As I am writing this blog, the year 2018 is coming to an end. And in true ‘political fashion’, our government is experiencing a partial government shut-down. What the hell is a ‘partial’ government shut-down? When I go to my local Publix to get an apple fritter, they are either open for business or closed. Now I have to admit that I am not entirely negative about a government shutdown. Federal employees are temporarily laid off, but generally receive back pay for not working once called back to work. This may be a temporary inconvenience for them, but because of the holidays, what a great time to be awarded what will eventually become a paid vacation. (Paid for not working during the holidays. What a win for taxpayers!) Visitors to Washington, D.C., may be inconvenienced because many of the popular attractions are closed.
Amazingly, I find after all my years, that I am actually a socialist! My late mother, a lifelong Democrat concerned about my conservative leanings, would be proud! Why? Because I agree with the newly elected socialist representative from New York, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She has stated that when the country experiences a federal shut down, legislators should not be paid! Three cheers for the commie! How many hard working American taxpayers disagree with that? My guess? Not many.
The cause for this shut down is because of another game of ‘political patty cake.’ The POTUS says he wants $5 billion to continue work on the wall. The democratic members of congress do not want to give Trump a win on one of his campaign promises. Never mind what is good for America. Never mind that $5 billion is a drop in the bucket of a very large federal budget. Never mind that this is what the majority of Americans want! (Admittedly, I am perturbed that the Republicans could not address this issue when they had control of both houses of Congress. But when you hate Trump personally, you do everything possible to make him look bad, regardless of political party.)
In my two previous blogs, I mentioned our visit to the Great Wall of China. The Chinese built their wall for four reasons. Firstly, they wanted to protect their country from foreign invasion. Check. They wanted to control immigration and emigration. Check. Check. They wanted to tax commerce taking place because of the silk road. Check. I would like to add one more reason for the wall; inhibiting the entrance of illegal drugs.
Admittedly, I find all kinds of ironies as to why the U.S. has not built the wall. Do you know what the first thing the government does to the popular attractions in Washington, D.C. during a government shut-down? They put barricades and high fences around the attraction! Yup. They build walls.
Is the United States a safe place to live? 50 years ago, we never locked our houses. For convenience, we left our keys in our unlocked cars. Would you do that today? How many of our legislators, the legislators that do not want the wall, live in gated communities or live in homes with walls or fences? How many have security systems? I actually attempted to research this, but it appears most legislators do not want us to know where they live. Imagine that.
We keep hearing the argument that our country is a ‘nation of immigrants.’ I cannot argue with that, but the previous immigrants were much different than the immigrants trying to enter our country illegally. Firstly, they came legally. They did not jump fences. Most came through Ellis Island. Secondly, most had a trade. Many were miners, lumberjacks and farmers and immediately began contributing to the economy of the United States. Thirdly, they did not cost the country an estimated $116 billion a year like the illegals in our country today. Earlier immigrants got jobs and began paying taxes. They wanted to be Americans and they wanted to assimilate. Many of those first generation immigrants ended up fighting in our world wars. There wasn’t any press 2 for German or press 3 for Norwegian. If they became voting citizens, all of the ballots were printed in English. I remember Polish being spoken at my grandparent’s home, but only English was spoken in public. Let me sum up how immigrants from Europe are different from immigrants from Central America: they were better educated, and they were largely self-sufficient. They brought lefse, corned beef with cabbage and bratwursts. They did not bring illegal drugs. There were no children entering the country without parents. Many of the new immigrants are here to milk the cow of American benevolence and to take advantage of our ‘political correctness.’ Other than possibly Canada, no other country allows this! This needs to be addressed by our politicians.
I know that most of us have driven on crowded freeways or congested city traffic. I know that oftentimes, I am shocked that more people are not killed in vehicular traffic accidents. Well, in 2016, 37,000 people were killed in vehicular accidents. That number is shocking. Do you know how many people died in 2017 from drug overdose? That number is a shocking 72,000! Yes, almost twice as many as killed in vehicular accidents. Do you think we should get more serious about eradicating the entrance of illegal drugs across our borders? Do you think the border wall would help?
I did some research which you will find interesting. Do you know that 10 states now have legalized recreational marijuana? Those states are: California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Michigan, Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Alaska. Now follow my reasoning in this, do you know how many of these states are sanctuary states or have the majority of their populated counties as sanctuary counties? All but three. Those states are Maine, Alaska and Michigan. Seven of the ten states with legalized recreational marijuana are in full or in part; sanctuary states. Now I took my research one step further. Of the ten states, how many of the total of 20 possible U.S. senators are Democrat? Let me preface this by saying that in the ten states, two states have elected two senators that claim to be independent. One is Bernie (the socialist) Sanders from Vermont and the other is Angus King from Maine. If these two senators are considered liberal enough to be Democrats, then a total of 16 of the possible 20 U.S. senators from these 10 states are Democrat!
Let me sum this up. Those ten states represent 20% of the states in the United States. The senators representing these ten states represent 34% of all the Democrats in the U.S. senate! Ten states with legal recreational marijuana of which seven are all or part sanctuary states, all with a preponderance of Democrat U.S. senators that are against funding the wall, thus causing the shut-down. (The state of New York is considering legalizing marijuana. That would be two more Democrat senators.)
I need to ask the question. With all the deaths from drug overdose, would it not be advantageous for the benefit of their electorate that these states and their politicians would want to stem the flow of illegal drugs? Is it coincidental that the majority of legal marijuana states are also the largest sanctuary states?
I know many would want to believe that marijuana is not a ‘gateway drug.’ I beg to differ. It has been proven that over 50% of Colorado residents that were once ‘occasional’ users before legalization, are now daily users. Holy smoke! Holy marijuana smoke! Common sense tells me that once a high becomes blah, a higher high will be attempted. That higher high may be a product coming illegally across our border.
I am tired of ‘patty cake’ politics being played at the expense of the average American. It is time for the government to do its job and begin doing what is right for America. Build the damn wall! Stem the flow of illegal, uneducated, untrained immigrants and unaccompanied minors. Come up with a plan for the ‘dreamers.’ Author a citizenship procedure built on merit. Stop the flow of illegal drugs into this country! Whether you egotists want to believe it or not…your inaction is killing people in this country! THAT is what we cannot afford.