Believing Their Own Fabricated Mythologies

     A planeload of undocumented Texas aliens sent  by DeSantis to Martha’s Vineyard

As Texas warns its people that its grid might not sustain a searing hot summer, that all should cut back on electrical power usage immediately. As states from Oklahoma all the way to Florida are simply unable to cope with tornados, flooding and violent storm damage recovery. As teachers and doctors are beginning to flee red states with teacher penalties for violating culture wars and doctors facing felony prosecution in the face of transgender treatment and pregnancy care. As our public educational systems continue to fall well below developed country averages. As gun homicides skyrocket in red states with lax gun laws. And as our tax base continues to erode as our existing population is contracting with below replacement-birth rates, just as we shove needed immigrants unceremoniously ouAs Texas warns its people that its grid might not sustain a searing hot summer, that all should cut back on electrical power usage immediately. As states from Oklahoma all the way to Florida are simply unable to cope with tornados, flooding and violent storm damage recovery. As teachers and doctors are beginning to flee red states with teacher penalties for violating culture wars and doctors facing felony prosecution in the face of transgender treatment and pregnancy care. As our public educational systems continue to fall well below developed country averages. As gun homicides skyrocket in red states with lax gun laws. And as our tax base continues to erode as our existing population is contracting with below replacement-birth rates, just as we shove needed immigrants unceremoniously out the door. Well, you have to ask yourself if red states remotely understand that their lure of cheap housing and lower tax rates just might not make up for the lower standard of living for average citizens.

Let’s start with an analysis of state GDP per capita. There are no red states that exceed that GDP per capita in New York, California, Illinois, New Jersey or Washington… by a long shot. California’s $3.5 trillion GDP dwarfs the much-touted Texas ($2.1T) or Florida ($1.3T) GDPs. There are no red states with the accumulation of top tier universities found in Massachusetts, New York, Illinois or California… not even Texas. There is no financial center bigger or more powerful than NYC, and while there is tech everywhere, there are no more prosperous tech centers that compare with those in California, Massachusetts or Washington.

Yet those arrogant governors in red states are out to teach those liberal governors in those prosperous blue states a lesson: you don’t understand the burdens that red states on the Mexican border face. Forget that one of the biggest anti-immigration governors – Florida’s Ron DeSantis – runs a state that doesn’t even share a border with Mexico – or that California and New Mexico actually do. DeSantis and his uninspiring Texas gubernatorial counterpart, Gregg Abbott, are hell-bent on teaching liberal cities in blue states a nasty lesson. Especially those “pie in the sky” sanctuary cities. Wait till they see what it means to have floods of undocumented asylum seekers dumped on their snooty territory.

Except, had Texas and Florida asked for these liberal cities to take and house some of these undocumented wannabe immigrants, the answer would have been, “sure, send them.” In fact, the reception that the liberal cities where these undocumented workers were dumped by red state bigots was uniformly warm and welcoming. As this editorial from the June 20th Los Angeles Times points out: “Abbott and DeSantis are mistaken if they think they are teaching cities with sanctuary polices any lessons with their inhumane political stunts or causing their leaders to rethink their commitment to not treating migrants as criminals.

“Those governors and their political allies also seem to be confused about what it means when cities have sanctuary policies. Though policies vary, providing sanctuary means not turning migrants over to federal immigration authorities simply for being in the country illegally. It means treating them like humans in need rather than pawns.

“That’s what leaders in Los Angeles, Sacramento and other ‘sanctuary cities’ did as buses and planes dumped dozens of tired and often confused migrants on their doorsteps in recent months. They rallied attention and resources, while religious and other nonprofit organizations stepped up to welcome the migrants with shelter, food and clothes. In some instances, these migrants have even found temporary jobs, illustrating the need for their labor.

“Abbott and DeSantis may also not realize that sanctuary policies were designed to help law enforcement keep communities safe. Sanctuary policies were developed because police in many cities such as Los Angeles were frustrated because undocumented immigrants were not reporting crimes or stepping forward as witnesses for fear of deportation.

“Critics say these sanctuary cities have laws and policies that shield criminals and obstruct federal immigration policies. But cities with sanctuary policies have lower than average crime rates, higher household incomes and lower poverty rates, according to various studies.

“Local authorities did not refuse to cooperate with immigration enforcement, as critics claim. They simply limited the role of local law enforcement in immigration cases, for example, by not using local police to do immigration checks or by not holding an undocumented immigrant in custody for a few extra days to serve federal authorities’ schedules.

“Los Angeles is in the midst of transitioning from a ‘city of sanctuary’ to ‘sanctuary city.’ The difference is more than just semantics. The former designation is little more than a statement by city leaders in 2017 that they opposed then-President Trump’s dehumanizing anti-immigrant policies, which included separating young children from their parents. Some of those children have yet to be reunited with their parents years later. Earlier this month, the City Council voted to strengthen the policy by banning city personnel or resources from being used for immigration enforcement.”

That this red state harshness against desperate human beings is the product of the evangelical “Bible Belt” is the height of hypocrisy. Whatever happened to the Golden Rule or the admonishment to “love thy neighbor”? Where is that supposed Christian charity? Or perhaps the Bible is nothing more than a menu from where so-called “Christians” can pick and choose. Even the richest of the red states cannot compete with blue America in per capita hard dollar values, education… or, it seems, even Christian values. With all of that blue state diversity.

I’m Peter Dekom, and the fact that red state bigoted leaders seem to be making a mockery of the holiest of books, the Bible, which quite popular with their evangelical constituency… is deeply disturbing.