The New Colossus - Give Me Your Tired Your Poor

“Give Me Your Tired Your Poor……”

These words, which appear on a plaque mounted on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty, cannot be found in the words of the Constitution of the United States or the Bill of Rights.  These words were not written by any of our founding fathers nor do they reflect any of founding principles which drove a group of British Colonists to fight for and gain their independence.

“Give Me Your Tired Your Poor ……“  is a phrase that is found in The New Colossus, a sonnet that was written and donated to be auctioned to raise money for the construction of the Statue of Liberty’s pedestal, nothing more, nothing less.

The author, American born Emma Lazarus, was the daughter of Portuguese immigrants.  The poem was certainly influenced by stories told to her by her elders and reflected the feelings of those, such as her parents, who were welcomed by a country filled with great opportunity and in need of those eager to work hard for the country that had much to offer. 

But that was over a century ago and this country has grown, changed and is no longer in need of the tens of thousands of immigrants who came to this country each year, as it was once upon a time.  No longer are their vast opportunities available to anyone who wished to come to this country to better themselves, today there are hardly enough opportunities for those who are already here.  

And then, immigrants who came to this country paid their own way, they came wishing for nothing more than a simple opportunity to take a chance on themselves.  Now, the majority of immigrants that swarm to this country do so knowing that they will become part of this nation’s social entitlement society, a culture perpetuated by a liberal ideology paid for by the sweat of hard working Americans born of immigrants from generations ago.

So the next time your hear the someone make claim that helping those who come to this country is one of the founding principles of this nation, or as then president Obama put it, “it’s in our DNA”, you might suggest that they check their history.  The principals that guide this nation can be found in the documents written by our founding fathers not in a poem written for a fund raiser.

Once Upon A Time In America

Once Upon a Time  ……  immigrants came to American as we were a young and rapidly expanding nation offering opportunity to anyone willing to work hard and take a chance on themselves.  We stood with open arms, asking for the help from others that was needed to make our nation grow and prosper.   But that was long ago and while America is still looked upon as the land of opportunity, it is not necessarily opportunity that so many who wish to cross the border into our country are now looking for.

Over the past 50 years a profane transformation of our nation’s immigration policies has taken place.  A desire to welcome those who enter the United States illegally has been perpetuated by the liberal faction in this country with absolute disregard to the burden that doing so places on the resources created, paid for and consumed by the hard working and law abiding men, women and children of this nation.  No longer drawn in by the vast opportunities that were once available and offered by a fledgling county, the transformation of our immigration policies now incents illegal’s to cross our borders so that they can take advantage of the free offerings our government is now legally bound to provide them. 

While there are some immigrants, illegal or otherwise, that do come to this country still willing to take the risk and work hard for the opportunity to prosper in the greatest nation in the world, there are far too many that cross our boarders seeking no more than the handouts that our government has promised them.  It is a promise that should never have been made.

Nowhere in the constitution is it written that the United States is a land without closed border nor does the constitution stipulate that all who try and enter this great nation will be met with open arms and that the government has an obligation to ensure the health and well-being of those who cross our borders.  These are merely the profane transformations of our nation’s immigrations policies that have become a huge burden on our country.