OPINION:
It’s astonishing how little the progressive wing of the Democratic Party realizes how much their sanctimony turns off the folks who don’t live in big cities where its hold on power is virtually unchallengeable. Things have gotten so bad that if bad party elders had any integrity they’d change the DNC motto from whatever it is now to “Do as we say, not as we do.”
Take the recent tweak some liberal party funders got from Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis, who managed to divert a planeload of illegal immigrants destined for temporary resettlement in his state to Martha’s Vineyard, a pretentious enclave rich and super-rich progressives including former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, can call home during the summer months.
The expressions of outrage were palpable, particularly from the brie-eating, wine-swilling, EV-driving privileged types who regard their beachfront homes as their sacred sanctuary, well removed from the cares of daily life and the challenge of urban living.
These are the same people, mind you, who vote for and donate to politicians who advocate immigration amnesty, oppose border control efforts, and are proud of the fact they own property or reside in “sanctuary cities” that refuse to cooperate with the federal government’s attempts to enforce immigration laws.
They didn’t welcome these homeless migrants with open arms. No, they gave them the “not in my backyard” treatment. No surprise there, really, since they’re all about appearances rather than reality. But it says a lot about how far they are removed and have removed themselves from the reality of daily life in America. This is why it was so helpful for Mr. DeSantis to rub their faces in the ongoing problem.
Like many of the stunts the left has dreamed up over the last few decades, the sanctuary city movement is supposed to make affluent people feel guilty about the need to enforce the laws on the books requiring people who come to America looking for a better life to be sent home if they made the trip without papers and in violation of the established process for entering the United States.
It has taken root in many places, imposing costs on cities like New York and Chicago that cannot be shifted to local taxpayers — because the ones with money are leaving for better climes — or to the states or the federal government. For a while, that’s been OK because the problem in the northern United States is not as severe as it is in border states like Arizona and Texas, where local and state officials try to uphold the law rather than look the other way.
That changed after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and Mr. DeSantis started sending the folks who were crashing over the border northward (just like the Mexicans do). Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot was all over the place demanding federal assistance to deal with the “emergency” in the Windy City.
That’s another aspect of sanctimonious behavior by liberals pushing so many voters rightward. Each time the chickens come home to roost, as they say, the left immediately puts its collective hand into someone else’s pocket looking for money to solve a problem it caused. Oh, for the days of President Harry Truman who realized, as the sign on his Oval Office desk read, “The buck stops here.”
Driving the consequences of liberal policies home as the border state GOP governors are doing is progress. If control of Congress flips in the next election, its new leadership should make what Messrs. Abbott, DeSantis and Ducey started a permanent part of the process. They should put forward legislation directing the Department of Homeland Security to prioritize the resettlement of undocumented aliens awaiting determination of their status in cities and communities that have designated themselves sanctuaries.
It would be a welcome change, especially for the medium-sized communities in “flyover land” and the border states that are currently forced to shoulder the burden. “If you want them, you can have them” should be the order of the day from now on. Especially because of the pressure the people back home would then apply to the folks who congregate on Capitol Hill to get the border secure, PDQ.
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