions depend on people of character looking at reality and finding wisdom, not parroting talking points or practicing stand-up comedy.

Still reflecting on the powerful movie, “Unplanned” that Kathy and I saw together. Without hyperbole, this may unveil for abortion what Schindler’s List did for the Shoah. I recommend parents and teens pray and see it together. Not for children or the unprepared. There is divine grace for all ensnared in this tragic issue.

Encourage someone today. Everyone needs one person saying, “You can!” In a world of flattery and insults, genuine, positive encouragement is a gift. Our word in season may be just what someone needs in the midst of life’s pressures.

I challenge all aspiring Presidential candidates to offer doable solutions, not irresponsible speculation. Balance a budget (tax revenues are at an all-time high), secure a hospitable border, continue improving private/public healthcare and work on infrastructure and economic opportunity. President Trump is easy to criticize – but can opponents offer viable policies that have all Americans in mind?

We must start negotiating on important issues such as immigration reform, a balanced budget, infrastructure, improving access for economic opportunity, fixing student debt, and many more. Interpretations of the Mueller Report and investigations will never end…meanwhile, constituents deserve attention to solvable issues that promote human flourishing. Will we choose posturing or productivity; positioning for 2020 or practical help in 2019?

Immigration

July 30th, 2018 | Dr. Charlie Self

The USA, like most nations, has a checkered history here.
We have been hospitable and xenophobic, paranoid and welcoming. From the Irish to the Chinese, from Eastern Europeans to Jewish Holocaust victims, we have often closed our doors or poorly received “the other.”

And, for over two centuries, we allowed the slave trade to flourish.
For the past 50+ years we have has a confusing system that both welcomes and keeps in the shadows millions of people. I am thrilled that millions want to find a better life from all parts of the world and our Hispanic/Latino sisters and brothers bring family and a great work ethic.

But.

Our current chaos is unacceptable. Borders and security matter and deporting real criminals is part of keeping us safe. On the other hand, inhumane and inconsistent policies keep families apart (and this did not begin with Trump) while opening the floodgates for exploitation.

On the Mexican border, the Democrats want permanent voters (they are even beginning the slippery slope of advocating voting rights for non-citizens!) and many Republicans want the cheap labor. Mexico’s corrupt government fortifies its Guatemalan border while arguing for the right of undocumented crossings to the USA.

Meanwhile, thousands trying to enter legally wait years and pay thousands of dollars.

We can fix this, with courage and wisdom.

First, offer a legal pathway toward either guest worker status or citizenship for current undocumented, non-criminal residents. This means temporarily de-criminalizing the border crossing itself.

Second, deport all convicted felons to their countries of origin.

Third, convene a conference with Latin American leaders and talk frankly about shared concerns about migration, drug trafficking and security.

Fourth, call on the Mexican government to be a partner in helping all secure a better future with border security, hospitable immigration policy and rooting out corruption.

Fifth, improve border security and reunite all families where possible.

Sixth, call the bluff of the sanctuary movements and offer clear pathways out of the shadows (see above) for non-criminals.

And seventh, make sure American citizens and documented/legal residents have priority in education, job opportunities and services. It is wrong for a hard-working American student on scholarship and aid to have to take 5-6 years to graduate while a full tuition paying foreign student breezes through in 4 or an undocumented one gets a full ride.

Conservatives concerned with security are afraid of being labeled racist. Progressives speak of humanitarianism but offer little substance on security.

Let’s get past the accusations and agitation and actually love our neighbor by offering a system that is just! We can do this. Today. In Congress. And millions will rejoice.

“Solving” Immigration

April 30th, 2018 | Dr. Charlie Self

USA immigration history is full of draconian and hospitable seasons. Our Statue of Liberty represents the best in our history as Ellis Island welcomed millions willing to brave the journey, go through the vetting and find a new home in a new nation. We have also had horrific seasons of xenophobia and racial injustice, from the suffering of the Irish in the 1840s to the anti-Chinese laws on the West Coast in the 1890s to the anti-Semitism of the 1920s -1940s. Dark chapters indeed. With huge borders with Canada and Mexico and relative economic prosperity from the end of WWII to the 1970s, comprehensive policies were not needed, and many found their way to flourishing.

With the open-door policies initiated in the 1960s and never refined since, we have crises of capacity and compassion, economics and social cohesion. People from nations other than Mexico or who are not officially refugees and follow the rules sacrifice much as they wade through the red tape and often pay thousands of dollars to get legal residency and eventually citizenship. Meanwhile, millions of “undocumented” pour over the border, use our services and find work. Billions of dollars are sent back over the border. Most folks are hard-working and want a better future. Some are felons and need permanent deportation. A few use our porous border to infiltrate as terrorists.

The solution comes in three steps: First, real reform that solves the genuine hardship issues of DACA and refugees, while allowing for screening out terrorists. Pathways for temporary work and long-term residency and citizenship need clear guidelines, fair application and a hospitable spirit. Reform must also not favor foreign students for college dollars and the undocumented for entry-level labor. Second, border security and ICE enforcement must be unimpeded by the misguided and sometimes hostile sanctuary movement. Third, current undocumented and temporary residents who are repeated violent felons should be deported and security personnel alerted to any attempts at reentry.

The above can be done in a matter of weeks with courage and wisdom; however, Democrats must stop vying for cheap votes and Republicans for cheap labor. Both parties are responsible for the mess and it will take people of conscience and intelligence in both parties for reform to work. Security on our borders and screening some from a handful of countries is not racism and xenophobia. Favoring the productive is good common sense and national policy.

Finally, a word to the compassionate: reasonable guidelines and enforcement of the law is not a violation of either the Bible of human pathos. If one feel certain laws are unjust – change the laws! Extreme positions of groups like La Raza must be rejected in favor of inclusion with integrity and a refusal to exchange one form of racism for another.

There are Answers: If We have Courage

April 2nd, 2018 | Dr. Charlie Self

This is the beginning of a series entitled, “There are Answers: If We Have Courage.” We will examine what many regard as intractable and unsolvable issues. We will fearlessly look at economic justice and the future of work, tax reform, immigration, Middle East policy, human identity, including gender, sexuality and transhumanism, racial tensions, religious freedom, academic and intellectual liberty, political polarization and principled compromise and global/local culture and life.

As always, we will distill insights from as many perspectives as possible – within the bounds of axiomatic principles and critical thinking. Conservatives may balk as the complexities of institutional transformation are evaluated. Liberals will worry that emphases on personal responsibility and certain enduring values will reverse gains in liberty. Good! We need deliverance from narrow ideological agitation propaganda.

In this essay, two issues foundational to all the rest will be examined: 1) the crisis of human identity/nature (anthropology); and 2) the crisis of objective knowledge and truth (epistemology). Without clarity on who we are and what we can know, all dialogue devolves into subjective opinion, with any critical comments deemed intolerant or a microaggression. Without such clarity, human freedom is confined to certain private experiences and life is increasingly controlled by a totalitarian state, since people “need help and cannot care for themselves.”

What does being human mean? Diverse philosophical and religious traditions answer this question in a variety of ways, from accidental evolutionary materialism to bearing the image of God. Are we merely highly evolved animals or divinely-crafted beings called to steward the rest of creation? Is human nature defined by physical processes alone or in there a unique interaction of body and spirit, brain and mind? In addition to our basic identity, are humans (like most of nature) either male or female or is there an almost infinite spectrum of identities?

Regardless of worldview, most people through most of history have not questioned the unique nature of human beings and the basic binary realities of male and female identity, albeit with a variety of opinions of erotic affections and actions.

Going forward, our American and global experiments in ordered liberty rooted in truth and virtue rest on humankind being uniquely endowed by our Creator with inalienable rights and responsibilities. Anything less than this and we devolve into arguments over blood and soil, raw scientism or fantastical speculations on human/machine singularity.

What about our foundations for knowledge? Until a half-century ago in the West, a basic correspondence theory of truth allowed for both cohesiveness and spirited debate, unity of essential facts and diversity of interpretations. No one argued whether certain events actually happened, though their impact and interpretation made for lively discussion. Today, we are told that there is no objective “there” – all we can do is interpret stories and hopefully find some convergence with shared narratives and opinions. Former President Obama’s two (!) pre-presidential autobiographies are perfect examples of ideological fabrication. Why do we need his “composite” portraits of friends and mentors? Why can we not have access to his records and writings? Why? Because history no longer stands on its own – it must serve the purposes of political advocacy. Beyond historical narrative, our epistemic crisis has fueled the same subjectivism for private and public morality, gender confusion and even allowed some to question full freedom of conscience and speech!

The uniqueness of being human and the knowability of the world are essential for grounding all arguments over justice and truth, love and human flourishing. Instead of marginalizing philosophical traditions, we should rediscover the wisdom of ancient texts and the goodness of contemporary research and synthesize these insights, so we can have a basis for social cohesion.

Our future as a nation – indeed as a human race – rests on this.