When You Think About It: The Snake Oil Salesman

F LoBuono

These are the times that try men's souls. . . 

Thomas Paine wrote those immortal words in December of 1776 for his pamphlet, The Crisis. At a dark time in our history, he wrote it to rally men of conscience to oppose tyranny.

The same case may be made today.

With President Trump addressing the Nation this evening (1/8/2019) to make his case for building a wall at our Southern border, a choice must be made; support Mr. Trump in his effort to fundamentally change the American ethos, or reject his xenophobic rhetoric.

Mr. Trump will certainly use his brand of the truth, i.e. fabricate, obfuscate, and obliterate. Even when he quotes statistics, they are so skewed to make his point that any truth they may have contained is impossible to apply under those circumstances. He claims that there is a humanitarian and security crisis at the border. Well, let's give him SOME credit. He's at least half right. Thanks to Mr. Trump's draconian policies on immigration, there IS a humanitarian crisis. However, I, and most experts do not see the security one.

I could give you the statistics the support this claim. But, in the end, as important as they are, they are merely numbers. I would rather speak of what I KNOW - what I see and experience - what I FEEL.

And, this is it: I live in a wonderfully diverse place, a small town about 25 miles north of midtown New York City called Nyack. I also work in the City, a place or unequaled variation.  So, I'm exposed to a multitude of cultures and ethnicites. The great majority of these cultures are of so-called Brown People - the one's the Mr. Trump and his cronies seem to be so desperately afraid of.  And, what I see in both places are hard working, friendly, funny, family oriented people - the kind that I am proud to call friends. They attend to me at my favorite places to eat. They clean (with joy) my place of work. They keep my neighborhood clean tidy.  They serve the Country in the military and elsewhere. They teach our children. They smile back when I smile at them. In other words, they have everything that I desire in a neighbor. Their immigration status has no direct bearing on our relationship.

So, WHY should I fear them?

Are there bad people among them? Shit, yeah! To think otherwise is naivete. But, it is so different from when my ancestors emigrated to this Country? You see, I'm of Sicilian descent. And, to this day, I still have to field asinine questions like, are you in the Mafia?" How absurd! Sure, the Mafia was, and is, a real thing - a thing to be despised - but, the VAST majority of Sicilians who came here were hard working, talented, family oriented people just looking for a chance to make a better life for themselves - and, they did. In doing so, THEY made this Country Great!

So, I ask you: what is so terribly different this time?

And, the answer is, it's not!

There is NO crisis at the border except in the mind of one man and of those who blindly follow him. As there has been for decades now, there is certainly a need for immigration reform. ALL of us acknowledge that. However, to create a calamity to appease the minority that is his fanatical base, the fact that he has gone so far as to grind our entire Government to a halt is the height of hubris. In fact, WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT, the man in charge is no more than a Snake Oil Salesman. And, when you listen to him tonight, you will either by his product or not.