After a long period of inactivity, this blog has been renamed and resurrected. It will address matters concerning both the civic order and the Church. Both are areas in which God is active; in the civic order, He rules providentially by His power. In the Church, He rules by His Spirit through His Word and the Holy Sacraments.
These two are distinct, and not to be separated. So as is right and proper, let us pray:
ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, whose reign is without beginning or end, the writer asks of thee wisdom and insight from thy Word, to rightly reflect and comment on the many issues facing thy Church and the world. This is asked that thy Name might be glorified, through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, who livest and rulest with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, unto the ages of ages, Amen.
Much attention is being paid to the influx of thousands of children from Central America. It is, frankly, frustrating to hear the contention on both sides of the aisle over what to do. To think this through, the following considerations will help. The reader will please be patient when the obvious is written.
1. The children currently in detention centers are here illegally; they have no right to be on this side of the border. That being the case, why are they being allowed to sneak over the border? It has been reported that the Border Patrol's modus operandi is apprehension, not prevention. This makes no sense.
2. Children from Central America, by Law, cannot be turned back at the border, but must be kept in the US until a court date, which most do not keep. Quick passage of a change in the Law and rapid placement on the President's desk is in order.
3. Then there are the cost issues. The President has asked for over 3 billion dollars to "correct the problem." Apparently, he won't beef up the Border Patrol with the Military. He won't demand that Mexico stop letting these kids through. He won't set up courts at the border to rapidly process the children for deportation. He won't request Governors to send the National Guard to the border, as Gov. Perry of Texas has done. To cover the cost, reduction of aid to the offending countries is both right and sensible. Nowhere near that amount of money is needed, nowhere!
4. If these children have relatives in the US here illegally, then common sense calls for deportation of the whole family.
As I write this, I am skeptical of any common sense action being taken. The President is still refusing to go to the border, as he is failing to push for an imprisoned marine's release. Mr. Kerry is culpable also. If this is not due to ineptitude and incompetence, the alternatives are even more frightening. We are taking another step in the US becoming a pauper nation!
