This might come as a surprise to many, but I believe it’s time we open our borders. It seems this means many different things to many different people, and that statement alone goes against the leadership in both political parties I’ve been a member of. Don’t get me wrong, I believe strongly in property rights; as anything established through nature is established by God, and at birth we are all born with a certain form of property (in that case, our life/ conscious). People have the natural right to defend their property and their livelihood. Therefore, people establish governments to ensure their rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are not infringed upon. With the people’s consent, government may enforce their borders however they see fit; just as a gated community may be as open or as closed as the community decides- to ensure the security of their property. Private property may be blocked off by a wall and un-accepting of visitors, or completely open to any passer-by. That is the property owner’s decision. I am, and never will advocate for the abolition of borders, but that does not mean that leaving them closed and un-empathetic to large groups of people is a good virtue or policy.
When Donald Trump was running for President in 2016 we still had a major concern with ISIS infiltrating our nation; whether that was from the middle-east, European Union, or across our southern border. Also, we have always struggled with gang violence, drug trafficking and even an illegal slave trade across our southern border. So in order to solve these issues the Republican Party, a party that had greatly advocated for open borders in the past, decided we needed to close our borders “until we figure out what’s going on.” I hesitantly agreed. Shut everything down for maybe 6 months, until we create a system that can properly vet incoming travelers. However instead of creating much needed solutions to 50 year old issues, the Republican and Democratic Parties rather have issues to indefinitely fight about. We’re in 2020 and still hold a travel ban to several middle-eastern countries, preventing many good-hearted immigrants from moving to that once “shining city upon a hill.”
As for today, the coronavirus, or at least our reaction to it, has truly shut down the world. Because of secularists’ fear of death, all of society has been put on lockdown. Some people cannot attend church, go to a park, or create an outdoor garden, without facing criminal charges; and businesses have had their licenses revoked for simply operating as a business. This leads to an extreme decay of hope, and the people who suffer the most are the ones who were already too weak to stand up for themselves. Child abuse and suicides have spiraled out of control, and millions of people have missed much needed check-ups. Our incompetent response has caused thousands of medical professions to sign petitions and letters, begging our government to open the country. People are dying alone on hospital beds or in a dark room in an unlit house wrestling with demons. Conservative Christians once said they rather see their family die now believing in God, than to grow up under Communism no longer believing in God. Yet millions of hopeless souls take their life every year, as we close our churches, our nation, and our hearts. Oddly enough, as the freedom of religion is shunned, millions are still protesting hand-in-hand for liberal causes, making conservatives like me question the motives to this entire lockdown.
Now why did I bring the lockdowns into this? Because this pain does not just affect us. This is global. For centuries America was the place where the persecuted could escape to. The last stand on earth for liberty and the rights of mankind- which is why Ronald Reagan said that our doors should always be open “to anyone with the will and the heart to get here.” We were like a shining city upon a hill. A light for all people to look up to and seek refuge. And in this time of depression, we not only closed our doors, but we turned out the lights. Those wrestling with their own demons or oppressive governments, no longer see a shining city and millions praying for their safety, but instead a depressed land suffering with the same issues they are facing. The Communist Party of China is currently working on removing the freedoms and governing authority of Hong Kong, and while their people sing our national anthem and cry out for us to free them, we have closed our borders. It’s time for us to give them a pathway to freedom. If we cannot prevent the Communists from taking their home, if we cannot send missionaries to those struggling all over the world, we must be the nation God made us to be. A refuge. A refuge for pilgrims, a refuge for those escaping Castro, and now a refuge for those escaping China. Our government has had 4 years to ensure our safety and has nothing to show for it, except a half finished border fence and a ever-increasing suicide rate. If we come together now, as one nation under God, it doesn’t matter what physical trials we might face as a nation. But until we do, even the easiest hurtles will appear as hopeless.
We must open the country, both to ourselves and others, immediately. That does not mean without order, but at least with hope. Make a path that any person from any place in the world can take, and at the end of that path be a place they can make home. Not a system bogged down by federal regulation and hypocritical standards, but a truly American tail. The one most of us were told when our great grandparents entered Ellis Island.