New York City is complaining about the cost, inconvenience and challenge of hosting the relatively small number of illegals that have been shipped to the city. Other left-leaning cities are also complaining; they were happy to watch the border states struggle with an even more impossible burden, as long as these people didn’t place demands on their citizenry. No one seems to question the idea that citizens owe an obligation to feed, house and care for these border-jumpers.
While few are truly asylum-seekers, the majority of them are just people attracted to the wealth of the United States and the promise of the Biden government to take care of them. Who wouldn’t be? Just look at all the young people returning to their family homes, where they have stability and service they don’t have when trying to manage on their own. I remember a friend telling me that they struggled to get their kids to move out. Looking at their rooms filled with technology, a kitchen filled with their mother’s great cooking, working appliances and comfort, I could understand their desire to stay put. (It wasn’t quite that luxurious when I was a young adult; we had many reasons to leave).
However, too many illegals ARE criminals. Blue cities have prided themselves on stripping their criminal codes, letting criminals walk away with no bail and usually, no consequences. Not only do they never seem to have to go to immigration court. They also don’t have to appear in criminal court and be punished/deported for their behavior. Blue cities have also shrunk their police forces, putting the money to useless social services. And by not being willing to prosecute criminals, there isn’t much incentive for a cop to risk his life bringing them in.
The result of the criminal policies is to encourage people to steal, even those who a few years back would never have considered acting this way. I’ve heard people say, “I don’t know why I’m standing in this line at the grocery store to pay. Look at that guy walking out the door with a full cart. He didn’t pay.” Eliminating consequences make far too many people commit crimes. Why not?
Thus, our streets have become too dangerous. We got a warning in relatively safe Walnut Creek that if park your car at a local park, leave no valuables and be aware that your car may not be safe. In Washington, D.C., car-jacking appears to be the new favorite hobby. Broad daylight hold-ups are more common everywhere now. Again, no consequences.
The latest self-destructive move comes in the New York City civil fraud trial against Donald Trump. Judge Engoron ordered huge fines (to be paid to who?) having found him guilty of something no one else in the country has ever been charged with, i.e., taking out a loan with possibly over-valued property as collateral, and then paying the loan off. Wow! Who got hurt here? This is standard practice in the market. The only fraud would occur if you didn’t pay off the loan and the collateral wasn’t sufficient. And the “fine” is unconstitutional.
The result is that companies are seriously considering moving out of NYC because they could easily fall prey to this kind of capricious justice. Who is safe? Well, the Clintons, Obamas and other connected types. Other cities will find that this one judgment will make them look to move their business out of Blue cities because if it could happen there, it could happen where left-leaning judges reside. What happens to the economy when business leaves? I think you could figure it out.
What Are Our Options?
In Blue states, individuals don’t have many options for self-protection. I took a class on guns and the law and learned that even if you do everything right, you may lose everything in a civil case. Imagine you have a break-in and it isn’t clear that the perps are just going to steal. You have to hole up in the most defensible place in your home (check and see how solid your interior doors are), and then, warn them if you plan to shoot. If you’ve done all this, most of the time, the police won’t charge you. BUT…the families of these creeps will come after you for the “loss of these wonderful kids who supported them and were an inspiration to their communities.” And liberal idiots on juries will award them ridiculous awards.
Companies can move. People can move. And we’re seeing more and more of it. However, sadly, liberals are moving to states with lower taxes that are run better…with the desire to make them look like the states they abandoned. We see an increasing number of bad voting outcomes, instituting exactly the wrong kind of policies; the ones that they left CA, NY, etc., to avoid.
Perhaps we need a test to move to a Red state, to avoid losing options for living in a free state. Why should people be allowed to destroy a state with their votes and then move to a better place and start ruining it? We might sadly find ourselves with no place to go, which is what the Democrats want.
Ideas? I have found no policy of the Biden administration admirable nor do any advance our freedom. Even speech, long the province of the Left, is under serious attack. I’m scared. How do you feel?