Sunday, October 29, 2006

Give Us Your Tired and Poor...

Would We Accept the Statue of Liberty Today?

On October 28, 1886, the Statue of Liberty was dedicated in New York City by President Grover Cleveland with these words on the pedestal, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore, send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" There is no possibility that we would ever accept such a brazen symbol of Democracy 120 years after the dedication of the original Ms. Liberty. We would dismantle that Lady and send her back to France on ship carrying a banner "Mission Accomplished."

Here are some of the reasons that our current leaders could never accept a 2006 Statue of Liberty. First, we would be leery of any gift from France. Second, we do not want any more of those "illegals" and so we don't want 151 foot tall billboard advertising immigration. We are now afraid of "your huddled masses," so keep them on your own shores. Third, you can't even walk up the 120 year old Statue anymore. It is a symbol of America and therefore a potential security threat. Close off the symbols and thus you make us all safer--and don't make any new symbols for America and we are all safer. Fourth, we certainly don't want any more homeless people. We are all in our fourth or fifth year in our 10 year plan to "end" homelessness and so we don't need any more from other countries. Finally, the whole statue is too feminine and liberal elite for those in power. Lady Liberty expresses idealistic virtues that are way too advanced for a society looking for easier to understand statues like the simple cowboy in Ft. Worth or the Giant Bull on Wall Street.

Brian

Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Actually, if you'd care to look at facts, we accept more - many more - immigrants legally now than we did in the late 1880's.

So that aspect of our society has not changed, in fact it's improved.

What HAS changed is that in the past, when this gift was given to us by france, we used to send people back when either we had taken in our limit, or they carried infectious disease.

We no longer have that filtering process to protect us.

It's the short sighted that can't understand that we have to have SOME limits on the number of poor we can accept into our nation.

There are just too many billions of poor people in the world that want to live here.

It's up to us to decide; do we maintain a healthy economy for those of us fortunate enough to live here, and grant the priveledge of citizenship to a controlled number of a lucky few ---- OR --- do we open our borders and become a wasteland of poverty so that we can say we were nice to everybody by joining the rest of the world in starvation and poverty?

Before you answer that, remember that our nation offers hope to the world because we are so well off. WE will bring about the technological change that will eventually make the life better for everybody.

We will support freedom and democracy around the world to help other nations acheive what we have.

The world is a brutally cold place. We can either help change it, or succumb to it.

I like the option of changing it personally.

And to do that - we can't just give everything we have away.

We need the protection and affluence of our society to fund and bring about change for the world.

Opening our borders will be a short term fix that will eventually eliminate any hope of improvement for the rest of the world.

Get your head out of the liberal television and think with your own mind.

Cleveland Homeless said...

To answer your question, I would defer to far deeper thinkers on the subject like Jesus, Mohammad, Gandhi or Martin Luther King Jr. and look to their writings on the question of refugees.

My point was that the spirit of the Statue is no longer relevant, and the inscription should be sand blasted off the front. As you and millions of other Americans have violently stated, we don't want your tired and poor anymore.
Brian

Anonymous said...

I think you should be sandblasted off the continent, because no true American would have that statue removed from the States, yes it was a gift from a country that does not necessarily like us anymore, in fact they loathe us. But you know what I love that statue it is a sign that we are free from England. If you want to move there feel free because I am not an illegal and my heritage started in Scotland, the Scottish were trying to get away from Englands control as well. Get over yourself and accept the fact that the statue is not going anywhere. Maybe you should, go live in England, cause you do not belong here.

zeroasterisk said...

I like the satire inherent in this post and think it's still relevant. We have elected Obama, and the country has taken on a mantel of hope again... but we are still very self-centered and interested mainly in our own profits and wealth and safety and comfort. Virtues and Moralalities are mostly buzz words used to sell something anymore, and though many great things are done in this country by great people in the spirit of our past... the country as a whole is not focused on helping the world by being a shining light of hope... we are interested in keeping our lights on, and the spotlight on the fences we are literally and figuratively building

Anonymous said...

Keep the Statue, its a welcoming symbol but do away with Clevelands 120 year old remarks...the worlds a different place and we've got more tired and poor than we can handle. Tighten our borders and bring back the screening process turning away those that are not willing to comply with our standards.