Love crimes

By Dan Popp

The way I look at this is someone who comes to our country because they couldn't come legally, they come to our country because their families – the dad who loved their children – was worried that their children didn't have food on the table. And they wanted to make sure their family was intact, and they crossed the border because they had no other means to work to be able to provide for their family. Yes, they broke the law, but it's not a felony. It's an act of love. It's an act of commitment to your family. I honestly think that that is a different kind of crime that there should be a price paid, but it shouldn't rile people up that people are actually coming to this country to provide for their families. – Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush

Turns out "W" is the eloquent one in the family.

We can lament the fact that Jeb has either lost his morals, his marbles, or both. We could talk about the false choice between a criminal act and an act motivated by love – especially love as redefined by the Left. We could ponder whether Governor Bush would like to say a few incoherent words in support of Common Core. But there are only two points I want to make regarding Bush's bb-brained babble.

First, most Americans seem to have forgotten to ask why dads from other countries would want to bring their families here illegally. Yes, Jeb mentioned "food on the table." Buy why is there food on the table in the US, and not in Mexico? Well, at least at one time, the American economy was doing well, and the Mexican economy was not.

Don't stop there. Why?

Well, the US government allowed citizens to make their own deals with each other for goods and services. The government set the rules of the game and played referee, but didn't try to rig the game or play the game itself. So the marketplace worked as it always does, to allocate resources most efficiently. That means widespread prosperity. And government corruption was far more rare here.

Ah, the "rule of law."

Isn't that the biggest difference between Mexico and the USA, as they existed, say, 30 years ago? The Mexican dad wanted to get his loved ones to America because, at bottom, his country's legal and political structure was broken. That broke the economy and everything else. Mexico's government existed for the benefit of its leaders and their cronies, rather than for the sake of everyone. Instead of fighting crime and punishing criminals, it surrendered.

When our officials weaken the rule of law, they make this country more like Mexico. By refusing to crack down on illegal immigrants, they pull the US one step closer to becoming the kind of country that loving dads want to flee. Jeb and his fellow travellers don't see that the remedy for the ills of lawlessness on one side of the border can't be lawlessness on the other side.

My second point is like the first. Politicians may not understand how excusing immorality and crime weakens the country, and ultimately weakens them – but dads should understand it perfectly. How is it considered "love" for any dad to display contempt for righteous law? How is he fulfilling his responsibilities by demonstrating to his family members that society may be cheated and wronged for their benefit?

Isn't the highest duty of a father that of exemplifying faith? Doesn't faith say that God rewards those who do right when doing right seems impossible?

When it comes to temporarily helping oneself at the long-term expense of others and teaching your children contempt for the law, what exactly does love have to do with it?

–

I think there is only one quality worse than hardness of heart and that is softness of head. – Theodore Roosevelt

A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on an installment plan. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

© Dan Popp