I receive news updates from several news services, such as News Max, CNS, Reuters, Drudge Report, etc. The reading about Arizona has been more than interesting lately.
Since Arizona passed its 2010 Immigration Law, I have been amazed at the rhetoric coming from various mainline news commentaries and federal officials.
In researching their statements, I found that most had not even read the law. When Judge Susan Bolton ruled parts of the law unconstitutional, I became convinced that she did not read the entire law, either. If she did, she did so with a closed mind.
I have the entire 2010 law and have studied it. One thing that becomes quickly to the forefront is the stand taken by Arizona to compliment, even directly copy, the applicable portions of the Federal Immigration Law.
Further, the Arizona law repeatedly refers to the federal statute by name and states that the Arizona law shall not violate or impede the federal statute. Yet the judge contended that it was the intent of Arizona to do just that.
But what is even more egregious to me is the stand that the Administration and the Department of Justice have taken in this matter. First of all, it withdrew the troop support that President Bush had given Arizona.
Second, the Justice Department was ordered to sue Arizona over the law when it should have been strongly enforcing the federal law.
Third, when pressed, the president finally capitulated and promised the needed assistance. That assistance still has not arrived. Instead, a series of signs were constructed 20 to 80 miles on the Arizona side of the Mexican border proclaiming that part of Arizona dangerous to anyone who enters it!
Last week, CNS News quoted Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, saying, “I’m glad the administration has come around to support more boots on the ground, more UAVs, technology. But last year there were 540,000 people, roughly, detained coming across the border illegally. Forty-five thousand of them came from countries other than Mexico (emphasis is mine) ... So this remains a very serious national security problem. And I think until we do actually secure the border, until we do actually enforce our current [federal] law, I don’t think the American people are going to have confidence in the federal government.”
Sheriff Larry Dever of Cochise County, Ariz., one of four Arizona counties contiguous with the U.S-Mexico border, said, in a CNS News video, that the U.S. Border Patrol has pulled back from parts of the border in his and neighboring counties because manning those areas has become too dangerous. He pointed out that in Pinal County, 70 miles north of the border, the Bureau of Land Management has put up a sign along a drug-smuggling corridor to warn American citizens away from the region because it is too dangerous.
I have watched several live videos from hidden cameras along the illegal immigration trails. There is more human traffic on those trails than there is on the sidewalks of my city!
This is a clear demonstration of our government’s refusal to live under the rule of law that was established by our Constitution.
Why did our Founding Fathers approach the establishment of our nation in this manner? The answer is quite simple. The book of Romans clearly says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Jeremiah said that the heart of man is wicked and beyond cure.
Our Founding Fathers knew the human weakness all too well and sought to guard against it. John Adams even said that our Constitution would be unable to rule our nation unless we remain a moral people.
If you look at Scripture carefully, you will find that one of the first punishments that God sends on an immoral nation is wicked and unscrupulous leaders.
Anyone who has moral backbone can easily see that we have had a growing amount of that kind of leadership lately. I personally think that a door was opened to moral permissiveness in government with the failure to convict Bill Clinton during his impeachment.
Immorality in government has escalated exponentially since then.
What can we do? First, we need to get on our knees and repent for our own sin.
Second, we need to repent for the sin of our nation and its leaders.
Third, we need to get off of our lazy behinds and become active in our representative form of government.
The Tea Party movement is a good example of that kind of action, but we need everyone involved. Too many of us have been sitting on the sidelines for too long and let someone else do it. The problem is that there were too many nobodies doing it, so immorality has taken over. The ball is in our court, folks.
Are we going to pick it up and play or not? This may be our last chance.
(Frank Clark has been a teacher in public, Catholic and Evangelical Christian schools since 1978. He is also a retired Christian school administrator.)