Perhaps I’ve been reading too many blogs by minutemen-types who say the U.S. is being invaded by immigrants. But in reading the rhetoric, I think I’m getting closer to understanding their motivation. Their conviction is based on national sovereignty and the rights of citizenship. But it’s more than just pride. It’s a moral belief in U.S. citizenship.
When it comes to a citizen’s social responsibility, the morality stretches to hypocritical extremes. Citizens don’t feel morally responsible for civilian deaths when their tax money blows up innocent women and children in a foreign country. But if their tax money goes to helping women and children get medical attention or an education in their own country, that is completely unacceptable.
Let’s take a closer look at the non-U.S. citizen civilian casualty issue. If the military finds a suspected terrorist is living in an apartment building in a foreign country, they’ll do some calculations to estimate collateral damage is within reasonable limits (I heard an interview with a military strategist who said the usual limit around 30 civilian deaths), and then they blow up the building. Now, if that same terrorist was in an apartment building in New York, there is no way they would blow up the building with 30 U.S. citizens in there. The country would go into a panic over the U.S. casualties, but doesn’t blink twice over foreign casualties. It’s based on this belief that foreign citizens don’t have the same human value as U.S. citizens.
The United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 to declare fundamental human rights. The United States was among the 48 countries that unanimously voted in favor of universal human rights. Included in the 30 articles, the UDHR says every person has the right to an education and medical care, among other things.
And sadly, U.S. nativists continue to rationalize creating new laws to deny these fundamental rights to non-citizens. They even want to take it one step further, denying citizenship to “anchor babies” born of non-citizen parents.
2 replies on “The Morality of Citizenship”
No one; I repeat – NO One is trying to deny any of these individuals their “universal human rights”. How many millions of our tax dollars, donations and American man-hours go to the less fortunate countries to provide safe food and health care. The point you are missing is that we don’t have to provide those “rights” here. The resources I pay for with my tax dollars are for my US Citizen wife and children. The Anchor Baby you mention is another point all together. It is a direct violation of our US Constitution, specifically the 14th amendment, section 1.
The other issues you mention have nothing to do with immigration and/or anchor babies.
Point in fact – when civilians are hit by our fire, we are striking insurgent/terrorist targets that are usually hidden in civilian areas such as hospitals or school in an act of bold face cowardice. We do not intentionally strike out at civilian targets as the terrorists have always done.
I understand that you are probably a socialist and probably a liberal, but I have worked hard (retired military and still working) to pay my tax dollars and raise my own family and care for our elderly and infirm parents (which is my responsibility, by the way, not yours) to have any resources that may have been available to me and mine taken away or over-ran by the current tsunami of illegal immigrants.
Please read more of my blogs for an education. I don’t just shoot from the hip, but usually have a documented foundation (usually the US Constitution) for my comments.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment. May God bless you and yours.
I think that this whole illegal immigration things has been blown out of proportion. I think that many of those illegal immigrants provide many benefits to all of us, legal residents. For one, I would not like (or anyone I know) working on the fields, I heard the pay is not great. And I would also not like paying double, or triple for my vegetables/fruits.
And what about all the USA nationals living in Mexico or other Latin countries illegally?
Have you been in Mexico recently? Last time I was there, it look like the USA, I am referring to all the USA business there. I do not see many Mexican business in the USA, talk about Treaties.
I rest my case. As far as I am concerned, there should be no borders; we are all after all the same, there should only be one race “The Human race.”
As Jesus said, “What you do for the least of them, you do to me…”