And Rightfully So

The fact of the matter here is that we have "Willful Ignorance" of the highest order at work. This is so because so much of why this Hell exists at all can be laid at the feet of what has been done in our name as a part of national policy. And what we ignore here is what ought to be "Failed State" 101.

What creates "Failed States?" Other than imported, as well as indigenous, greed, or religious extremism? Instability is the usual buzz word associated with here, but what creates that?

A pretty good place to start is the upheaval generated when we find it necessary to intercede into the affairs of our neighbors. We fear that collectivist social policies, the desirability for which was brought on be previous decades of resource rape, and economic colonialism, might become too popular so we work to thwart any government that attempts it. We fear our own drug dependencies, and rather than treat the problem at the source as a disease needing medical intervention, we declare war on it at home, and abroad. You mix these two and not only do you create various cash crops of enormous potential, you also inflame the greed and corruption that goes along with a history of subversion, buying temporary loyalties, and the flow of arms that must be sustained to support any war in the first place. If that is not a recipe for instability its a damned good imitation of one.

That the immigrants this engenders are the collateral damage of our own making, and for which we fall to building walls to keep out (out of sight out of mind as it were), is damning enough on moral grounds alone, but that we continue to ignore what this suffering adds to work against our own best interests in regards to creating more enemies, is just insane, and most probably criminally so.

When I think on this all I can say to myself is "Shame on us. Shame on us for making them immigrants in the first place, and more shame for trying to turn a blind eye to their immediate needs now. It is unconscionable pure and simple. We are better than this if we truly aspire to the ideals I always thought we stood for.

At Mexico-U.S. Border, Pope Slams Hell Faced by Migrants