Extreme Policy!

In the wake of Obama's milquetoast speech that was more concerned with an American backlash against Muslims than with ISIS killing Americans, it is no surprise that Trump offers the other extreme.  Where Obama wants to bring in Syrian refugees over the objections of many governors and legislators, Trump wants to shutdown any Muslim from entering the country.  Pick your bad policy.  It is only because of Obama's failed foreign policy that Trump is able to get cheers for his proposed policy.  Much the same is happening in Europe.  The left-leaning parties have been shown to be unserious about the threat posed by Islamic terrorists so the citizens, with no other option, are voting for reactionaries who will bring a whole host of other issues but at least they appear to be serious about the terror threat.  Obama's repeated abdication on illegal immigration and Islamic terrorists has made the rise of Trump possible, even inevitable.  Given a choice between being flooded with Muslim refugees who may be infiltrated by ISIS operatives or barring all Muslims from the country, what does the rational person choose?  One choice is reckless and one is unjust.  Pick!

 

Has Trump gone too far this time?  Probably not.  Those who support him are unfazed by his hyperbole.  And this sort of hyperbole was recently practiced by the Democrats.  In the wake of Dylan Roof killing 9 black churchgoers, there was a push to strip every Confederate symbol from every public place throughout the south.  It went so far that reruns of the Dukes of Hazzard were pulled from TV Land because the General Lee sported a Confederate Flag on the roof.  So, if it is appropriate to attack all things Confederate over Roof, is it not in the same spirit to deny Muslims access to the US in wake of San Bernardino?  The extreme on the one invited the extreme on the other.

 

After the American Revolution, the Founders had such fear of a powerful central government that they created a pathetically weak one under the Articles of Confederation.  They soon learned that government needed to be more powerful to keep the peace but still wanted a limited government.  This time, having seen both the extremes, they modeled something more toward the middle which proved to be good policy.  Perhaps somewhere between Trump's nativism and Obama's borderless world, there is a good policy to be had.  Maybe Ted Cruz can offer that policy.