Old Glory — A Sinking Ship—
An allegory about our nation’s borders —
Why every effort to pass an Immigration Bill in Congress fails is so very simple to understand, if for a few minutes we take the whole problem, the whole discussion, and put it all into another venue. If we look at the situation in the manner about to be presented, much of the confusion and bewilderment vanishes.
Let’s suppose there is a very large, very, very huge ship out on an ocean. This ship had been on a voyage for much more than thirty years (if one can imagine that!). Her name was Old Glory.
A very many years ago, some of the crew noticed small leaks in the vessel’s outmost hull. They casually mentioned the matter to their chief. “Yeah, yeah, yeah… nothing much to worry about. Bring me a cup of coffee”, was his only response.
Time passed. The small leaks, unattended, un-repaired, grew much, much larger. The crews were replaced by new crews more than once. Again, some rookie crewman was exploring around below decks, prodding about in the bilge area. He saw that bilge water was at an alarmingly high level. Poking around some more, he spotted the leaks formerly reported that were not fixed. By then, they were not leaks… they were dribbling and spewing streams of water.
He reported the alarming facts to his chief, who replied, “Yeah, yeah. I know all about those leaks, but nothing can be done about them. I’ve sent reports up the chain of command and all I get back is ‘Just put some more men on it and stop bothering us’ from the deck officer… even the captain.”
This matter continued to worsen and was finally noticed when the great ship developed a serious list to port side. Then, the officers and even the captain of the ship got into “action!”
They proposed assessing the water damage in cabins, hiring more stewards, redecorating the lounges and halls where they dined, and, “Oh, by the way, give orders to Purchasing to acquire vast shipments of putty to try stuffing into some of the leakier spots so as to slow the water gushing into Old Glory.”
They reported, “We can’t do anything about all the water because the bilge pumps are out of order. We can’t get the water up in buckets and heave it over the side. We’ll discuss it some more and vote on some comprehensive solutions. Now the rest of you just get back to work and mind your own business. Trust us. We’ll take care of it.”
A bright young lieutenant (a new arrival on Old Glory) heard the rumors about unfixable leaks. He checked it out for verification. Astounded, he made his way to the captain’s table in the dining hall for “Important Officials” and demanded in a loud voice, “Why didn’t someone just repair the holes that are leaking water in. Do that first! Then we’ll figure out what to do with the water in the bilge!”
I do not mean nor imply by this little story, that those who have immigrated here as non-citizens and are here in violation of our nation’s laws should be in any way insulted or degraded. They are people just as are the rest of the population. But politicians should enforce the laws of immigration already enacted and seal up the leaking holes in Old Glory’s hull. Then, when that is actually done, intelligent measures can be brought to bear on humane solutions to the remaining problems facing our citizenry and immigrants who have come here illegally.
Solve problems by handling the most important things first! Then others will be found more doable!
