Oh, Say Can You See?

In 1890, the U.S. Census reflected that America was a country with a population of 62.6 million people. In 1892, the New York City Ellis Island Immigration Station opened. Over the next several decades the more than 12 million immigrants arriving to America were greeted by the vision of our Statute of Liberty . . . Lady Liberty’s pedestal was viewed by many arriving to America, including my foreign born grandparents. The inscription on that pedestal reads…

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me.”

I believe this passage was motivated by Thomas Jefferson when he wrote a unifying concept in our Declaration of Independence….

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

The phrase that catches my eye is “…their just powers from the consent of the governed…” I believe our Constitution’s preamble of “We The People…” embodies this sentiment.

These historical events are considered as we move from Memorial Day to Independence Day. I wrestle with the divisive confusion and fear associated with our presence in Iraq abroad and how just and fair we are when addressing the domestic issue of Immigration.

How do we rationalize the pursuit of democratic justice abroad when our very nation has become more divided and afraid than any time in recent history? Our Iraq war and occupation of this 2,000+ year old Byzantine empire has caused hundreds of thousands of their middle class people to flee their birthplace. In the pursuit of this reckless foreign policy we have undermined and created more fear in our own middle class. It is clear to most that blatant favoritism exists for a small group of wealthy and powerful elite. This same group has made Immigration a very divisive issue. We now fight among ourselves and direct our frustrations at the most vulnerable people who are only pursuing the same dreams our foreign born forefathers pursued. Can we see all our futures and fortunes are bridged by what the more numerous “we the people” will decide?