A Liberal Dilemma

About 25 years ago, still married with two teenage children, I was fortunate to have a second residence in Malibu. It was small, but from my deck, it was just a dozen steps down to the beach and the ocean.

At times when I was alone and staring out at the sand and water, I would wonder about my great grandparents' persecution, and how difficult it must have been for them to send their children off to America, knowing that they would never see them again. I wondered what they would think if "they could see me now".

I experienced both guilt and pride for what fate had delivered to me, hoping in some strange way that my parents and their parents would all somehow know how America had provided for me--money, freedom, and the ability to raise and educate my children.

Happenstance had me a Jew, and that was both the good and bad news. As I grew up, we were still a racist society, but at least we were heading in the right direction.

I assume that there are well over 6 billion people living or at least existing on our planet. About 300 million of us are fortunate enough to be living in The United States Of America, notwithstanding the grief provided by our current administration.

I would expect that it is reasonable to ponder that at least 2 or 3 billion people who live elsewhere would like nothing better then to live in these United States.

Is it fair that I have had life opportunities not available to most people in most of the world? No it isn't. Should everyone on earth have enough to eat, adequate shelter and health care? Of course they should. But as my mother told me, and I have repeated to my children, life just isn't fair.

I found myself getting very annoyed as I noticed the demonstrators seeking legal status for all of the people who came here illegally, while carrying Mexican flags. As a liberal I was also shocked to hear many of the demonstration leaders comparing our Congress to that of a racist society since it had not passed legislation to make illegal entry into our country okay. They also referred to the expression "illegal alien" as pejorative and racist.

The demonstrations themselves and the rhetoric surrounding them challenge my usual liberal positions.

It is not my purpose to suggest a solution to our dilemma, but I wonder why the people who came here in violation of our laws should be somehow more entitled to such entry over the billions of people who want to come here and are forever denied.