Saturday, August 28, 2010

"What part of 'illegal' don't you understand?"

     I'm sure that one or two of the three people who actually read this have heard about the illegal immigration debate. The issue as a whole is very complicated. But at the heart is the fact that U.S. citizens are concerned about their livelihood and how employers are taking advantage of people coming here to work for next to nothing and foreigners are coming here because they face starvation for their families. There's a lot of desperation going around. But I'm not here to talk about that today.
     What I am here to talk about is the thought-stopping mechanism that a lot of people use to try to gain the upper hand. They just say "what part of 'illegal' don't you understand?" Well, here's something to consider. What Washington, Jefferson, and the other rebels did was illegal. Without those illegal acts, our nation would never have been formed. The "underground railroad" was illegal. Without it, we might still have slavery. No discussion should ever end with "the law is the law is the law."

1 comment:

Lenoxus said...

HECK YES. The whole freaking debate is about what should or shouldn't be illegal, and why.

Those in support of rigorous enforcement of existing laws are by no means necessarily wrong, but the enforcement isn't justified solely because of the laws' existence, but by whatever reasons justify the laws.