Since I choose the topics that I discuss on my talk show on WWL in New Orleans, maybe my sanity should come into question following my decision to discuss the border bill on the show today. To my credit, my intent was not to actually “win” the debate on whether the border bill is good or bad for America, because I am sane enough to understand that people have made up their minds on the issue, and changing minds on a topic like this is not an option.
My goal was to simply point out that the border crisis is a benefit to Republicans in this election year - and that both Democrats AND Republicans have in the past failed to show any sincere interest in solving the crisis at the border. I also wanted to point out how much political bias has the power to blind people to the truth about the border crisis.
It is naive to think that either party would not be reluctant to solve a problem that would help the American people if the problem delivers political capital. The border crisis benefits Republicans right now, and working with Democrats on a reasonable solution to ease the crisis is not politically advantageous.
Another sign that most of the debate over the border bill and the crisis at the border are a product of political rhetoric lies in voters’ automatic belief in disinformation. The argument put forth by Donald Trump from the beginning of his 2016 presidential campaign was that illegal migrants are coming to this country to commit violent crimes, including murder, and now that is widely believed as fact, but study after study shows that illegal immigrants are 25% less likely to be arrested for crimes than native-born Americans!
But that truth is superseded by the rhetoric that illegal migrants are responsible for violent crime rampages - because that instills fear in the American voters, and gets them to vote.
I did not endorse the bill, but I did point out a major benefit. Under the bipartisan border bill, those arrested crossing the border would be detained and hearings would be dramatically moved up so each person could be detained until their hearing. Currently, hearings are so far in the future that those crossing the border are released into the United States while people wait for their hearing date, which could be years in the future. It’s easy to imagine how much could go wrong with the catch-and-release mentality.
I also made a definite point on criticizing President Joe Biden’s handling of the border crisis and the pathetic lack of urgency in dealing with the crisis. I do not support open borders and strongly believe people should go through the legal process of coming to America, but many on the right, especially right-wing radicals, believe that if you criticize Trump for spreading false information on the border, then you must be supporting Joe Biden. But that is not true.
The National Border Patrol Council, which endorsed Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020, is going against Trump’s order to Republicans to condemn the border bill - they want to see it passed, as does the chief of the Customs and Border Patrol agency.
This is where we are in America as we enter the election year of 2024. We can already see that political rhetoric supersedes the truth and if you criticize one side of any issue you must be for the other side. Many Americans are so interested in joining and promoting a political team that they can’t fathom that many other Americans have the ability to assess issues and politicians independent of allegiance to either political team.
Simplemindedness is poisoning America’s ability to be rational. Our democracy is threatened when protecting the power of a political party is more important that recognizing the truth.
