Moral Decline

I can’t describe Trump’s immigration policy and Big Ugly Bill as anything less than evil.

Not bad, misguided, or stupid. Not even greedy.

Evil. Morally reprehensible. Indefinsible.

I will be the first to state that some problems are tricky to solve on a purely moral level. For example, let's say you are the mayor of a major city in America when a pandemic hits. Expenses skyrocket while revenue crashes. Your state government may or may not be helpful but the Federal Government on a good day is useless, harmful on a normal day, and actively sabotaging your efforts on a bad day.

How do you maintain city services while helping your residents not get crushed? How do you rebuild in the aftermath?

Or let's say you are a voter in New York City in 2025.

The Democrat who won the primary is a traitor who is comfortable playing footsie with confirmed Nazis, is an antisemite and anti Black racist, and whose policies will push Municipal finances to the breaking point.

Your other options are your current Mayor who has been investigated for corruption by the Biden DOJ, only getting the investigation dropped in exchange for a corrupt bargain with the Trump DOJ. Oh, and his approval rating is 20 points underwater. Another option is a former Governor who, while highly effective, is disgraced by a nursing home and sexual harassment scandal who got thrashed in the Democratic Primary. He ran a poor campaign in the primary, coasting off of name recognition and a desperate NYC Democratic Party establishment. Last and most certainly least, a radio talk show host who runs a vigilante group.

None of these candidates for Mayor are good. It is a legitimately tricky question to figure out.

But taking healthcare away from millions of Americans while exploding the deficit is a simple question.

The answer is a clear no.

However, the big ugly bill is not the most evil endeavor the Trump administration has embarked on.

That would be its immigration policies.

There is room for reasonable disagreement about exactly how many people to immigrate here or how to fix the kafkaesque immigration system.

So everyone knows my biases.

I favor increasing immigration with the objective of filling gaps in the US economy and to help revive dying regions and towns. I think that we should have a naturalization path for undocumented people who have led productive lives in this country (in other words, the overwhelming majority). I especially favor streamlining the visa process so we can get more productive workers fully integrated into the US economic system. Frankly, I don’t much care about the national background or skin color of the immigrants so long as they lead productive lives and fill in economic gaps. I especially want to take in people who have worked with the US military overseas, mainly Afghans who are now at the mercy of the Taliban.

I favor deporting people who have been convicted of violent crimes, confirmed beyond the shadow of a doubt gang members, or who are otherwise beyond the shadow of a doubt substantially tied to organized crime. So back in 1945, I would have been in favor of deporting Charles “Lucky” Luciano, along with much of the Italian Mafia.

 
But ICE is not going after dangerous criminals when you look at who they are deporting.

Many of you may disagree with my focus on economics as the central consideration when it comes to immigration.

But it is clear beyond the shadow of a doubt there is only one way to describe the Trump’s administration's immigration policies.

Actually, many words can be used. Short sighted, stupid and self destructive are all good words.

But evil is still the best way to describe these so-called policies.

How else do you expect me to describe actions that include building what resembles concentration camps across the country under the label of detention centers, empowering an agency that behaves more like the secret police force of a dictatorship called ICE, and the disappearing people including American citizens and legal residents?

Perhaps nothing embodies these evil policies more than so-called Alligator Alcatraz.

The reports coming out of this hell hole make most American prisons and jails look luxurious.

Maggots in food, no ability to take a shower or bath, systematic abuse by staff, and many people who were sent there are here legally and have committed no crimes.

I know Florida officials deny the abuses but considering how much this administration has lied, especially about immigration, I have no reason to believe them.

But worst of all are the reports coming from Kilmar Abrego Garcia about what he endured at Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo or CENCOT. The English translation is Terrorism Confinement Center.

I can only describe what was done to Garcia at CENCOT as torture.

How else do you expect me to describe being forced to kneel from 9pm- 6am, being beaten by guards, deprived of sleep and food, being made to soil yourself, and so much else?

Moral Decline

I am convinced that starting in 2015, America entered a period of steep moral decline.

This does not mean that America was free of serious systemic problems like racism, misogyny, antisemitism, corruption, police misconduct or other systemic abuses beforehand. It just felt like things were either moving in the right direction or at least not backsliding.

The Republican Party always had serious problems but it was nothing like the Trump cult we see today. It has been beyond saving since 2016.

I welcome comments that may correct my assessment or that I am missing something. I always learn new things from the patrons at the Establishment Bar.

After all, it was common for my people (White Americans) to treat Black men getting tortured to death by blood thirsty mobs as an occasion to picnic, take photographs, and even make postcards. Also, my people regarded Native people as exhibits like they were zoo animals around the same time that lynching was a common atrocity across the country.

So the type of barbarism where people take selfies by a state sign for Alligator Allcatraz or buy Alligator Allcatraz merchandise is minor by comparison.

Still, this glorification of cruelty is going to lead to horrors that will make Alligator Allcatraz look like a resort.

On social media and the real world, we are seeing a glorification of violent misogyny spread like a virus, or maybe it is no longer dormant. Maybe I am just better at paying attention.

See the rise of Andrew Tate and the Manosphere going mainstream. Especially among men my age and younger.

I notice many Democrats treating women’s safety and concerns as secondary to socialist goals and dreams.

Antisemitism, measured by hate crime rates and attitudes towards Jews, is on the rise. What this antisemitism looks like depends on who it is coming from. But it is clear that antisemitism is on the rise throughout America.

In addition, antisemitism has started to systematically infect the Democratic Party.

See how many Democrats just bent the knee to a known traitor, anti Black racist and anti Semite after the Democratic primary in New York City when many of those same Democrats betrayed President Biden and Vice President Harris. Look at how many of them expect the Israeli people to act like Saints after an attack of unprecedented barbarism. I am still horrified about how many Democrats are calling for a ceasefire against Hamas.

I am even noticing a rise in anti Black racism in the Democratic party. Look at how many of them talk about the voting base that held the Democratic Party together.

I am of course talking about older Black voters. The people who saved this country again and again from its worst instincts.

Now I am seeing the same process play out inside the Democratic Party that played out with frightening speed inside the Republican Party from 2015-2016.

Candidates are selected based on how likable they are or even worse, how much permission they give people to succumb to their worst instincts, not their qualifications for the office they are running for.

I am not sure how to reverse this moral decline but I have a few ideas.

First, I support the banning of cell phones in the classroom because we now have confirmed studies that prove that these devices are bad for students' learning.

Heavily restrict the use of Learning Language Models like Chat GPT across the board. Make using them punishable by expelling students from college if they are caught using them.

Moreover, I would support more heavily taxing social media giants like Facebook and Twitter. I don’t know why myself but social media no matter the form it takes seems to be detrimental in every possible way.

To give a sense of just how harmful social media is in my judgement, I would be more comfortable exposing a child to Mortal Kombat or Grand Theft Auto than Facebook or Twitter.

I would also support increasing the penalties for violent crimes, especially domestic violence. If you beat up your significant other or a child, you belong behind bars. Inspired by the sex offender registry list, I would support putting people convicted of domestic violence on a similar list with the same penalties as being a registered sex offender.

I would like to hear what you all think would help to reverse this moral decline.