Fully Present Post 50

I had a great conversation with my son this week following the democratic debates. He’s a millennial so I was expecting him to be for Sanders or Warren, but he wasn’t. He was for Andrew Yang and strongly against Joe Biden and Tulsi Gabbard. And his reasons were sound except when it came to Buttigieg whom he disliked at a gut level. It got me thinking that I really needed to do more policy research along with an examination of my own gut feelings about these candidates. What follows is who I’m supporting today. And my preferences have shifted since the last time I wrote about this.

A while back I was all in for Michael Bennett for president. I even donated to his campaign. I still like him a lot, but I believe we need a presidential nominee who has a fighting chance at actually winning the election and he simply isn’t gaining enough momentum to win the Democrat nomination. There are a few others that I would put in that same category but who I would be happy to see as Vice President along with Bennett: Booker, Buttigieg, Castro, Harris and Klobuchar.

At this moment, I’m no longer in favor of Biden, Warren, nor Sanders for president. Biden seems too feeble at times and I’m not thrilled with the issues surrounding his son’s foreign business dealings even though he technically did nothing illegal. While I like Warren and would wholeheartedly support her if she were the nominee, I think her ultra liberal policies would throw too many voters toward Donald Trump. And even if she were elected, I don’t believe she could get any of her big ideas past Congress. And as for Sanders, I’m not just vary because of his recent heart attack, but his policies are too left for me and ultimately wouldn’t get pass Congress either.

Additionally, the presidency is a high stress job and both Biden and Sanders don’t seem up to it in my opinion. They already show all the signs of age-related decline. Reagan was in mental decline and they kept his condition from us until after he left office. I don’t want history to repeat itself. However, I must admit that Warren appears to be in exceptionally good mental and physical health and so I’m not as concerned with her age. But even still, I do feel it’s time to move to the younger generation.

So, in this moment, I am leaning toward Amy Klobuchar, the senator from Minnesota. I agree with her policies. She is from the mid-west, has a working class upbringing, appears to have integrity, and she won’t scare off more moderate voters who could be pushed towards Trump if Sanders or Warren were our nominees. She’s a pragmatist who wants to get things done that can actually be passed through Congress. I think she can stand up to Trump simply by her intelligent and dignified presence. She doesn’t bring the baggage Hillary had. Her likability is high. But she isn’t all that exciting and her support would need to skyrocket to win the nomination. So, to build the excitement, I would pair her with either Senator Cory Booker or Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

Booker would bring the fire, forthrightness, and fight to her ticket. Together, I think they would be impossible to beat. He is intelligent, energizing, and represents the urban parts of the country. Buttigieg, although another mid-westerner, brings the ability to explain things in a clear and concise manner. He makes great arguments with a level of articulation that is impressive. He’s also a veteran and gay. Both Booker and Buttigieg have executive experience, having served as mayors. They would be a great asset to any candidacy and are young enough to again become future presidential candidates.

If Joe Biden were to secure the nomination, then I would pair him with Senator Harris. She brings youth and leadership ability and a sense that she could take over if needed. She will sharpen his message on issues and help him with the duties of president as well as giving him cover on women’s issues. Another good running mate would be Amy Klobuchar for the same reasons. Given his past history where he could be vulnerable on his behavior towards women, he needs a female running mate.

If Elizabeth Warren pulls off the nomination, then she would need to be paired with either Bennett, Buttigieg or Julian Castro who will each bring her down to earth a bit in the minds of voters with their pragmatic outlooks and calm demeanor.

There is still so much to consider and I truly like all of our candidates. But only two can people will make up our democratic ticket. My first choice today is a Klobuchar-Booker ticket. But the next debate might change that. This is why I hope Americans are paying attention.

In the last presidential election, 42% of eligible voters didn’t vote. And look what that got us. In the words of the late (and very great) Senator Elijah Cummings, “We are better than this”. Rest in peace, Senator Cummings, and may we live up to the promise of our democracy as you admonished us.

This was my first week taking on the job of two people. I learned something surprising about myself: I become hyper-active when faced with too much to do. And being a task-oriented person, I can easily become insensitive to the needs of others when I become hyper-focused on my “to do” list. I realized that was happening on Monday morning when by 11 a.m., I hadn’t even said, “Good morning” to my co-workers. It took an unexpected encounter with a colleague in the mail room to help me begin the process of time management.

As I mentioned last week, there are a lot of changes happening at work. My new boss has a lot on her plate. She also brings plenty of new ideas to our newly formed department that she wants implemented quickly. I appreciate the ideas and I am content doing my part to help implement them and I even enjoy it. But this week, I was handed nearly all the duties that had been the responsibility of my colleague who went on leave. My initial response was “Wow, this a lot of extra work for one person to take on”. My second response was, “Okay, I love a challenge”.

And then my inbox blew up with demands coming in fast and furious from all over the place. The problem was that there with no sense of what was urgent. Every request seemed to be on the same high level of priority. And some people are impatient by nature, including me. So, I started to take it all on at once. Admittedly, the sense of accomplishment was invigorating. I felt my energy level go into this hyper-active “gotta get it all done” mentality. I was on a roll but I was also difficult to deal with on a personal level. I stopped chit-chatting with colleagues, instead focusing only on what I needed from them to accomplish a task. I realized Tuesday morning that I didn’t even greet people when I came into work for the second day, heading straight for my office to dive in.

Thankfully, I had to walk across campus to the mail room Tuesday morning. It was there that I ran into a colleague known for his caring attitude towards people. He knew about the changes in our office and about my situation and insisted on showing me the item he had purchased from Amazon that he was going to use on his desk to help calm students. I think he could sense my uncomfortably high energy level.

He demonstrated the power of this spinning desk toy. If you turn it one way, it brings your energy level up. Turn it the opposite way and it calms you. It had an immediate affect on me and he volunteered to send me the link so I could purchase one myself. But being the kind and thoughtful person he is, he later showed up in my office and presented his to me as a gift, saying he would simply order another for himself. That’s kindness.

The ball calmed me down immediately. In fact, it helped me to relax enough to be able to put my inbox into perspective so that I could set priorities for what was immediate and what could actually wait. I asked for some requested items to be wait-listed until other things were accomplished. I took my time with people instead of rushing them out the door. And I took a full hour for lunch. I greeted my colleagues and started treating them like human beings again.

Yes, there is a whole lot to do and I’m lucky that I am passionate about completing each item on my “to do” list. But striking a balance between getting things done and caring for people is important for the kind of work I do. In reality, this balance is good for all of us as human beings working and living together. While it is true that the things that need to be done are in service to people, I’m reminded by a quote by Maya Angelou: “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Managing my energy allows me to manage my priorities and my time so that I can make room for the humans I care about. For me, help was found through a chance encounter with a caring colleague who made time for me and the ingenuity of a spinning metal ball.

The Kinetic Spinning Desk Toy can be purchased on Amazon here.

In the past year and a half, my department at work has undergone major changes in personnel and operating procedures. Two people left rather than deal with the changes. Others have been in a perpetual state of stress. And just this week, my closest work companion of the last ten years announced that she was going on medical leave until January because the stress was too much given her ongoing medical condition. I understand and fully support her decision. But now I am left with the added stress of doing her job and mine for an undetermined amount of time. I’m thinking about how to manage it all and remain sane.

I acknowledge that upon hearing her news I reacted in unproductive ways, doing some things that will prove counterproductive if I allow myself to continue. I went to bed later. I stopped my normal early morning exercise routine, opting to stay in bed and try to sleep a little longer. And I ate a lot of the bad comfort food that you purchase in a drive through. None of these behaviors will ultimately help me; in fact they will only add to my stress and worsen my ability to be productive. But they were my way of coping with the immediate emotional distress that I was feeling. I forgive myself for that human response and I vow to treat myself better.

So, with the four days of transition completed with calendars, accounts, student groups, responsibilities, and office keys turned over to me, Monday will be the start of a whole new work life. This weekend will be my restart although I found myself in yet another drive through yesterday for lunch. Back to normal sleep hours, 5 days of early morning exercise, a walk at lunch and no more fast food or sugar starting today. I put some things in place at work to help me better manage the calendar of things to do, but it’s going to be difficult and I will need to press others in the office to take on more tasks.

Change is difficult for most of us. It causes stress no matter who you are. But what matters most is how we handle it. I have always chosen to see change as an opportunity to learn more and to grow. I have a personality that tends to welcome challenge. However, I realize that my mind, body and attitude must be in sync to handle the challenging changes that will continue to present themselves. If my mind is overwhelmed, my body is unhealthy, or my attitude is negative then I won’t be equipped to handle change and I’ll need to find the fastest way out of the situation to survive. Change is a part of life and evokes a flight or fight response. At this moment, I choose to stay and fight but I don’t blame anyone who chooses to flee.

Given the change I’m facing starting tomorrow, I’ll have to do everything possible to keep my mind sharp, my body healthy, and my attitude positive if I am going to make lemonade out of this lemon of a change.

Amid the long-awaited announcement from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi this week that the House of Representatives was launching a formal impeachment inquiry, I started reading Malcolm Gladwell’s new book, “Talking to Strangers”. In his book he begins with the assertion that we as human beings tend to believe that people we meet are telling us the truth despite multiple red flags and evidence to the contrary. His examples of how far we go to give people the benefit of the doubt, helps me understand why so many people continue to listen to and even support a proven liar like Donald Trump.

In my opinion Donald Trump is the worst kind of leader. He has learned to exploit this human vulnerability to immediately believe lies told to them. And what’s worse is that he does this for his own gain. He spews lies, half truths, and innuendos about the media, his political opponents, and factual statistics in service to whatever his personal agenda happens to be for the moment. He is dangerous because he is also corrupt and even criminal and quickly lies to deny his misdeeds or tries to convince us that each misdeed wasn’t really wrong. From the beginning, he lied about his tax returns. Business people and women publicly exposed his dirty business dealings and sexual assaults and he simply plays the victim of “fake news” and “false accusers”. How many times did he say things like, “I never met that woman”? Then pictures surface and he claims, “fake news” even louder. Those who expose him are viciously attacked with lies and insults. His willingness to weaponize false accusations has silenced his opponents in his own party.

Sadly, there is a segment of our population that only listens to Trump and Fox News. When an entire media outlet supports a liar by ignoring the lies, minimizing their impact, or outright spinning them to sound like truth, the listeners become unwitting accomplices in the undermining of our common good. According to Gladwell, on balance it is good that trusting each other is our default setting. However, this default setting makes life easy for people with corrupt intent like our Bernie Madoff and his ponzi scheme to do real harm for a long time. Trump is like Madoff, trying to swindle the American people for his ego and his financial profit. And he is willing, as we learned this past week, to invite a foreign government to take down his political opponent Joe Biden. This is in violation of his oath of office and an action for which he deserves to be impeached and removed from office. And there are so many other impeachable offenses.

So, I’m not saying silent as a citizen. It is only when the American people rise up and demand justice that justice will be served. I contacted Nancy Pelosi three times this week pressing for action. I contacted Mitch McConnell and will continue to do so as he and the republicans are the ones standing between American justice and this president. I contacted Senator Devin Nunes in real time to express my disgust during the hearing of the inspector general after Nunes acted again as a ridiculous human shield for this lawless administration.

With the exception of Fox News, investigative reporters are doing their constitutionally sanctioned job by exposing what our government officials are doing on our behalf. It is time for the Congress (both the House and especially the Senate) to be pushed to do theirs. Only when the American people press them will they do what is right and what is needed to clean house. And I’m talking about the White House. We do have a role to play and that is to make some noise to press for impeachment.

This past week revealed that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau paraded himself in black face and brown face on at least four separate occasions from the 1980’s until 2001. Yes, he really should have known better and definitely should have done better. But couldn’t the same be said of all of us? When confronted by some of our youthful actions, few of us emerge without blemish. This is especially true when public sentiments about acceptable behaviors and lifestyles shift. What was perfectly fine to say or do twenty years ago may be taboo today. Is it fair to condemn each other and public figures today for past comments that are presently unacceptable?

I would say it depends on how the person has evolved with the times. Personally, I find it a distraction from important issues of the day to dig out someone’s behavior or comments from thirty years ago in an attempt to describe who that person is today. Of course, this excludes actual crimes like rape, murder, and theft where people were seriously injured for life. Time should never be an escape hatch from the consequences of such actions. But when it comes to sentiments and social attitudes, time should temper our judgement of others.

I know that I’m not the person I was thirty years ago. Many of my ideas, beliefs, attitudes, and values have shifted. For example, I was once pro-life and now I am pro-choice. I shutter at the thought of a college paper I turned in for a grade in which I cogently argued in favor of my pro-life stance at the time. Today, I vehemently disagree with my younger self. I haven’t always cared about the environment. But today, I care deeply. My point is that people can and often do change their opinions on social issues. But we’ve allowed the media and political opponents to normalize the practice of characterizing candidates using old comments or past behaviors. This practice steals the airtime from the real issues we need to hear these candidates address.

I guess my point is that we must give space for people in our lives and candidates running for our highest offices to tell us who they are today and what they stand for today. When past comments and behavior emerge, let’s provide them the opportunity to quickly acknowledge their past and tell us how they have evolved. Justin Trudeau did that this past week and I hope the Canadian people were listening and understanding and will quickly move on to the real issues their nation faces. And I hope that we will do the same during this crucial 2020 election season.

The co-pay for my routine blood work rose from $20 to $30 on my last visit. I paid it with a small sigh and later checked out the new co-payment schedule from Human Resources to ensure a mistake wasn’t made. And no surprise, the co-pay did rise. And so did my co-pay for my prescription medications. I understand that what I pay for each medical service is really low and is the result of negotiations between my employer and healthcare providers, including hospitals, doctors, procedures, and pharmaceutical companies. I also understand that these costs are only a fraction of what people without medical insurance would pay. For example, I noticed that those blood tests actually were billed for $700. That is too much! No wonder people without insurance risk losing their homes, having their wages garnished, or going bankrupt if they seek medical attention. It’s why many choose to forgo medical care until they are at death’s door when the cost is even higher and the public will foot the bill. In our capitalistic nation, greed in the healthcare field is out of control and needs fixing. However, I’m not entirely sure that Medicare for all is the only way forward.

The problem is how do we fix our crazy system. Early Saturday morning, C-Span interviewed Dr. Marty Makary, a John Hopkin’s cancer surgeon who writes on the subject of medical costs. His most recent book is, “The Price We Pay: What Broke American Health Care and How to Fix It.” During his interview he exposed the fact that 48% of federal spending is on health care. He explained that when we combine what we pay in federal taxes and insurance premiums, most of us are already spending about 1/3 of our income on health care. He attributes these high cost to price gouging by hospitals, insurance companies, and pharmaceutical companies. We often don’t know what a procedure or hospital stay will cost until after we get the bill. Why is that?

He argues that we are gouged because we don’t know the cost of a procedure before we undergo it. The same procedure can be much more costly depending on where you go to have it. He gave the example of one hospital charging $20,000 to deliver a baby and a cross town hospital charged $7,000. Same doctors, same level of care, but very different prices. A self-insured employer gave free diapers and baby wipes for a year to his employees who elected to have their babies at the $7000 hospital. I never considered which lab to visit to have my blood work done because my out of pocket would be the same. However, the cost to my employer who might be self-insured could be impacted. Employees like me should be educated to understand that when my employer’s cost rise, my co-pays will also rise. Some sites that allow for cost comparisons include MDsave.com; clearhealthcost.com and healthcarebluebook.com

The total cost of doctors’ services to the system is about 4-6% while the cost of hospital stays is 44%. Before undergoing a procedure, we should be asking what it costs because about 60% of medical procedures are in fact shop-able. Who knew? I certainly didn’t. I just try to stay in network by following the insurance plan laid out for me. However, for the uninsured or under-insured, the prices are also negotiable by individuals, not just by private insurance companies and government insurance policies.

On top of this, Dr. Makary explained that 21% of our medical treatments are actually unnecessary. The epidemic of over-treatment is driven by a combination of greed and patient demand. The opioid epidemic was fueled by greed. Some surgeries are also fueled by greed and the realization that there is a paying customer. My husband was given a choice recently to have surgery to repair his knee or continue with physical therapy. He is on Medicare and has supplemental insurance, so he is a paying customer. The surgeon, the hospital, and the drug companies all stand to gain from a surgery. He was never given a price tag to consider.

Not having to consider or compare prices for medical treatments or drugs or hospital stays is a problem if we continue in this market driven medical system. The cost of insurance premiums, hospital stays, and drugs keeps rising because corporate greed has taken over. I don’t know that I am for Medicare for all as the cost would be outrageous, but I do know that I am not for a profit driven medical care system. We need the full picture before we can make a wise decision.

There are very few people whom I truly dislike. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnel is definitely one of them. It is my observation that this 77 year old man is single-handedly destroying our nation and the lives of many people. Is he actually evil or disloyal to America? Or does he really see the issues so differently? Either way, for the good of the nation, I say it is time for the people of Kentucky to ditch Mitch.

McConnell is the longest serving U.S. Senator in Kentucky history, having been first elected to the Senate in 1984. He has been re-elected five times by the people there and is now the longest serving Republican leader of the Senate. However, I don’t believe history will be kind to him. My case against McConnell began when he refused to give Obama’s supreme court nominee, Judge Merrick Garland a hearing, arguing repeatedly that we were too close to an election. Now, with a grin on his face he admits that he would gladly grant a hearing to a Trump supreme court nominee before the 2020 election. He is absolutely shameless in his hypocrisy.

The level of his abhorrent behavior is even worse when I consider that he has been a shield for a law-breaking and utterly corrupt president Trump. If any other president had even hinted at some of the things Trump is doing on a daily basis, that president would have already been impeached. I’m disgusted that this one person stubbornly stands between a nation’s need for justice and competency and a corrupt and obviously inept president. Imagine if Obama acted like Donald Trump? McConnell wouldn’t hold back for a moment. This is worse than hypocrisy; this is actually damaging to our nation and its reputation in the world. But there is much more to hold against McConnell.

The only person preventing the passing of reasonable gun regulations that 90% of Americans favor is “Massacre Mitch”. Even in the face of mass shooting after mass shooting, he refuses to bring the gun legislation to the Senate floor. The House of Representatives passed gun legislation and he refuses to even consider it for a Senate vote. What is he thinking? Who is he protecting? And why?

And finally, “Moscow Mitch” refuses to protect our elections against foreign influence. He wants Trump re-elected for some unknown reason. Perhaps he and Trump have some secret plan with Putin to rule the planet together. Or perhaps he is a white nationalist who wants these guns in the hands of white nationalists to carry out some secret plot to eliminate Jews, people of color, and immigrants. Or perhaps he has committed some horrible act and is being blackmailed to keep it all secret. Whatever the case may be, something is terribly wrong with this man. His stance on guns, Trump, and election protections are all harmful to Americans and they undermine our democracy. History will reveal his actual motives. But the time to rid ourselves of this dangerous man is now.

So, citizens of Kentucky, if you are paying any attention, it is time to ditch Mitch in 2020.

As students and faculty gradually began returning to campus this week, I was greeted by the expected query into how I spent my summer. Did I do anything special? Did I travel anywhere interesting? I admit that I’m often the person asking these questions myself because I enjoy hearing about the travels and adventures of the people around me. But I’m keenly aware that my summer this year was not nearly as interesting to others as it might have been in years past.

For the first time in at least 20 years, I did not venture outside California during the summer. And except for a week at the Welk Resort near San Diego, I didn’t even leave Ventura County where we live. I had a true “stay-cation” this year and I loved every minute of it. But more importantly, I have more energy going into this new academic year. I’m not struggling with jet lag, not trying to catch up on things, and not stressed to put together plans for the fall. I should spend more summers like this.

In the minds of many, I had a pretty boring summer. My big accomplishment was completing the bulk of the planning for our 2020 Family Reunion in San Diego next July. We used the time at the Welk Resort to visit hotel locations and to secure both the hotel and the park site for our picnic. I gardened and treated friends, neighbors, and colleagues to fresh organic produce from my yard. We had more cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, onions, peaches, plums and apples than we could consume. I selfishly used all the strawberries and blueberries we grew in my morning shakes. I added seven new calf-length rompers to my wardrobe, complete with matching jewelry and shoes. I paid off my daughter’s ugly student loan, so now each of my children are student loan free, married, and homeowners as of this summer. I endured the replacement of two crowns at the dentist. I had a July 4th backyard barbecue and my kids and husband ended the summer by throwing me a surprise birthday party last weekend. Even my son traveled from Baltimore to attend. I was shocked by the party, but felt overwhelming grateful and happy to be surrounded by love. And the best news of the summer was that my health tests revealed no negative progression in my kidneys and no sign of the suspected degenerative nerve problem that threatened to disrupt our lives. Exercise, water, and better eating make a lot of difference.

For the last 23 years, my 11-month contract gives me the entire month of July off work. Unlike past years, each day in July this year I set out to tackle precisely one project in the morning after my 45 minutes on the treadmill. At noon, I treated myself to a nice lunch and spent the rest of the day until bedtime simply enjoying myself. Over the month, I cleaned, organized, painted, gardened, downsized, decorated, shopped, planned, and even enjoyed participating in an audit. During my leisure time, I completed four 1000 piece puzzles, read a few non-fiction books and spent the bulk of this leisure time watching Chinese, Taiwanese, or Korean television dramas with English subtitles. I don’t quite understand my sudden fascination with these cultures, but it is strong and I’ve even taken to listening to the music. Without trying, I’m learning a lot of Mandarin Chinese phrases.

So, it is with a great deal of fondness that I bid farewell to summer 2019. I’ll be sad to say “see you later” to the sweetest watermelon and corn on the cob. But if God is gracious to me, then summer 2020 will leave with a similar level of satisfaction and a host of lasting memories.

I’ve spent 27 years of my life involved in international education, either as a student studying abroad or as a foreign student adviser to students studying here in the United States. Whether advising student visa holders or undocumented students or recent immigrants, I’ve dealt with the holes, gray areas, mishaps, and long wait times and ultimately the frustrations of our broken immigration system. At one point I toyed with the idea of becoming an immigration attorney, but I quickly realized that I would only become more frustrated. It’s not that lawmakers don’t know what needs to be done; it’s that they lack the political will to do it. I believe people want to come here legally, but our country’s nonsensical immigration laws and excessively long wait times force people into illegal immigration. Our current crisis at the border and our inability to deal with undocumented immigrants is indicative of a nation unsure of its own identity. Especially today.

We must again ask ourselves if we continue to value our identity as a nation of immigrants. I know I do. We must ask what meaning the Statue of Liberty holds for us today? Persons in the Trump administration are acting trying to rewrite the meaning of that great lady. On August 13 they put forth the assertion that the poem inscribed was only welcoming Europeans. Wow!

The thing I love most about shopping at my local California Costco is seeing the diversity of human beings surrounding me, many of whom are speaking in their native tongue or in heavily accented English. My Costco caters to the tastes of people from Latin America, China, Japan, India, and the Middle East and I happily cook a diversity of dishes I came to enjoy in my travels or through relationships with recent immigrants. There are only a few states in the country that can boast of the great diversity of immigrants living together from around the world. My life and this country are enriched by the diversity of human experience, perspectives, and multicolored hands contributing to our workforce and the economy every day. But this Administration is trying roll back diversity through it draconian immigration policies, many of which everyday Americans are not even aware of. But I’m encountering these new policies everyday in my work.

At the root of our political problems with immigration reform are white nationalist who fear demographic change. Unfortunately these people know that it is simple to convince people with limited exposure to human beings who look different from them to believe that their lives are being threatened by these brown outsiders. It’s no surprise that Donald Trump announces his presidential candidacy by describing Mexican immigrants as rapist and murders. He feeds into a pre-existing narrative of those sensitive to the fear of being “replaced” or “displaced” by brown and Jewish immigrants. To these people, immigrants are an economic, political, and physical threat. They have forgotten the benefits of immigration to their families and to the nation as a whole. They have forgotten that their families came here just like immigrants today, seeking a better life and with a great willingness to contribute to the country. Their once foreign foods became everyday American dishes.

I recall a conversation with a white female student who had a Mexican American boyfriend whom she loved. Her fear was that their cultures were too different. I helped her to see what a great opportunity now presented itself to her to become bi-cultural. I helped her to frame the relationship with his family as additive to her life rather than something that would detract from her own sense of culture. You get to add Spanish. You get to add new foods. You get to venture into new experiences and new ways of seeing the world. Once her thoughts moved from seeing the relationship as a threat to her own culture and as an addition of a culture, her entire attitude towards his family changed and they happily got married, enjoying the best of both traditions at the wedding and then into their marriage and family life.

All that said, I believe we need to put more money and resources into hiring more immigration judges and more application adjudicators at USCIS to end the incredibly long processing times for immediate families trying to reunite. I believe we need to pass the Dream Act to give permanent legal status to undocumented children and create a path for legal status to their otherwise law-abiding parents. There should be a fine attached to their breaking the law by crossing the border. I believe illegal border crossings and visa overstays should be a civil matter rather than a criminal offense. I believe we need to increase the green card lottery numbers, H1B visa numbers, and the number of temporary workers for farmers and other seasonal workers.

At the same time, I believe we need to do a much better job of deporting actual criminals and fining employers who hire undocumented workers. Our borders should be stronger and for the moment, we need to handle the crisis at our border by calling more judges to adjudicate asylum claims. And we need to treat asylum seekers and refugees the way we would want to be treated. Dignity, respect, food, shelter, and safety are what are humanity requires of us. These Christians supporting Trump might do well to ask themselves what Jesus would do. Mary and Joseph were refugees. It is also in our interest to provide greater aide to the countries these distressed people are fleeing.

In short, until we as a nation can get on the same page about the benefits of immigration, we will continue to encourage illegal immigration by refusing to pass immigration reform that addresses the actual labor needs of employers and the nature of all human beings that demands safety and opportunity. Our success as a nation has always been attributed to immigrants. The 2020 election will determine who we are and who we are going to be.

I watched an interview with the prominent guitarist Carlos Santana this past week wherein Santana presented his view that national borders are a myth created by unscrupulous people when the reality is that humans are one species occupying a planet together, each human wishing simply to live and thrive. He said that the reality is that there are no borders as evident when viewing the planet from space. I thought about his provocative claim throughout the week and asked myself if I, a person who considers myself to be a global citizen, was also in favor of a border-less world. Given the crisis we face on our own southern border, I really needed to consider my own stance. I care about other human beings and so I questioned the origin of borders and the purpose they serve, if any. What I learned and considered over several days helped me formulate my position.

First, I acknowledge that human history follows a cycle of human migration, community building, unrest, and migration. It is widely believed that humankind began in Africa and gradually spread throughout habitable parts of the world. Many also believe that humans evolved as tribal beings for survival in a harsh world, segregating ourselves on the basis of agreed upon social norms with each tribe protective of its way of life, believing its culture to be superior to others. I surmise that borders were created in order to mitigate conflict between people groups. As long as that tribe stayed on their side of the river, they could worship as they please and live by their own rules. But borders always crumble when human survival is at stake and migrants will resettle where they are most socially comfortable. In my estimation, nothing has changed.

While the drivers of human migration have not changed (for example, poverty, natural disaster, war, oppression, persecution, and lack of opportunity), the ability to migrate has at times been limited by those in leadership. But for much of human history, people have moved freely to find better life. Early on, rulers of growing population centers welcomed newcomers as assets who added wealth through their contribution to taxes, the labor force, and even to serve in armies. There were times when the need for labor was so great that rulers even offered incentives for people to emigrate.

In fact wasn’t until the introduction of serfdom to ensure adequate labor remained where it was needed that the freedom of lower class people was restricted. The Romans were the first to introduce passports so as to limit the mobility of it’s labor force. As new societies emerged, so did the need for labor and it is no wonder that those with guns forced the migration 8-10 million Africans from the 16th – 19th century to the Americas to fill that need as slaves. Mind you, the Islamic states had been using African slave labor since 650 AD so the concept was not new. In addition, great masses emigrated from Europe and Asia fleeing poverty and seeking opportunity in America.

But inevitably, resentment towards newcomers, especially during an economic downturn and times of unemployment grows and newcomers are perceived to be a threat to the livelihood, culture, values, and way of life of majority populations. The ability of some people to assimilate is rewarded with acceptance and citizenship while others, based on skin color or religion remain forever in the category of the foreigner. The rise of nationalism in the face of real demographic and cultural changes is also part of our shared human history. Examples of mass deportations and even genocides or ethnic cleansing by the nationalist leaders who emerge by stoking tribal fears have been repeated throughout human history. These heinous acts are continuing today in places like Myanmar where some 700,000 Rohingya refuges have fled violence and persecution, crossing the border into Bangladesh. The cruelty we are witnessing on our own Southern border and then in the mass shooting in El Paso is the result of this nationalist thinking as opposed to paying careful attention to our shared humanity.

So, borders are indeed a man-made creation. I see them as man’s way to carve out a section of the world where people of like-mind can live together in relative peace. The problem is that the human family must begin to use its capacity to expand what it means to be of like-mind. We should know by now that the values of freedom, democracy, hard work, safety, and respect for others transcend the superficial notion of skin color or blood relations or native language or religion or sexual orientation.

The problem is that governments are too slow to recognize that people will migrate for a better life. The problem with borders is not the border, but the many restrictions being placed on migrants because of the color of their skin or religion. Migrants all over the world are being characterized by nationalist as dangerous when they could actually be assets. History has shown us that human migration is generally good for humanity and that borders should be treated as they once were, a suggestion of what lies within them. Violence only follows when we allow our prejudices to get the better of us and when we make maintaining a more border more important than the humanity for which it was created to serve.

John Locke once questioned the right to restrict the movement of individuals. I am solidly questioning it, too.