Unnecessary Cruelty
Like most people, I usually have a mix of reasons for stuff I do. Sometimes they’re all true, and sometimes the reason I hold up is just a front for another, less defensible idea.
Watching Trump’s horrible immigration crackdown in action, I can talk about the impossibility of deporting 11 million people, or the terrible cost of each of his comic book ideas. (A multi-billion dollar wall? Really??) Or the economic disaster his crackdown presages. (Immigrants add much more to our economy than they take).
But really, while all that’s true, I don’t care about those as much. I don’t want to spent tons of money on something that won’t gain us much, while costing us even more money down the line. But it isn’t my real reason.
I hate the crackdown because it’s just goddamn mean. We’re hurting helpless people who, in general, have only tried to follow an impossible set of rules. Our leaders are lying about people who can’t speak for themselves. They’re using these poor people as scapegoats. It’s something bullies and tyrants do.
We’re supposed to be the good guys. Did we give up on that part?
