Is this the American way?
Jesus might have wept at the irony.
Christmas Eve, a night dedicated to celebrating his example to humankind (which the Bible repeatedly quotes as compassionate to the downtrodden), was chosen to leave three busloads of people outside one night in 18-degree weather. No one arranged to meet them, as they'd been told. No secure destination ahead as their American recruiters promised when enticing them to embark on these trips, no shelter for the night as every living thing needs. Just dumped in the freeze, many without coats. All were people in desperate situations, cold and afraid; no one else would take such chances.
All had been deceived, just to make a political statement.
Given Christmas Eve was the date chosen by the American organizers, it begs the question: What would Jesus do? If the New Testament is any indication, not that.
Whatever your feelings about immigrants, consider what choosing this kind of response says about our values. About who we are. About the value we do (or in this case, don’t) place on human life. About what cruelty, and respect for life, means.
Is using human lives as political pawns like this the way to lobby for legal reforms?
Is lying to people about life-altering consequences, from the top echelons of government offices, an American value? Or does it run contrary?
The “sanctuary cities” or sympathetic officials whose properties were chosen for these people-dumps are not the ones who suffer for it. The human beings treated as duped ping pong balls are. But the larger question is, what does this say about us as Americans? What does it say about our culture and our values, to treat anyone as an object to be parried for political purposes?
Barring the doors and closing a border is one thing. Worrying about competition for resources amid worldwide inflation and feeling scared about having enough for current American citizens is another. Changing and enforcing laws to forbid people from certain countries, while deciding we will accept more people from others with certain dominant features, is ongoing.
Yet using deception and complete disregard for human safety to make a point raises things to a whole different level impacting, if not belying, our core values. Are we letting our culture wars change our deepest ethics, the best part of what it always meant to be American?
Beyond politics and viewpoints, such actions say our political battles justify lying and orchestrated deceptions at a new level. That they justify seeing people as less than human, so we can do things to them we would never accept being done to us.
Do unto others. Wasn’t that a value for the Christmas season?
When trying to address complex national problems, there will always be disagreement. Where we place the ethical limits of how we do, and don’t, cope with it belies more than politics. It defines the American way.
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Sholeh Patrick, J.D. is a columnist for the Hagadone News Network. Email sholeh@cdapress.com.