Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Kings still can’t control the weather

BY RANDY ALCORN
From ancient times on up through the Middle Ages, monarchs, in many civilizations, were believed to have power over forces of nature. If the tribe or nation were afflicted with drought, pestilence, famine, or epidemic disease, the king or queen was held responsible. Imagine the burden of office back then.

Today, while civilization has become more technologically advanced, the accumulated intelligence of the general population is, apparently, arrested somewhere in the Dark Ages. Political rulers are still being held responsible for vast, complex phenomenon that they cannot possibly control.
The economy is one such phenomenon for which politicians, especially the president of the U.S., is credited or condemned. Like weather, the economy is a vast, complex phenomenon that defies perfect prediction and is beyond the control of mere mortals; even beyond the control of politicians who have deluded the populace and, perhaps, themselves into believing that they have preternatural powers.
Economic conditions result from millions of individual decisions deriving from the tug and pull of human desire, greed, and enterprise. No president or any ideology has, ultimately, ever been able to effectively control the entire economy.
Nevertheless, since the Great Depression, politicians have gradually convinced the public that government is the ultimate provider of solutions for a myriad of social and economic ills. The result is that the naïve public has now come to expect government to make good on its claims of superpowers—the king must bring rain and end the drought, right? When the rain doesn’t come, when government fails to solve thorny problems, the natives grow restless. To the chagrin of kings and politicians, the consequence of their pretended powers makes them scapegoats for a petulantly disillusioned public.
Such is the case in Santa Barbara, where following the third gang related homicide blatantly committed on busy city streets in recent months, the city’s elected officials, and in particular mayor Marty Blum, have become the objects of pointed criticism by some of the local media and among a consternated public.
However, gang violence is one of those resiliently pernicious social phenomena that defy politicians’ attempts to eradicate it. Without abandoning the founding principles of our free nation by imposing police state conditions, as some local citizens, scared witless, have proposed, violent gangs, once established, are harder to eradicate than plantar warts.
Mayor Marty Blum is no more responsible for gang violence in Santa Barbara than she is for the local weather. As is the case with other communities across the nation, the source of gang violence in Santa Barbara is found in illegal immigration.
America eventually pays a high price for the low-cost labor provided by illegal immigration. Gang violence is part of that price along with crowded schools and diluted public education, overrun emergency rooms and bankrupted hospitals, increased welfare costs and strained government budgets.
We have tolerated illegal immigration with a wink and a nod at our Spanish-speaking gardeners, painters, construction workers, and busboys. We have accommodated them with bilingual signage, documents, even election ballots. Who is to blame for gang violence? You cannot continually and rapidly introduce massive numbers of undereducated, overworked, and low paid, non-English speaking aliens into this affluent society and not suffer serious consequences.
The truth of the matter is that government is not very effective at solving many of the problems confronting society nor is it necessarily responsible for those problems. Nevertheless, politicians continue to take more of our money and more of our freedom in exchange for promises to solve problems that they never really solve.
When a problem like gang violence plagues communities, government gets the blame. Politicians then typically overreact with some shallowly thought out program to address the problem and then pretend that program is working. The war on drugs, with ineffective programs such as DARE, is a primary example of government futility, delusion, and self-serving overreach.
The proper and healthy role of government in a free society is that of a referee enforcing sensible rules of civil and commercial conduct. Too often our elected politicians behave like coaches calling the plays for the game rather than like referees throwing penalty flags for violations of fair play.
The sub-prime mortgage fiasco results from politicians of both parties not flagging banks and lending institutions for usury. Gang violence results from those same politicians not enforcing immigration laws. Packed prisons and much violent crime results from politicians calling the plays on life’s victimless personal choice regarding drug use.
Liberty is not without risks, and a free society can be dangerous. Government’s role in a free society is limited, and politicians are never omnipotent. Expecting government to solve all of our problems is like expecting the king to control the weather. Better we insist that government fulfill its proper role as referee. Maybe then there would be fewer problems to solve.

8 comments:

Turtle said...

I greatly respect Randy Alcorn's courage in pointing out an obvious truth that so many politicians are afraid to admit in his article "Still can't control the weather" of July 22.
Randy claims "America pays a high price for the low-cost labor provided by illegal immigration. Gang violence is part of the price along with ... (multiple other costs)...". Amazingly, before taking that stance, he claims that "Mayor Marty Blum is no more responsible for gang violence in Santa Barbara than she is for the local weather." What? These two statements are so much in conflict, it is hard to believe they come from the same author, let alone the same article. Mayor Blum, who is the "Commander in Chief" of the City Police has been confronted by the ideas of a 287(g)agreement with ICE to help enforce illegal immigration and the idea of a gang injunction more times than I can count. Even after a third death in little more than a years time she still refuses to take either of these legal actions of law enforcement. If Illegal immigration is a partial cause of the gang problem, then why is Mayor Blum excused as part of the solution? I am getting baffled and tired of the apologists for Mayor Blum. Let's try a different course of action before Fiesta, beside what even Randy calls "shallowly thought out programs". Randy both accuses the government of ineffective actions and then excuses them from any responsibility in the same breath. Stunning.

Aaron Shaw

Anonymous said...

Yeah right Alcorn - the government can't do anything or they won't?

Check out Chief Sanchez latest quote from:

http://www.thedailysound.com/2008/07/citys-top-cop-urges-youth-to-stay-in.html

One student asked what the role of the local police department is in enforcing immigration law. Sanchez said these laws are typically enforced by federal agencies, but some cities have taken up the task. Just don’t expect the Santa Barbara Police Department join that camp anytime soon.
“I have said if they ever make me do that, it’ll be the day I quit,” Sanchez said.

Of course not, he apparently is from Mexico himself. Would you like to re-write your article now?

Anonymous said...

Before you let Mayor Blum off the hook so readily, keep in mind that she is Chief Sanchez' boss. He refuses to cooperate with ICE or assist them. We are a sanctuary city and finally, here is the proof, from the Police Chief's own mouth. Chief Sanchez refuses to acknowledge what you so rightly point out - may I quote you?

"As is the case with other communities across the nation, the source of gang violence in Santa Barbara is found in illegal immigration."

Anonymous said...

"Better we insist that government fulfill its proper role as referee."

Escuse me? I thought the proper role of government was to enforce the law. The Judicial is to act as referee. What country do you live in?

Anonymous said...

"Without abandoning the founding principles of our free nation by imposing police state conditions..."

That's a little extreme. Surely there is some midground between legally enforcing the law (gang injunctions, 287(g) agreements with ICE to empower local officers to help enforce immigration law) and a police state.

I love how everyone screams "police state" when laws are enforced. Let's see how much they scream when drug cartels and gangs start intimidating the hand-tied police and the government becomes corrupt as is currently the case in Mexico. What is it then, a "drug cartel state"? Wake up to reality Alcorn.

This is amazing, on one hand you point to illegal immigration as the source of the problem, then you scream "police state" if the government tries to do anything about it. Mexican illegal immigrant sympathy has already corrupted our Police Force starting at the top. Just wait until prison gangs start infiltrating and corrupting our law enforcement and government while Sanchez looks the other way. Use the violence and corruption in Mexico as an example of what is headed our way, allowed by ultra political correctness in government.

Anonymous said...

But who then will wash our cars? Nanny our children? Pick our produce? Fill our emergency rooms? Live on our welfare system? Hustle you for day labor? Live 20 to a house? Create an urban nightmare for our city and provide no tax return? Kill each other in the streets with virtual impunity? We pay for them whether you believe so or not...higher taxes burdens and insurance costs for lower produce and car washes....take your pick America. Would you rather pay $3000 a month for insurance or $3.00 for a head of lettuce?

Anonymous said...

Hey Alcorn,
Are you new to town? If not it sounds like it. Gangs have been a problem here for decades. Leave it to small thinkers like you to blame illegal immigration for the gang problem and most other problem in our society. That is intellectual dishonesty. Undocumented workers provide far more in tax revenue than then take. Almost all gang members in Santa Barbara are US citizens. If you think that the gang problem would go away simply by getting rid of the undocumented you are fooling yourself.
Gangs have been a problem in the USA for hundreds of years in all areas of the country. From Popular culture we have depictions of gangs: West side story, Lords of Flatbush, Gangs of New York, and virtually every western movie ever produced. If you want a scapegoat try our culture that glorifies violence.

Anonymous said...

Hey Anonymous #6,
Are you new in town? If not it sounds like it. Gangs have never been so active and bold as they have in just the last year. We have had a murder in broad daylight on State street. We have had a murder at a public event. Before that, I can't remember a murder by gang members at all. Been here 30 years, not new in town. Leave it to small thinkers like you to have their small head in the ground like an ostrich. See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.

"Undocumented workers provide far more in tax revenue than then take."

How is that, do they fill out a 1040 whilst being undocumented? Property taxes for the mansion they own whilst living in the hills or ten to a house? Gas tax riding their bicycles to work? Sales tax when cashing in their W.I.C. (Women Infant Children) checks at the grocery store? Do they pay taxes when sitting in jail? (30% are illegals) Do they pay taxes on the cash they send home to Mexico? Do they pay taxes to be treated for free in the emergency rooms when they have a cold?

"Almost all gang members in Santa Barbara are US citizens."

Just how do you know that when the police aren't even allowed to check their immigration status, and even if they did Sanchez would not allow them to be deported. We see lineup after lineup of busted hispanic thug mugs in the paper but the media is not allowed to report or ask for their immigration status. It is "don't ask, don't tell" nod nod wink wink see no evil.

"If you think that the gang problem would go away simply by getting rid of the undocumented you are fooling yourself."

Let's give it a try - I bet it is reduced at least 50%.

"Gangs have been a problem in the USA for hundreds of years in all areas of the country."

Perhaps so, but have they ever been 100% Hispanic before?

Stop with the P.C.B.S. already. Nobody is buying it anymore. The culture that glorifies violence has been around a lot longer than the last year, but suddenly we have three murders in one? Ever since it became politically incorrect to deport illegals this problem has been escalating - sounds like pretty good scapegoat to me! Wanna put some money on it?