The Why Matters
Over the years I have come to understand that motives matter, and anything I do that is motivated by fear or hatred will probably not end well. It has become valuable and important for me to examine my emotions and motives, with an eye toward these petty (but perennial) bugbears, lest I do harm to myself and others.
This took a long time for me to understand.
In his 1963 book, Strength to Love, Dr. Martin Luther King wrote:
“Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction.”
Doing something, pretty much anything at all, out of spite (hatred, fear) has proven to be a universally bad idea.
This is not only true of individuals. It is also true of organizations, groups, clubs, companies and nations.
We are seeing this play out in real time.
In 2021, Joe Biden assumed office and was faced with a southern border that was secure, because for the previous four years Donald Trump had battled the courts, his political opponents, and often agencies and individuals within the government to see that the border was secured. Striving against constant opposition, Trump began to build his long-promised wall. He ended Obama-era catch-and-release. Most of the immigrants claiming sanctuary on the southern border were from nations thousands of miles away. They had crossed many borders between Mexico and the USA to reach the border between the US and Mexico. Trump pressured Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador into policing his own borders and to stop forwarding millions of illegal aliens into the U.S.
Those are the facts. That actually happened.
All of this was purposefully undone within days of Biden assuming office and millions, millions upon millions, of the poorest, most desperate people on the planet swarmed over the border—without vaccinations, health or background checks, and often without identification. Most were in need of social services—housing, education, food, medical care. Some were criminals. We have no idea, really, who they are. Early on, the Democrat cities of the north were happy to strike moral poses, claiming anyone who opposed this invasion was racist and xenophobic, and that their cities were sanctuary cities with doors open to the impoverished of the world.
Then, the impoverished of the world began to arrive.
This is a disaster for these cities, for NY, Chicago, LA and many others. It is a disaster for those who are sold into sex slavery, or those who will work for many years paying off the cartels who brought them here. It is a disaster for the schools and hospitals and police departments that must absorb this flood. It is a disaster for the poor Americans who live in the places that are most effected. It is a disaster all around.
So, I find myself wondering, “What was the motive of those who caused this to happen?” Some motives are perfectly clear. The motive of the immigrant is easily understood. Were I a poor person in Central America, or Haiti, or Asia, or Africa I would also want to raise my family in the USA, where they will be guaranteed an education and enough to eat, and I’d make every effort to make that happen. If I was told I would be welcomed at the border and cared for, I’d go to great lengths to get there. Mexico would much rather stand by as caravan after caravan of migrants weave through the country to their northern border, and pass that burden on to the US than assume any part of the burden themselves. From their perspective it is just bad luck they exist beside a wealthy nation with open borders. Their motives are clear. But what were the motives of the Democrats, here in the US? What were they thinking?
That’s the rub, isn’t it? I think the motive was the pure and simple hatred of anything Trump. The moral calculus seems to have been: Trump did it. We hate Trump so anything he is for we are against. Because we hate him, we hate all of his policies, and they must be undone. No further consideration was made. Trump’s efforts must be undone. Period.
This is the result.
Consider. Suppose, rather than hating Trump, his policies had been examined honestly, the results calculated for good or ill, and if found wanting an alternative plan been proposed. What might have that looked like? Would it look like this?
Isn’t this how we should expect our government officials to behave? Is that too much to expect?
There are billions of people suffering in the world and we should really be helping those people where and when we can. How best to help them? Every well-intentioned person in the country, I think, can agree that that is the goal.
Would a dangerous and horrific trek, payoffs to cartels, rape, murder, and robbery only to arrive homeless, or in bondage, be the best plan our country is capable of? That’s the best we can do?
I find that difficult to believe.
There is an old cliché about shooting first and aiming later. In the hatred of all things Trump, this is precisely what has been done. A disaster has been created where there was none.
Personally, I don’t ask that anyone like or do anything. Hate Trump if that floats your boat, or Biden, or politics or pumpkins or pinochle. Just don’t let that hatred motivate our actions or choices. I read yesterday that fully 25% of humans living on the planet do not have access to clean water. Two billion people! That is a genuine problem and heartbreaking, yet any grown up knows that there isn’t one among us who can allow two billion people to share our bathroom, or, for that matter, our country. The population of the US is 300 million. That’s 4.23 % of the world population. Posing as caring is no manner of a solution.
A solution is a solution. Hate is hate.
And they are not the same thing.
Peace.