Opinion by Michael Grajeda
It is odd to me how many Americans do not have a strong grasp on historical data and
events. I talk to people on a regular basis that cannot name more than 10 members of congress
from any state, more than 3-4 senators or name a President before Nixon. Sadly, many of those
same people can tell me when their favorite sports team was founded, its win/loss record and the
hometown of their favorite musical artist. Many people haven’t either been taught the importance
of history or simply do not see the value in understanding our past. If I was ever to become a
school educator I would take extreme joy in teaching history, specifically American history. I
feel like we are at an inflection point in our young history as a country and when both political
parties fail the American people, we have to be able to look not only back on historical events
but be able to pivot and see a future that people may not want to see. Both parties for the past 60
years have been a complete and miserable failure when it comes to executing the will of the
American people and the house of cards is all about to come crashing down.
I will go on record right now and say there is no bigger issue for the people of the United
States than the complete collapse of our southern and now our northern border. The effects of
this collapse have and will negatively affect every other sector of the country and affect every
single life of every American in some way. Republicans are very quick to take trips to places like
El Paso, Eagle Pass and other border cities to tell you how bad the Biden Administration is doing
at securing our borders and the right-wing conservatives eat it up. The congressman and senators
stand there with their Oakley sunglasses, freshly starched jeans, button up camo shirts and boots
trying to convince the American people that the reason this is all collapsing is due to one man
and one mans failed policies. They rant and rave about change and point all the focus to the
“other side” while low key downplaying their own roles in this ongoing siege.
Make no mistake about this, the driver for the political rulers is easy to see. The
Republicans need immigration, legal or not, to keep their business donors happy with a
workforce that can be easily exploited. The Democrats need the warm bodies to create a whole
legion of voters for decades to come. Both point the fingers at the others and present “plans” that
will never make it out of committee and spend their time pointing fingers at the other party and
telling you they are the reason this has gone so bad. All the while the problem grows
uncontrollably and threatens to destroy the republic. There simply isn’t any motivation on the
part of the voters to hold anyone accountable or make those responsible pay the cost of their
treasonous actions.
When people try to tell me that the Civil War was fought over slavery, I take a deep
breath and pause to evaluate if talking to them about this is even worth it. When you don’t
understand history, its lessons become fuzzy and inconsequential to your daily life. Slavery was a
symptom of a larger issue between what the federal government wanted to do and enforce versus
what the individual states wanted to do to govern themselves. The southern states maintained
that the federal government couldn’t tell them how to conduct life in their own territories; they
wanted to set their own rules and still be a part of the whole. The civil war was fought on the
premise that the federal government was overreaching by limiting or abolishing slavery and the
southern states would not comply. The war was fought and many Americans died not to give
slaves their freedom but for an idea as to how they would be governed.
We seem to be at the same point with states like Texas, Arizona and others experiencing a
siege of epic proportions and them working to repel the invaders and the federal government
slapping their hands telling them its not their job. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a weak Rhino
governor, reached a breaking point and forced the government’s hand by placing barriers in the
water on the Rio Grande River and bussing illegals to “sanctuary cities”. Politicians are literally
standing by doing nothing squawking about “solutions” while people continue to pour into the
country. The federal government continues to sue states like Texas bringing about a showdown
that we see in 1860 right before the civil war, but this time instead of South Carolina, its Texas
fighting for its sovereignty.
Even the hero to all conservatives Ronald Reagan conceded he got it wrong when he
essentially gave millions of illegals amnesty in the 80’s. Add that disaster to inactivity for years,
a little dash of Dreamers from the Obama administration and no real consequences for breaking
our border laws and you have the mess we are in today. However, those previously named issues
should be considered neutral draws for people, as bad as they are, the 2 policies that have aided
in this border crisis is a completely broken amnesty policy and birthright citizenship.
The amnesty policies of this country are absolutely ridiculous. When you have someone
seeking asylum all they need to do is parrot the proper phrases (coached by the cartels) and you
get aid from the US, you get released into the interior with a court date sometimes 7-8 years in
the future. Perfect for all those scrupulous businesses that want the help but don’t want to use the
E Verify system, they pay them pennies, work them like animals and fain a lack of knowledge
when they get busted by INS, if they ever do. The birthright citizen policy is a policy that needs
to be abolished immediately, if you are a non-citizen and have a baby on US soil that
automatically means that baby is a citizen, this is commonly referred to as “anchor babies”.
Cartels scour cities and villages looking for pregnant women to extort money from, guide them
to the US border and a few months later a citizen is born. The insanity of this means that now
mom ( and not usually dad) will remain in the US and receive government assistance for their
newly born citizen.
Democrats get new voters and Republicans get a fresh workforce all at the expense of the
American taxpayer. The states are trying to provide solutions to keep people out, and the federal
government is going out of its way to open the doors and let them in. Eventually this comes to a
head as mainly southern states face collapse due to an overrun of illegals and our citizens have
the same questions our ancestors did in the 1860’s, is it worth it being the “United States of
America” or could we break off and do our own thing forming a smaller, freer union. Its what the
southern states did before the civil war, and it produced a bloody conflict where no one really
won.
The cold hard facts are that each party has failed the American people and what’s worse
than that is that the American people keep sending these clowns back to DC to enrich themselves
and their families all while the rest of us eek out an existence dealing with the consequences of
their inactions and self-dealing. What is next? What can be done? And how is this major issue
going to be addressed? I am trying to be optimistic, but history shows me the end of this story as
it has successfully chronicled the dealings of all these weak men and women and the
consequences for us all. The only truth you have now is your ability to insulate yourself and your
family from the coming collapse. The ability to recognize the winds of change that are blowing
and pivot to what could be a freer region or state might mean the difference in living in an
Orwellian novel or having a chance to live in a society hopefully built on the lessons of the
failure of the former state we called home and pledged our allegiance too.
