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Showing posts with label political issues. Show all posts
Showing posts with label political issues. Show all posts

Friday, November 19, 2010

Legislating Humanity

You'd think we'd learn ... humanity's problems cannot be solved through legislation.  

We've just come through the most extensive, expensive mid-term election process of my lifetime. People were not happy with the political climate as it stood. Therefore, many incumbents were voted out of office, and  "new kids on the block" replaced them.  Do we really think that will help? Will Washington change its policies and procedures now, just because there are more Republicans there?  Do we not realize that this current administration is coming in on the tail end of the last one? And the last one came in on the tail end of the one before? Each has had to deal with and overcome the faux pas of the administration before it.

When will we learn ... there will always be Democrats. There will always be Republicans.  There will always be the rich and the poor. There will always be the white and the black. There will always be men and women. There will always be lines and boundaries over which some cannot resist crossing.  There will always be greed, pride, anger, and hunger for power. There will always be problems to solve, and there will always be people sitting on the opposite sides of the fence on how to solve them. 

That's because humanity in and of itself is not only imperfect, but it also has a sin nature to deal with.

We are each uniquely created. We are all different, with differing viewpoints and opinions.You cannot legislate humanity. If you try, what you'll end up with is so many laws that there will be no room left on earth to write them all down!  Certainly there would not be enough law enforcement officers to enforce all the laws and catch all the "criminals," or enough time to try them all in a court of law, or space enough to house them all in prison. In fact, who would determine who is the "criminal," since last time I looked, law enforcement officers are human as well, and they are endowed with the same imperfect human nature that the rest of us are! Well then, maybe we should just lock everybody up!

Ridiculous? Yes. The "cure" for humanity is not in more, or even different, legislation. When will we realize ... the only "cure" for humanity is to be found in Jesus Christ.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Is It REALLY Racial Profiling?

I don't get it. Keep in mind as you read this post, that I'm probably the least political person you know. Another thing about me ... I'm not prejudiced.  I don't like labels and putting people in "boxes."  So when you're talking about racial profiling, I'm just not on board.  I was raised in a mixed neighborhood, so I just have "people" inbred into me, not the color of their skin.  Oh, I'm well aware that the first thing you see when you meet a new person, is whether that person is male or female. And it's also quite obvious what the color of their skin is. But to me, neither their sex nor the color of their skin means much in terms of who they are as a person. It's who they are as an individual person that's important.  Now, I've known people who just could not understand that. And then I've also known people of a different skin color than mine, who totally got it. They were raised that way too!

So, I'm having a hard time wrapping my brain around the problem along the United States/Mexico border. Illegal immigrants. Problems with the drug cartels. And why the big cry is racial profiling.  I mean, doesn't it make common sense that if the problem is along the Mexican/United States border, it would involve Mexican illegals? People from the Hispanic race, who are raised in Mexico, who have not obtained legal admission to the United States? You probably wouldn't find too many German illegals coming across that border. Or Africans. We don't have trouble with illegals along the United States/Canadian border, do we? Or did I miss that news story? I don't think so! But if we did, the problem would then involve Canadian illegals. What other country directly borders ours? None! So is it really racial profiling? Or is it just something else to protest about?

Now, I'm all for protesting when something is wrong.  But in this case, what is it about the word "illegal" that we are not understanding?  You know, when you're a rancher in this part of the "woods," and you see a bunch of people who don't normally belong there, hiking across your ranch carrying semi-automatic weapons ... it's time to do something! And it doesn't matter what the color of their skin is! We're hearing news stories all the time lately about people being killed along that border ... and all the protesters can worry about is racial profiling?!? That just doesn't make sense to me!

Besides the fact that I've lived in the United States all my life ... and besides the fact that I now live in Texas ... do you know what really brought this travisty "home" to me? Watching one of the news stories on television one day, I saw an interview with a woman of a different nationality who had become a citizen of our country. This woman worked very hard to achieve this most important goal.  Her reaction to all the news stories about illegal aliens, as well as the new laws recently passed in Arizona concerning how the authorities were to deal with them, was that she was offended! And not for the reasons you might think! Her statement was that she worked hard to get where she was, and she was "offended" that we would allow others to have the same rights and life styles without having to work for them like she had to. I for one, don't blame her!

It's no wonder we have problems. We allow ourselves to be side-tracked from the real issues, with some issues other than the ones that need dealing with. People are losing their lives. Somehow it seems that should be the priority! The issue of racial profiling may have substance elsewhere, but it shouldn't be the priority in dealing with the issues we are currently having along the United States/Mexico border.

Those are my thoughts. What are yours?